The first of Phryne's adventures from Australia's most elegant and irrepressible sleuth.The London season is in full fling at the end of the 1920s, but the Honourable Phryne Fisher - she of the green-grey eyes, diamant garters and outfits that should not be sprung suddenly on those of nervous dispositions - is rapidly tiring of the tedium of arr...

A "look at the embattled inhabitants of three representative troubled communities: East New York; North Philadelphia; and the Red Hook Housing Project in Brooklyn, New York."--Page 2 of cover.

Spunky Phryne Fisher leaves her adopted London for 1920s Australia to investigate the desperate letters she has been receiving from well-bred Lydia, a young woman married to a low-down scoundrel

A unique biography and instruction book featuring the influential blues and roots talents of Rev. Gary Davis, in standard music notation and tablature with discography and photographs. Learn the secrets to the great blues player's techniques, and the distinctive harmonies that characterise the sound of this magical bygone era. Includes Two Step Candyman and Death Don't Have No Mercy.

This comprehensive two-volume set brings together all aspects of the blues from performers and musical styles to record labels and cultural issues, including regional evolution and history. Organized in an accessible A-to-Z format, the Encyclopedia of the Blues is an essential reference resource for information on this unique American music genre. For a full list of entries, contributors, and more, visit the Encyclopedia of the Blues website.

This stunning book charts the rich history of the blues, through the dazzling array of posters, album covers, and advertisements that have shaped its identity over the past hundred years. The blues have been one of the most ubiquitous but diverse elements of American popular music at large, and the visual art associated with this unique sound has been just as varied and dynamic. There is no better guide to this fascinating graphical world than Bill Dahl—a longtime music journalist and historian who has written liner notes for countless reissues of classic blues, soul, R&B, and rock albums. With his deep knowledge and incisive commentary—complementing more than three hundred and fifty lavishly reproduced images—the history of the blues comes musically and visually to life. What will astonish readers who thumb through these pages is the amazing range of ways that the blues have been represented—whether via album covers, posters, flyers, 78 rpm labels, advertising, or other promotional materials. We see the blues as it was first visually captured in the highly colorful sheet music covers of the early twentieth century. We see striking and hard-to-find label designs from labels big (Columbia) and small (Rhumboogie). We see William Alexander’s humorous artwork on postwar Miltone Records; the cherished ephemera of concert and movie posters; and Chess Records’ iconic early albums designed by Don Bronstein, which would set a new standard for modern album cover design. What these images collectively portray is the evolution of a distinctively American art form. And they do so in the richest way imaginable. The result is a sumptuous book, a visual treasury as alive in spirit as the music it so vibrantly captures.

From the preface: In order to study American folk guitar styles in depth, one is forced to turn to the country blues because nowhere else do recorded sources of instrumental folk guitar abound so profusely. It is in the blues that Negro musicians have explored and developed the finger style instrumental approach. Some of the exceptional blues masterpieces are assembled in this book along with the instruction necessary to play them.