American epic
Subtitle: when music gave America her voice
By: Bernard MacMahon & Allison McGourty with Elijah Wald
Contributors: McGourty, Allison, author; Wald, Elijah, author
Edition: First Touchstone hardcover edition.
Publisher: Touchstone; Atria Books
Published: 2017
Language: eng
Number of pages: 279
ISBN-13: 9781501135606; 9781501135613
Subjects: Popular music; Popular culture; History and criticism; Sound recording industry; Musicians; Interviews; Pictorial works; History
Other titles: T Bone Burnett, Robert Redford, Jack White present American epic :; American epic (Television program)
Description: American Epic explores the pivotal recording journeys at the height of the Roaring Twenties, when music scouts armed with cutting-edge portable recording technology captured the breadth of American music and made it available to the world. Ranging the mountains, prairies, rural villages, and urban ghettos of America, they discovered a wealth of unexpected talent. The recordings they made of the ethnic groups of America helped democratize the nation and gave a voice to all its people: a woman picking cotton in Mississippi, a coal miner in Virginia, or a tobacco farmer in Tennessee could have his or her thoughts and feelings heard on records played in living rooms across the country. These records blended the intertwining strands of Europe, Africa, the Pacific Islands, and the Americas and formed the bedrock for modern music as we know it. Bernard MacMahon and Allison McGourty spent years traveling around the U.S. on a mission to rescue this history. Their account, written with the assistance of author Elijah Wald, continues the journey of the television program and features additional stories, exclusive photographs, and unearthed artwork.
Notes: At head of title: T Bone Burnett, Robert Redford, Jack White present.

"The companion book to the PBS series."

Includes bibliographical references.
Table of contents: title: The first time America heard herself; title: I'll get a break someday : Will Shade and the Memphis Jug Band; title: In the shadow of Clinch Mountain : The Carter Family; title: My heart keeps singing : Elder J.E. Burch; title: Gonna die with my hammer in my hand: Dick Justice and the Williamson Brothers; title: Down the dirt road: Charley Patton and the Mississippi Delta Blues; title: Chant of the snake dance: The Hopi Indian Chanters; title: Bird of paradise: Joseph Kekuku; title: Mal hombre: Lydia Mendoza; title: Allons à Lafayette: The Breaux Family; title: Avalon blues: Mississippi John Hurt; title: The American epic sessions; title: Travel and the crew.