At the height of the Great Depression three fun-loving young musicians from the flatlands of Central Indiana began broadcasting a fifteen minute daily radio show on WOWO in Fort Wayne. Veterans of the vaudeville circuits, they performed without pay to promote local appearances for $15 per night. The show quickly drew a large following and this led to an opportunity to join the WLS National Barn Dance in Chicago. Their happy, sometimes zany antics proved to be exactly what a Depression-weary country needed. The line that began many of their songs, "Are you ready, Hezzie?" became part of the American lexicon. The Hoosier Hot Shots went on to make hundreds of phongraph records, appear in 22 movies and have their own nationwide radio show. This account of their boy-makes-good lives includes more than 80 photos, illustrations, letters written by one of the original Hot Shots, movie highlights, a discography and more.

This work features interviews with 51 leading ladies who starred in B-westerns, A-westerns, and television westerns. Some were well-known and others were not, but they all have fascinating stories to tell and they talk candidly about their careers and the many difficulties that went along with their jobs. Back then, conditions were often severe, locations were often harsh, and pay was often minimal. The actresses were sometimes the only females on location and they had to provide their own wardrobe and do their own make-up, as well as discourage the advances of over-affectionate co-stars. Despite these difficulties, most of the women interviewed for this agree that they had fun. Claudia Barrett, Virginia Carroll, Francis Dee, Lisa Gaye, Marie Harmon, Kathleen Hughes, Linda Johnson, Ruta Lee, Colleen Miller, Gigi Perreau, Ann Rutherford, Ruth Terry, and June Vincent are among the 51 actresses interviewed.

More than twenty years in the making, Country Music Records documents all country music recording sessions from 1921 through 1942. With primary research based on files and session logs from record companies, interviews with surviving musicians, as well as the 200,000 recordings archived at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum's Frist Library and Archives, this notable work is the first compendium to accurately report the key details behind all the recording sessions of country music during the pre-World War II era. This discography documents--in alphabetical order by artist--every commercial country music recording, including unreleased sides, and indicates, as completely as possible, the musicians playing at every session, as well as instrumentation. This massive undertaking encompasses 2,500 artists, 5,000 session musicians, and 10,000 songs. Summary histories of each key record company are also provided, along with a bibliography. The discography includes indexes to all song titles and musicians listed.

This study explores the personal, historical, and artistic influences that combined to form such dark and influential American masterpieces as 'The Iceman Cometh', 'The Emperor Jones', 'Mourning Becomes Electra', 'Hughie', and - arguably the finest tragedy ever written by an American - 'Long Day's Journey into Night'.

The Kentucky Irish American began life in 1898 as one of many ethnic newspapers in America, but by its final years it attracted an avid national audience of many ethnicities. From 1925, the KIA was owned and edited by the Barry family of Louisville: by John J. Barry to 1950, and by his son Michael to its demise in 1968. This anthology focuses on the Mike Barry years—a time of Cold War and Vietnam, of Kennedy, Nixon, McCarthy, Goldwater, and Happy Chandler. Under Mike's brilliant editorship, the KIA offered its readers a richly textured, pungent voice that combined humor with a constant push for social improvement in Kentucky and in the nation. Always the KIA was strong in its support of all things Irish, Catholic, and American. It was also an acerbic commentator on the absurdities of Kentucky politics. But the KIA was notable—and noticed—for its strong positions on national and international issues. Red Smith once described the KIA as "all the excuse any man needs for learning to read." Today's readers can now discover the pleasures of a livelier era in journalism.

From cradle to great, the comprehensive real story of Bill Monroe The Father of Bluegrass Music, Bill Monroe was a major star of the Grand Ole Opry for over fifty years; a member of the Country Music, Songwriters, and Rock and Roll Halls of Fame; and a legendary figure in American music. This authoritative biography sets out to examine his life in careful detail--to move beyond hearsay and sensationalism to explain how and why he accomplished so much. Former Blue Grass Boy and longtime music journalist Tom Ewing draws on hundreds of interviews, his personal relationship with Monroe, and an immense personal archive of materials to separate the truth from longstanding myth. Ewing tells the story of the Monroe family's musical household and Bill's early career in the Monroe Brothers duo. He brings to life Monroe's 1940s heyday with the Classic Bluegrass Band, the renewed fervor for his music sparked by the folk revival of the 1960s, and his declining fortunes in the years that followed. Throughout, Ewing deftly captures Monroe's relationships and the personalities of an ever-shifting roster of band members while shedding light on his business dealings and his pioneering work with Bean Blossom and other music festivals. Filled with a wealth of previously unknown details, Bill Monroe offers even the most devoted fan a deeper understanding of Monroe's towering achievements and timeless music.

This revised and greatly expanded edition of a well-established reference book presents 5105 feature length (four reels or more) Western films, from the early silent era to the present. More than 900 new entries are in this edition. Each entry has film title, release company and year, running time, color indication, cast listing, plot synopsis, and a brief critical review and other details. Not only are Hollywood productions included, but the volume also looks at Westerns made abroad as well as frontier epics, north woods adventures and nature related productions. Many of the films combine genres, such as horror and science fiction Westerns. The volume includes a list of cowboys and their horses and a screen names cross reference. There are more than 100 photographs.