Welcome to the first volume in an exciting new annual series that celebrates the year's best American writing about music and its culture, as selected by one of the genre's preeminent practitioners. Covering the gamut of contemporary styles--rock, pop, rap, jazz, blues, country--Guralnick has chosen the kind of pieces that send you right to the record store, by both established writers and bright new talents. With thirty selections drawn from more than a hundred sources, including mainstream magazines like theNew Yorker, music journals like Spin, and tiny 'zines and websites...

This is the second volume in an annual series that celebrates writing about music and its culture from a specific year. Selected by Nick Hornby from the year 2001 it covers a range of contemporary music styles. He has chosen pieces from an array of sources on topics from hip-hop on ecstasy and Cuban rappers to The Lion Sleeps Tonight and MerleFest. The writers featured include veterans as well as new talents such as: Courtney Love; Camden Joy; Rick Moody; Anthony DeCurtis; William Gay; Gary Giddins; M. Doughty; Eddie Dean; Richard Meltzer; Whitney Balliett; David Bowman; Ann Powers; and Chuck...

It's here: the third and latest volume in the series that you have come to rely upon for your music-reading fix. The 2002 volume will celebrate the year's best writing about music and its culture, as selected by Jonathan Lethem, best-selling novelist, music hound, and self-confessed closet rock-writer. With pieces on a dazzling array of topics from more than a hundred sources, the collection brings you remarkable essays by journalists and authors who are as serious about writing as they are about music. It's required reading for anyone who loves either art. Past contributors have included:...

It's here: the fourth and latest volume in the series that you have come to rely upon for your music reading fix. The 2003 volume will celebrate the year's best writing about music and its culture with a selection of pieces on a dazzling array of topics drawn from more than a hundred sources-remarkable essays by journalists and authors who are as serious about writing as they are about music.Past contributors have included: * Jonathan Lethem * David Rakoff * Mike Doughty * Lorraine Ali * Greil Marcus * Richard Meltzer * Robert Gordon * Sarah Vowell * Nick Tosches * Anthony DeCurtis * William...

Da Capo Best Music Writing has become one of the most eagerly awaited annuals of them all. Celebrating the year in music writing by gathering a rich array of essays, missives, and musings on every style of music from rock to hip-hop to R&B to jazz to pop to blues and more, it is essential reading for anyone who loves great music and accomplished writing. Scribes of every imaginable sort-novelists, poets, journalists, musicians-are gathered to create a multi-voiced snapshot of the year in music writing that, like the music it illuminates, is every bit as thrilling as it is riveting.Past...