Based on extensive field research in India and Pakistan, Richard K. Wolf’s The Voice in the Drum is a unique examination of how drumming and voices interconnect over vast areas […]
Category: music
New in paperback: creole culture and beer hall anarchists
Two UIP titles are available in paperback editions today. The Creolization of American Culture: William Sidney Mount and the Roots of Blackface Minstrelsy Painter William Sidney Mount created some of […]
Hear Our Truths: Black Girl Genius Week November 3-8
Ruth Nicole Brown’s book Hear Our Truths: The Creative Potential of Black Girlhood examines how Saving Our Lives Hear Our Truths, or SOLHOT, a radical youth intervention, provides a space […]
Chicken in the coffee pot: a pioneer’s blues tale
Steve Cushing’s book Pioneers of the Blues Revival is a treasure trove for blues fans who want to learn the stories behind such roots music giants as Mississippi John Hurt, […]
Happy birthday, Natalie Maines
Name one other banjo player who wears Prada. And I don’t mean Prada overalls. —Natalie Maines The lead singer of the breakout bluegrass trio the Dixie Chicks, Natalie Maines, was […]
Congratulations to Neil Rosenberg
Tonight, the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) will induct folklorist, musician, bluegrass historian, and University of Illinois Press author Neil V. Rosenberg into the International Bluegrass Hall of Fame at […]
Beyond “El Paso”: a story song survey
Story songs had won love from an admiring public since the days when drunken Vikings flung wandering skalds into a nearby volcano. When the wireless came along, story songs filled […]
Happy birthday, Marty Robbins
Country music superstar Marty Robbins was born on September 26, 1925. In three decades as a singer and songwriter Robbins placed a staggering 94 songs on Billboard’s country music charts. […]
For the love of wicked Feleena
There is a possibly apocryphal story about Loretta Lynn’s classic “Coal Miner’s Daughter.” Supposedly, Lynn’s original version of the song included ten (or eight or twelve) verses. Hearing it, her […]
Happy “Bird”-day
Jazz innovator Charlie “Bird” Parker was born on August 29, 1920 in Kansas City. Before his death at age 34, Parker transformed jazz with harmonic creativity and complex melodic saxophone lines. […]
UIP music titles honored with ARSC Awards
Several University of Illinois Press books were honored with the 2014 Awards for Excellence from the Association for Recorded Sound Collections. The winners will be acknowledged at the awards ceremony at […]
“James Brown is a freedom I created for humanity”
The release of the film Get On Up in early August rekindled interest in the life and music of James Brown. One of the most staggeringly influential entertainers in American […]