Bluegrass, folk, blues, Cajun, Celtic, and country music-these traditional genres have recently fostered a popular explosion of music and dance festivals throughout the United States. From Every Stage: Images of America's Roots Music is a photo narrative, capturing the emotion, excitement, and energy of performances by greats and up-and-comers in the broad spectrum of roots-derived music in America.

Stephanie P. Ledgin brings thirty years of writing and photojournalism to this lavishly illustrated book. Two hundred black-and-white and color photographs depict singers,...

From indigenous music to Pete Seeger and Bruce Springsteen singing "This Land Is Your Land" side-by-side at the pre-inaugural concert for our first African American president, folk music has been at the center of America's history. Thomas Jefferson wooed his bride-to-be with fiddle playing. Stephen Foster captured the mood of our country in transition. The Carter Family adapted music from across the pond to Appalachia. Paul Robeson carried folk music of many lands to the world stage. Woody Guthrie's dust bowl ballads spoke to the common man, while Sixties protest music put folk on the map,...