Singer Songwriters

This pioneering work in Canadian pop music criticism analyses the work of some of the country's most acclaimed musicians, winners of national and international awards and recognition. Marco Adria examines the songs of eight Canadian artists who belong to pop music's literati--singer-songerwriters whose work reflects considerable refinement and taste. Gordon Lightfoot, Leonard Cohen, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Bruce Cockburn, Murray McLaughlan, Jane Siberry and k.d. lang are all artists with considerable insight both in Canada and abroad. Individual chapters on each offer thoughtful accounts of their careers and their achievements as interpreters of contemporary popular culture. Music of our Times presents new insights and new understandings of Canada's most acclaimed musicians.

The Singer-Songwriter in Europe is the first book to explore and compare the multifaceted discourses and practices of this figure within and across linguistic spaces in Europe and in dialogue with spaces beyond continental borders. The concept of the singer-songwriter is significant and much-debated for a variety of reasons. Many such musicians possess large and zealous followings, their output often esteemed politically and usually held up as the nearest popular music gets to high art, such facets often yielding sizeable economic benefits. Yet this figure, per se, has been the object of scant critical discussion, with individual practitioners celebrated for their isolated achievements instead. In response to this lack of critical knowledge, this volume identifies and interrogates the musical, linguistic, social and ideological elements that configure the singer-songwriter and its various equivalents in Europe, such as the French auteur-compositeur-interprète and the Italian cantautore, since the late 1940s. Particular attention is paid to the emergence of this figure in the post-war period, how and why its contours have changed over time and space subsequently, cross-cultural influences, and the transformative agency of this figure as regards party and identity politics in lyrics and music, often by means of individual case studies. The book's polycentric approach endeavours to redress the hitherto Anglophone bias in scholarship on the singer-songwriter in the English-speaking world, drawing on the knowledge of scholars from across Europe and from a variety of academic disciplines, including modern language studies, musicology, sociology, literary studies and history.

The times they are a-changing: Who would have expected Bob Dylan to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature as the first songwriter ever? And the British Bob Dylan, i.e. Donovan, stated: Wir haben die Poesie, die Philosophie und Literatur, wir haben Mythen und Legenden in das Musikbusiness gebracht. These are some of the reasons why this book is dedicated to the use of songwriters in English Language Teaching. As all edited volumes in the SELT (Studies in English Language Teaching) series, it follows a triple aim: 1.Linking TEFL with related academic disciplines, 2.Balancing TEFL research and classroom practice, 3.Combining theory, methodology and exemplary lessons. This triple aim is reflected in the three-part structure of this volume: Part A (Theory), Part B (Methodology), Part C (Classroom) with six concrete lesson plans.

The 1970s saw a wave of singer-songwriters flood the airwaves and concert halls across the United States. This book organizes the stories of approximately 150 artists whose songs created the soundtrack to people's lives during the decade that forever shaped musical composition. Some well-known, others less known, these artists were the song-poets and storytellers who wrote their own music and lyrics. Featuring biographical information and discography overviews for each artist, this is the only one-volume encyclopedic overview of this topic. Featured artists include Carole King and James Taylor, Joni Mitchell and Jackson Browne, Bob Dylan and Paul Simon, Bruce Springsteen, Gordon Lightfoot, Elvis Costello and dozens of other song-poets of the seventies.

Women Singer-Songwriters in Rock provides an overview of the women's singer-songwriter movement during the 1990s with detailed analyses of the music of Alanis Morissette, PJ Harvey, Courtney Love, Liz Phair, Tori Amos, Sarah McLachlan, and Sheryl Crow. The book focuses on the exploration of women's issues within the music, examining how the music's feminist content was able to filter into the popular culture.

Singer-Songwriters and Musical Open Mics is an ethnographic exploration of New York City’s live music events where musicians signup and perform short sets. This sociological study dispels the common assumption that open mics are culturally monolithic and reserved for novice musicians. Open mics allow musicians at different locations within their musical development and career to interactively perform, practice, and network with other musicians. Important themes in the book include: the tension between self and society in the creative process, issues of creative authenticity and authorship, and on-going cultural changes central to the Do-It-Yourself cultural zeitgeist of the early 21st century. The open mic’s cultural antecedents include a radio format, folk hootenannies, and the jazz jam session. Drawing from multiple qualitative methods, Aldredge describes how open mics have etched a vital organizational place in the western and urban musical landscape. Open mics represent a creative place where the boundaries of practicing and performing seemingly blur. This allows for a range of social settings from more competitive, stratified, and homogenous music scenes to culturally diverse weekly events often stretching late into the night.

This is a book that includes all the music reviews I wrote in the last ten years. From obscure singer songwrites like Mike Elosh, through well known names like Guy Clark, this is an overview of what happened to the modern troubadours on the threshold of the 21st century. This edition now includes a long interview with David Munyon.