The Sunny Side Of Appalachia
West Virginia author B. L. Dotson-Lewis has published her third book on the people and culture of the Appalachian region.
The Sunny Side of Appalachia: Bluegrass from the Grassroots traces the early days of the music through first person oral histories from seminal grassers Everett Lilly, Jesse McReynolds, Bobby Osborne and Aubrey Holt. Their stories are related verbatim, retaining the dialectical quirks of the original conversations.
The focus is on how these early artists told the stories of mountain people through their songs, and how they continued to do so against the odds stacked against them – dismissive record companies, low wages and small town venues.
Lewis also includes a narrative on Bill Monroe based on her research of available resources, and personal testimony from friends and business associates.
The book runs to 184 pages and is printed with large text and many black and white photos. It sells for $15.95 and can be ordered online.
Email This Post
| Print | Top | 0 Comments
Michael Roux, publicist at the University Of Illinois Press, recently shared some exciting information about the forthcoming book about Hazel Dickens that is due to be published in June.Working Girl Blues: The Life And Music Of Hazel Dickens is a new volume in the University Of Illinois Press Music in...
Fans of Red Allen's music will be delighted to learn that there is to be a book published about him shortly. Author, Dennis Satterlee's book, Teardrops In My Eyes - The Music Of Harley "Red" Allen, is scheduled to be made available in November, published by The Plucked String Foundation Inc. Press.
The...
Joe Tennis is a weekly features writer for the Bristol Herald Courier, but he's also a published author. His newest book was just recently published by Overmountain Press.
The book, titled Beach to Bluegrass: Places to Brake on Virginia's Longest Road, is all about places of interest close to U.S....
The Grand Ole Opry - The Making Of An American Icon is the name of a new book, released today by Hachette Book Group. It was written by Colin Escott, who has a number of previous works on the history of American popular music, including Good Rockin' Tonight: Sun Records & the Birth of Rock & Roll.
What...
Former Dillard and current fiction writer Mitch Jayne has just learned that he will be receiving the 2008 Governor's Humanities Book Award from the Missouri Humanities Council.
The award is in recognition of his book, Fiddler's Ghost, published in 2007. It has been widely praised by critics for its...
September is very significant in the life of Bill Monroe, inasmuch as it is the month when he was born (September 13, 1911), and and the one in which he passed away (September 9, 1996).
Recently, I learned of a new book about Bill Monroe that was published yesterday, Bill Monroe & Friends, written...
Last week we shared the sad news about the passing of Wallace Lewis, an original member of the storied Lewis Family.
The family has posted a lovely remembrance page on their official web site, which includes the text of the eulogy delivered at his funeral, as well as links to his published obituary...
One of the television attractions for April is the PBS documentary series Appalachia: A History of Mountains and People. The four-part series begins on April 9 and continues on each subsequent Thursday until the end of the month.
Already released (on April 1) is the companion soundtrack CD entitled...
After what can only be described as a labour of love, Roland White has announced that his book, The Essential Clarence White - Bluegrass Guitar Leads, is now available.
The 102-page spiral-bound book features 14 songs and tunes with variations, in notation and tablature, and comes complete with 2...
Photojournalist Phil Zimmerman has released a book of his photos taken during the early days of the bluegrass festival era. Bluegrass Time: A Musician's Photographs of the Early Days of Bluegrass Festivals contains 95 photos taken between 1972 and 1984 in a 64 page book.
The perspective of the book...
Tom and Lucy Warlick have written a book on the WBT Briarhoppers, an "accidental" hillbilly band formed to perform on Charlotte, NC radio station WBT in 1934. The group was formed when an advertiser, Consolidated Drug Trade Company of Chicago, indicated a desire for a hillbilly-themed show. They remained...
Summer's barely begun and Gene Senyak's research into banjo camps, college programs, and resident workshops has already taken hin to four camps, three college programs, and one resident workshop...that's over 3,000 miles at $3/gallon! His first field report is in this month's Banjo Newsletter.
The...
Leave a comment
Comments are open and unmoderated for our registered users, only your first comment will require approval before publication. Comments do not necessarily reflect the views of The Bluegrass Blog. Obscene, abusive, silly, or annoying remarks may be deleted, but the fact that particular comments remain on the site in no way constitutes an endorsement of their content by The Bluegrass Blog.
You must