Celebrating the dark origins of our most American music, Country reveals a wild shadowland of history that encompasses blackface minstrels and yodeling cowboys; honky-tonk hell and rockabilly heaven; medieval myth and musical miscegenation; sex, drugs,...

The essential playlist of great writing about the music that rocked America, with fifty landmark pieces on Otis Redding, Janis Joplin, Lez Zepplin, and other rock n’ roll legends Jonathan Lethem and Kevin Dettmar's Shake It Up invites the reader into the...

In a 1969 conversation with Rolling Stone editor Jann Wenner, Bob Dylan proclaimed, "I don't give interviews." But in truth, he has spoken at length with print publications large and small and with broadcast media around the world, given numerous...

A Friendly Guide to Launching and Maintaining Your Musical Career It’s tough to make a living from one’s love of music, but Sheila E. Anderson shows readers how to do just that in How to Grow as a Musician. This encouraging yet realistic guide covers...

In this New York Times bestseller, Tina Turner—the long-reigning queen of rock & roll—reveals personal stories she’s never told before in print or film, about her complicated relationship with her mother, the tragic death of her son, and finally finding...

“A hot-rod joy ride through mid-20th-century American history” (The New York Times Book Review), this one-of-a-kind narrative masterfully recreates the rivalry between the two men who innovated the electric guitar’s amplified sound—Leo Fender and Les...

In the '60s and '70s, America's music scene was marked by raucous excess, reflected in the tragic overdoses of young superstars such as Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin. At the same time, the uplifting harmonies and sunny lyrics that propelled Karen...

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY  Rolling Stone * BookPage * Amazon *  Rough Trade Longlisted for the Carnegie Medal for Excellence “[A] riveting and inspiring history of punk’s hard-fought struggle in East Germany.” —The New York Times Book...

How music makes worship and how worship makes music in Evangelical churches Music is a nearly universal feature of congregational worship in American churches. Congregational singing is so ingrained in the experience of being at church that it is often...

From Sugarhill Gang to NWA to Biggie to Kanye, The Rap Year Book takes readers on a journey that begins in 1979, widely regarded as the moment rap became recognized as part of the cultural and musical landscape. New York Times and Washington Post...

NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLERNamed a Fall Read by Vogue, Esquire, The Washington Post, TIME, Vanity Fair and O, the Oprah Magazine. One of Daily Mail and Financial Times's Best Books of 2018.“There are very, very few people who occupy the ground that...

From rock and roll historian Ed Ward comes a comprehensive, authoritative, and enthralling cultural history of one of rock's most exciting eras.It's February 1964 and The Beatles just landed in New York City, where the NYPD, swarms of fans, and a crowd...

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERBased on a decade of research and reporting--as well as access to the Replacements' key principals, Paul Westerberg and Tommy Stinson--author Bob Mehr has fashioned something far more compelling than a conventional band bio...

(Music Sales America). This book provides an ample background of textual and historical information about Handel's Messiah . Though it arises from the author's work involved in his own edition in vocal and full score, its relevance is by no means...

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The brilliant coming-of-age-and-into-superstardom story of one of the greatest artists of all time, in his own words—featuring never-before-seen photos, original scrapbooks and lyric sheets, and the exquisite memoir he...

The singer, guitarist, and songwriter—best known for his work with Wilco—opens up about his past, his songs, the music, and the people who have inspired him in this personal memoir. This ideal addition to your Wilco collection also makes a perfect gift...

What is it about the music you love that makes you want to hear it again? Why do we crave a "hook" that returns, again and again, within the same piece? And how does a song end up getting stuck in your head? Whether it's a motif repeated throughout a...

Courtney Love has never been less than notorious. Her intelligence, ambition and appetite for confrontation have made her a target in a music industry still dominated by men. As Kurt Cobain's wife she was derided as an opportunistic groupie; as his widow...

Transformer, Lou Reed's most enduringly popular album, is described with varying labels: it's often called a glam rock album, a proto-punk album, a commercial breakthrough for Lou Reed, and an album about being gay. And yet, it doesn't neatly fit into...

By June 1993, when Washington, D.C.'s Fugazi released their third full-length album In on the Kill Taker, the quartet was reaching a thunderous peak in popularity and influence. With two EPs (combined into the classic CD 13 songs) and two albums (1990's...