Turn Me Loose White Man is a an examination of virtually all forms of American vernacular music throughout the first 60 years of the twentieth century. It includes a 30 cd set (available separately at www.allenlowe.com) and complete discussion and annotation of over 800 performances in the following genres: Ragtime, minstrelsy, blues, jazz, hillbilly music, country music, blues, rhythm and blues, folk, and rock and roll.

In this selection of poetry the author writes from the point of view of people involved in the life and death of Medgar Evers, including his widow, his brother, his assassin Byron De La Beckwith, and both of Beckwith's wives.

The mysterious true story of Connie Converse—a mid-century New York City songwriter, singer, and composer whose haunting music never found broad recognition—and one writer’s quest to understand her life This is the mesmerizing story of an enigmatic life. When musician and New Yorker contributor Howard Fishman first heard Connie Converse’s voice on a recording, he was convinced she could not be real. Her recordings were too good not to know, and too out of place for the 1950s to make sense—a singer who seemed to bridge the gap between traditional Americana (country, blues, folk, jazz, and gospel), the Great American Songbook, and the singer-songwriter movement that exploded a decade later with Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell. And then there was the bizarre legend about Connie Converse that had become the prevailing narrative of her life: that in 1974, at the age of fifty, she simply drove off one day and was never heard from again. Could this have been true? Who was Connie Converse, really? Supported by a dozen years of research, travel to everywhere she lived, and hundreds of extensive interviews, Fishman approaches Converse’s story as both a fan and a journalist, and expertly weaves a narrative of her life and music, and of how it has come to speak to him as both an artist and a person. Ultimately, he places her in the canon as a significant outsider artist, a missing link between a now old-fashioned kind of American music and the reflective, complex, arresting music that transformed the 1960s and music forever. But this is also a story of deeply secretive New England traditions, of a woman who fiercely strove for independence and success when the odds were against her; a story that includes suicide, mental illness, statistics, siblings, oil paintings, acoustic guitars, cross-country road trips, 1950s Greenwich Village, an America marching into the Cold War, questions about sexuality, and visionary, forward thinking about race, class, and conflict. It’s a story and subject that is by turn hopeful, inspiring, melancholy, and chilling.

Rubin "Hurricane" Carter was riding a wave of success. The survivor of a difficult youth, he rose to become a top contender for the middleweight boxing crown. But his career crashed to a halt on May 26, 1967, when he and another man were found guilty of the murder of three white people and sentenced to three consecutive life terms. Written from prison and first published in 1974, The Sixteenth Round chronicles Hurricane's journey from the ring to solitary confinement. The book was his cry for help to the public, an attempt to set the record straight and force a new trial. Bob Dylan wrote his classic anthem "Hurricane" about his struggle, and Muhammad Ali and thousands of others took up his cause. The power of Carter's voice, as well as his ironic humor, makes this an eloquent, soul-stirring account of a remarkable life.

This work catalogs commercially produced recordings of Negro spirituals composed for solo concert vocalists. More than 5,000 tracks are listed, with entries sourced from a variety of recording formats. The featured recordings enhance the study of concert spiritual performance in studio, concert, worship service or competition settings. Arranged alphabetically, entries variously identify the accompaniment--including chorus, piano, orchestra, guitar, flute, and violin--in concert spiritual recordings. The voice types of soloists are included, as is the level of dialect used by various performers. The composers, publishers and format information are also listed when available. While structured like a discography, this guide extends beyond solely providing historical context and encourages the use of the recordings themselves.

Life for the main character, Daniel Howard, begins with his birth in New Orleans in 1902. His father is a prominent Methodist preacher from a successful and influential Creole family -"the Howard's." the family motto is, "work, save, educate." His mother operates a no-name school for children who cannot attend regular school during the day. His paternal grandmother, Grandma Howard, chiefly commands the Howard family business interests. She is extremely color conscious, preferring the lighter hue and Creole heritage. In his pre-teen years, Daniel Howard is often in trouble for being sighted on Bourbon or Basin Streets tap dancing and yearning to play the piano in the blues clubs and juke joints. Through his lens the reader is introduced to his view of New Orleans to include, the lively scenes in the French Quarters; Mardi Gras; Voodoo; Congo Square; and, life in a vibrant port city among many other experiences. His maternal grandmother, "Nana", heads the maternal side of his family. Nana is a widow and illiterate and resides in a tin roofed former slave cabin outside of New Orleans. She is an extremely religious woman and ekes out a meager living as a maid. She is also the local midwife, and tends to the sick with herb potions. She still grieves that her son, Lester, was dragged from her cabin one dark night and lynched. After graduating from college, he is recruited to teach in a small-impoverished town in the Mississippi Delta where despite his hopes and desire to make a difference, hardships and humiliations await him and his new bride, Miss Emma.