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Bluegrass Breakdown: The Making Of The Old Southern Sound
This is a detailed work placing bluegrass music into a historical, as well as musicological, cultural, and imaginative context. Robert Cantwell has taught at Kenyon College, the University of Iowa, Georgetown University, and the University of North Carolina. "Bluegrass Breakdown" is his first book, and it won the ASCAP-Deems Taylor Award and the Ambassador of Honour Book Award.
- GenresMusicHistoryNonfiction
309 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 1984
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
December 13, 2012
An entertaining examination of bluegrass music and culture for the non-scholar. If you are interested in bluegrass music and culture of music making in the Appalachian South, this book is worth picking up.
If you are an academic or scholar in music studies... remember this book is from the perspective of a folklorist, more interested in music as culture than an actual analysis of music.
At any rate, this book is highly entertaining for what it is, and certainly worth looking at.
If you are an academic or scholar in music studies... remember this book is from the perspective of a folklorist, more interested in music as culture than an actual analysis of music.
At any rate, this book is highly entertaining for what it is, and certainly worth looking at.
July 28, 2016
I love how a deep, intelligent take on something can shed light in other places.
Cantwell's Bluegrass Breakdown is a fascinating look at Bill Monroe and how he created not only "the old Southern sound", a.k.a. bluegrass, but also the very idea of "the old Southern sound." As such it is not only about music, but also about the influence of history and individuals upon the creation of culture, the business of music, and by extension so many other relevant topics including race and class.
I would recommend this book to anyone interested in any type of popular music, but it's especially relevant to country music.
I first read this book in the 1990s, but when I picked it up recently I was blown away all over again.
Cantwell's Bluegrass Breakdown is a fascinating look at Bill Monroe and how he created not only "the old Southern sound", a.k.a. bluegrass, but also the very idea of "the old Southern sound." As such it is not only about music, but also about the influence of history and individuals upon the creation of culture, the business of music, and by extension so many other relevant topics including race and class.
I would recommend this book to anyone interested in any type of popular music, but it's especially relevant to country music.
I first read this book in the 1990s, but when I picked it up recently I was blown away all over again.
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March 17, 2014Robert Cantwell, AM'67
Author
From our pages (Spring/86): "This book won the ASCAP-Deems Taylor award for 1985."
Author
From our pages (Spring/86): "This book won the ASCAP-Deems Taylor award for 1985."
January 10, 2008
Though a dated book, it provides a good history of bluegrass music.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews