Music On The Air

The old gospel song invited listeners to turn their radios on and hear the . . . music in the air. Now return to the eventful days when Americans could “turn the lights down low and listen to the Master’s radio” through this colorful and inspiring history of Christian music and ministry during the golden age of gospel radio. Learn the stories behind such legendary groups as Blackwood Brothers, Statesmen, Gaithers, Back to the Bible Quartet, Old Fashioned Revival Hour Quartet, Haven of Rest Quartet, and Stamps Quartet. Follow the careers of the great songwriters of the radio days, men such as Albert Brumley, Merrill Dunlop, John W. Peterson, and Stuart Hamblen. Read about the evangelists who pioneered Christian broadcasting, such as Billy Graham, Charles Fuller, Jack Wyrtzen, Percy Crawford, Paul Myers, Torrey Johnson, Walter Maier, Theodore App, and Paul Vader. And learn the stores behind the greatest gospel songs of the country, from “Some Golden Daybreak” to “Beyond the Sunset,” plus more than 100 others!

The co-founder of Rolling Stone magazine, Ralph J. Gleason was among the most respected journalists, interviewers, and critics writing about popular music in the latter half of the twentieth century. As a longtime contributor to the San Francisco Chronicle, Down Beat, and Ramparts, his expertise and insights about music, musicians, and cultural trends were unparalleled, whether his subject was jazz, folk, pop, or rock and roll. He was the only music journalist included on President Richard Nixon’s infamous “Enemies List,” which Gleason himself considered “the highest honor a man’s country can bestow upon him.” This sterling anthology, edited by Gleason’s son Toby, himself a forty-year veteran of the music business, spans Ralph J. Gleason’s four decades as popular music’s preeminent commentator. Drawing from a rich variety of sources, including Gleason’s books, essays, interviews, and LP record album liner notes, it is essential reading for writers, historians, scholars, and music lovers of every stripe.

Music in the Air is a study on fiddle music and folk traditions. It is also a look into the broad influences that folk music has on fiddlers? compositions and their practices. By exploring the oral histories of seven, life-long musicians, Erynn Marshall illuminates the diversity of these music traditions and the culmination of the fiddle song genres. Through the studies of the musicians lives, oral transmissions, social contexts, and analysis of various genres within the contexts, Marshall expresses how the instrumental and vocal tradition have merged and transformed over time, blurring the preset boundaries and perceptions of the art. Included with this intense survey of Appalachian tradition is a CD of Marshall's field and archival recordings of West Virginia musicians.

For 10 years, AIR Studios Montserrat produced many of the biggest hits that defined the 1980s. On September 17, 1989, it all ended in a flash of wind, rain, and fury. The AIR Studios Montserrat recording studio, owned by Sir George Martin (often referred to as the "Fifth Beatle"), operated from 1979 to 1989 on the small picturesque Caribbean island of Montserrat. Playing host to some of the biggest recording artists of the 1980s, this studio produced many of the hit songs integral to the musical fabric of that decade. The isolated tropical environment of the studio's location on Montserrat created a unique creative environment not found anywhere else in the world. To many of those who worked and recorded there, it is regarded as a very "special place", an experience that left an indelible imprint on their lives. Sadly, the storied history of AIR Studios Montserrat was suddenly cut short when the destructive forces of Hurricane Hugo battered the island in September of 1989. Over 30 years later, the remains of the studio lay in ruin as the island reclaims the land that was once creative fertile ground for artists such as The Police, Dire Straits, Paul McCartney, Duran Duran, and Elton John. The prolific musical output from AIR Studios Montserrat cemented its place in music history and world culture. The studio's sudden demise at the hands of Hurricane Hugo creates an emotional ending to an important artistic enclave that touched so many people around the world. The story of its creation, operation, and demise needs to be told so it can be appreciated by the millions of music fans whose lives were defined by the music recorded there.

Started by the National Life and Accident Insurance Company in 1925, WSM became one of the most influential and exceptional radio stations in the history of broadcasting and country music. WSM gave Nashville the moniker “Music City USA” as well as a rich tradition of music, news, and broad-based entertainment. With the rise of country music broadcasting and recording between the 1920s and ‘50s, WSM, Nashville, and country music became inseparable, stemming from WSM’s launch of the Grand Ole Opry, popular daily shows like Noontime Neighbors, and early morning artist-driven shows such as Hank Williams on Mother’s Best Flour. Sparked by public outcry following a proposal to pull country music and the Opry from WSM-AM in 2002, Craig Havighurst scoured new and existing sources to document the station’s profound effect on the character and self-image of Nashville. Introducing the reader to colorful artists and businessmen from the station’s history, including Owen Bradley, Minnie Pearl, Jim Denny, Edwin Craig, and Dinah Shore, the volume invites the reader to reflect on the status of Nashville, radio, and country music in American culture.

Sweet Air rewrites the history of early twentieth-century pop music in modernist terms. Tracking the evolution of popular regional genres such as blues, country, folk, and rockabilly in relation to the growth of industry and consumer culture, Edward P. Comentale shows how this music became a vital means of exploring the new and often overwhelming feelings brought on by modern life. Comentale examines these rural genres as they translated the traumas of local experience--the racial violence of the Delta, the mass exodus from the South, the Dust Bowl of the Texas panhandle--into sonic form. Considering the accessibility of these popular music forms, he asserts the value of music as a source of progressive cultural investment, linking poor, rural performers and audiences to an increasingly vast network of commerce, transportation, and technology.

This is the story of the Light Crust Doughboys phenomenon, from their debut broadcast in 1930 to their contemporary live performances.