The definitive biography of Alan Lomax-from John Szwed,"the best music biographer in the business" (L.A. Weekly).
One of the most remarkable figures of the twentieth century, Alan Lomax was best known for bringing legendary musicians like Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Muddy Waters, Lead Belly, and Burl Ives to the radio and introducing folk music to a mass audience. Now John Szwed, the acclaimed biographer of Miles Davis and Sun Ra, presents the first biography of Lomax, a man who was as influential as he was controversial-trailed for years by the FBI, criticized for his folk-...
The definitive biography of Alan Lomax-from John Szwed,"the best music biographer in the business" (L.A. Weekly).
Revelatory . . . one of the most briskly revealing pieces of jazz biography that I ve read. Richard Brody, The New Yorker When Billie Holiday first stepped into a recording studio in November 1933, it marked the beginning of what is arguably the most remarkable and influential career in twentieth-century popular music. Her voice weathered countless shifts in popular taste, and today new reincarnations of her continue to arrive, most recently in the form of singers like Amy Winehouse and Adele. Most of the writing on Holiday has focused on the tragic details of her...
Revelatory . . . one of the most briskly revealing pieces of jazz biography that I ve read. Richard Brody, The New Yorker When Bil...