Today marks an auspicious day in music history: the first recorded performance of Stephen Foster’s “Oh! Susannah,” the earliest hit song in U.S. history. Foster’s smash debuted in a Pittsburgh saloon. […]
Category: music
Bird’s birthday brings celebration to Kansas City
On August 29, 1920 Charles Parker, Jr. was born in Kansas City, Kansas. As Chuck Haddix writes in Bird: The Life and Music of Charlie Parker, the jazz icon’s launching […]
UIP adds the Journal of Mormon History
The University of Illinois Press is welcoming the Journal of Mormon History as the newest addition to the journals program. The Mormon History Association (MHA) is currently in its 50th […]
Survey Says!: The King Is Dead
This week marks the anniversary of the death (?) of Elvis Presley, a transformative cultural figure of the twentieth or any other century. If you have memories of that afternoon in 1977, […]
Pretty Good company for Murphy Hicks Henry
Murphy Hicks Henry, author of Pretty Good for a Girl: Women in Bluegrass, has been given a Distinguished Achievement Award from the International Bluegrass Musical Association (IBMA). The award is […]
The Tao of Ho
Eighty-five years ago today, out where the warm trade winds blow, Don Ho began life in Hawai’i, one of the nicer outposts of our current reality. In time, his mellow singing […]
New in paperback: spotlight on music makers
This month brings a number of new in paperback releases from the Fall 2015 season including four titles that delve into the deep well of of American music. George Gershwin: […]
Like a huwwicane
Monday marked the 75th anniversary of Bugs Bunny’s first appearance. Icon and Coyote-level mischief maker, tormentor of ducks and Fudds and violent cowboys, Bugs tapped into all kinds of pop […]
Blues you can’t lose
Today our 1915: Whatta Year! series turns to musician Willie Dixon, born on this date 100 years ago. Dixon brought the term “Hoochie Coochie man” to the mainstream and, oh, yeah, along […]
Michael Hicks signs Choir biography at BookExpo America
Author Michael Hicks will be signing copies of his book The Mormon Tabernacle Choir: A Biography at BookExpo America on Thursday, May 28 at 11am EDT. BookExpo America (BEA) is […]
Authors speak and sign at Printers Row
For the tenth consecutive year, the University of Illinois Press will have a large presence at the Chicago Tribune Printers Row Lit Fest. Festival goers can visit the University of […]
Trivia Wednesday
The average person considers a university press a rather humorless concern. Just look at a catalog and you’ll see pages of works by serious scholars, many of whom insist on addressing the […]