John Lee -Sonny Boy- Williamson was one of the most popular blues harmonica players and singers from the late 1930s through the 1940s. Recording for the Bluebird Records and RCA Victor labels, Sonny Boy shaped Chicago's music scene with an innovative style that gave structure and speed to blues harmonica performance. His recording in 1937 of -Good Morning, School Girl, - followed by others made him a hit with Southern black audiences who had migrated north. Unfortunately, his popularity and recording career ended on June 1, 1948, when he was robbed and murdered in Chicago, Illinois. In 1980,...

As Earl Scruggs picked his banjo with machine gun precision at his 1945 debut at the Ryman Auditorium, he set in motion a successful career and enduring legacy that would eclipse anything the humble farm boy from North Carolina could have imagined. Scruggs's revolutionary three-finger roll patterns electrified audiences and transformed the banjo into a mainstream solo instrument pursued by innumerable musicians. In Earl Scruggs: Banjo Icon, Gordon Castelnero and David L. Russell chronicle the life and legacy of the man who single-handedly reinvigorated the five-string banjo and left an...

Americana is a music that defies definition. It isn t rock, although it does encompass rock. It isn t folk, but folk is there. It isn t Celtic, but it is woven with Celtic threads. It is a blend of forms, music that draws on a wide range of influences. Gathering these many genres together, Americana continually reinvents itself and actively tells the story of its origins and its future. The Americana Revolution: From Country and Blues Roots to the Avett Brothers, Mumford & Sons, and Beyond is an informal social history that describes Americana as both a musical genre and a movement, showing...

Earl Scruggs chronicles the life and legacy of the man who revolutionized the five-string banjo and left an indelible mark on bluegrass and folk music. Including interviews with the Scruggs family and more than 60 notable musicians, this narrative biography testifies to Scruggs's enduring influence and sheds light on the history of bluegrass.