Page 225, 320, 362
Title
Blues records, January 1943 to December 1966
Authors
Mike Leadbitter, Neil Slaven
Publisher
Hanover Books, 1968
Original from
the University of Michigan
Digitized
28 Aug 2007
Length
381 pages
Page 225, 320, 362
Title
Blues records, January 1943 to December 1966
Authors
Mike Leadbitter, Neil Slaven
Publisher
Hanover Books, 1968
Original from
the University of Michigan
Digitized
28 Aug 2007
Length
381 pages
Page 449, 469
Title
Notes
Author
Minnesota Crop Improvement Association
Publisher
Music Library Association, 1960
The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia: Revised and Updated Edition |
If any popular musician merits an 800-plus page encyclopedia, it is Bob Dylan. This massive effort covers many of his songs, albums, and film work, as well as just about every personality associated with the folk singer/rock star. But this is no dry reference tome: Dylan expert Gray (Mother: The Frank Zappa Story; Song and Dance Man III: The Art of Bob Dylan) writes in the brash and opinionated style often associated with the British popular music press (he is, after all, a Briton). For example, writing of Dylan's onetime lover Joan Baez, he notes the "strident gauchery of her rigid delivery." While he praises Robbie Robertson's "intelligent, never-faltering, beguiling guitar work," he chides the "ego and domination" of his takeover of the Band in the post-Dylan years. Entries also cover diverse influences from Bertold Brecht to T.S. Eliot to Blind Willie Johnson. Bottom Line Gray freely quotes from a variety of sources, in addition to relying on his own considerable knowledge, helpfully including source notes at the end of most entries. Overall, this is an amazingly well-researched and surprisingly readable work. Recommended for larger public and all music libraries. [The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland will host an exhibit on Bob Dylan through September; Gray will speak at the museum on August 30. Ed.] Dave Valencia, King Cty. Lib. Syst., WA
Starred Review. Fans of Bob Dylan have a multitude of choices when it comes to biographies and retrospectives, but author Michael Gray (Song & Dance Man #3: The Art of Bob Dylan) outdistances them all with this voluminous collection of all things Dylan. Over the course of 823 pages Gray considers everything from railroad imagery in Dylan's songs to his use of nursery rhymes, covering the topics thoughtfully and thoroughly. An entry on Rubin "Hurricane" Carter details the plight of the wrongfully jailed boxer immortalized in Dylan's song "Hurricane," including not only a biography of the fighter, but details of the song's recording and live performance. Even the briefest of encounters merits an entry, such as when Neil Diamond challenged Dylan to top him as he came offstage. Dylan's reply: "Waddaya want me to do-go onstage and fall asleep?" Gray's knowledge of his subject is seemingly boundless, yet he manages to maintain a critical eye and keep Dylan's work in perspective. "Unbelievable," a song off Dylan's Under the Red Sky album, is called "a hopeless piece of rockist sludge picked from the obscurity of the album and issued as a single. Almost any other track would have fared better ." While Gray is certainly a fan, it's this impartiality that fuels the book and gives it weight. Insightful and entertaining, Gray's tome will broaden appreciation of the artist, his influences and his legacy. 100 b&w illustrations.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Rock 'n' roll historian and Bob Dylan authority Gray offers a detailed volume featuring entries related to Dylan's life, artists who influenced him and were influenced by him, musical styles he created, and background stories of specific Dylan songs and recordings. Gray states in his preface that this work was prompted by friends and readers of his books (Song & Dance Man: The Art of Bob Dylan, 1972, and its 900-page revised edition, 2000) who suggested that he present some of that material in a more "reference-based" way.
Most of the entries are sketches of musicians, although Gray includes actors, authors, and other nonmusicians. These entries provide brief biographies and then explain how the people are connected to Dylan: how they worked with him, influenced or were influenced by him, and which of his songs they performed or recorded. The 3-page entry for Johnny Cash, for example, tells of Cash's defense of Dylan when Columbia Records wanted to drop him, their first meeting at the Gaslight Cafe in Greenwich Village, and their duo performances and recordings.
Gray's opinions and editorializing are prevalent throughout. This makes for unique entries, such as Interviews and the myth of their rarity (in which he claims Dylan actually averaged one interview per month over 40 years) and Dylan being "bored" by his acoustic material 1965-66, the myth of. In fact, the entire book is written in a refreshingly relaxed manner, as befits a music critic and fan.
The volume comes with more than 100 black-and-white illustrations and an accompanying CD-ROM with a searchable PDF version of the text. Although there is another published Dylan reference work, Oliver Trager's Keys to the Rain: The Definitive Bob Dylan Encyclopedia (Billboard, 2004), the current volume is a valuable addition to academic and large public library collections, primarily because of Gray's knowledge and reputation as a Dylan expert. Steven York
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
The Official Price Guide to Records, 16th Edition |
“Wait! Don’t throw out those old albums sitting in the back of your closet! Not without consulting Jerry Osborne’s Official Price Guide to Records.” — Entertainment Weekly
The Official® Price Guide to Records 16th Edition is the most accurate and up-to-date price guide to records. Written by Jerry Osborne, the leading expert in the field, this essential music sourcebook features values for more than one million records and includes listings of singles and albums by more than 40,000 artists representing every style of music, including rock and roll, country and western, soul, pop, jazz, blues, easy listening, new wave, punk, alternative, R&B, and many more. This comprehensive new edition is the only price guide record collectors will ever need.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
·Unique 10-point grading system for more precise record grading.
·Indexed by artist to find record values fast and easy.
·Invaluable information on records of every speed, size, and format.
·Complete guide to Canadian pressings.
·Tips on buying and selling on the Internet.
·Exclusive buyers-sellers directory.
“Jerry Osborne has compiled the most comprehensive series of record collecting handbooks” — Rolling Stone Magazine
“Jerry Osborne is…the guru of record collecting. He was the first…to compile a price
guide….” — Gannett News Service
“Checking out the record listings in Osborne’s guide is as much fun as a sock hop!”
— People magazine
“The best record guides are by Jerry Osborne, whose books have become the blue books
for dealers and collectors.” — Esquire magazine
Jerry Osborne is Mr. Music -- there's no doubt about that! His weekly feature, "Mr. Music" -- has been in newspaper syndication since 1986. He has been a record collector for nearly 40 years, and an author of record price guides and reference works since 1975! Plus, he's a blast to work with -- what more could a hard-working editor ask for? If you have the chance to listen to one of Jerry's radio or TV interviews, don't miss the opportunity.
OFFICIAL PRICE GUIDE TO RECORDS was growing so fast and furious that we had to grow the size of the book or it would burst at the seams! The 12th edition has over 600 pages of listings and photos of LPs, 45s and more.
--Randy Ladenheim-Gil, Editor, House of Collectibles --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Between Midnight and Day: The Last Unpublished Blues Archive |
"Spend time with the 120 b&w photos; they reveal the complex, pressing emotions that drove the music." -- Frank-John Hadley, Downbeat Magazine, April 2004
Between Midnight and Day: The Last Unpublished Blues Archive celebrates the rich heritage of one of America’s greatest cultural legacies, the blues. Dick Waterman has been representing and photographing blues artists for over fifty years and in Between Midnight and Day, he collects these rare images, many previously unseen, and illuminates them with his own first-hand commentary offering his unique perspective as an agent, representative, photographer, and friend to some of the most influential figures in American music. Waterman includes personal recollections and 120 color photographs of blues legends like Buddy Guy, John Lee Hooker, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Chuck Berry, Ray Charles, Bob Dylan, Son House, "Mississippi" John Hurt, Skip James, Janis Joplin, B.B. King, Fred McDowell, Bonnie Raitt, Otis Rush, Roosevelt Sykes, Big Mama Thornton, Sippie Wallace, Muddy Waters, Junior Wells, Bukka White, and Howlin’ Wolf. Contributors include critically acclaimed music biographer Peter Guralnick, Grammy award-winning musician Bonnie Raitt, and author Chris Murray.
Baby, Let Me Follow You Down: The Illustrated Story of the Cambridge Folk Years |
Page 54
A great history of the classic 1960s Boston folk scene by two of those who made it classic. --staff pick, New England FolkWaves
A lavish, comprehensive portrait of a particular place and time that shaped so much of the folk scene community today. . . . A masterpiece of oral history [that] demands a position on any folkie's must read list. --Folk Alliance Newsletter
Long out of print, Baby, Let Me Follow You Down is a classic in the history of American popular culture. The book tells the story of the folk music community in Cambridge, Massachusetts, from its beginnings in living rooms and Harvard Square coffeehouses in the late 1950s to the heyday of the folk music revival in the early 1960s. Hundreds of historical photographs, rescreened for this edition, and dozens of interviews combine to re-create the years when Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, and a lively band of Cambridge folksingers led a generation in the rediscovery of American folk music. Compiled by two musicians who were active participants in the Cambridge folk scene, the volume documents a special time in United States culture when the honesty and vitality of traditional folk music were combined with the raw power of urban blues and the high energy of electric rock and roll to create a new American popular music.
Page 988
Title
Journal of American folklore, Volume 91
Author
American Folklore Society
Publisher
Published for the American Folk-lore Society by Houghton, Mifflin, and Co., 1978
Original from
the University of Michigan
Digitized
20 May 2006
Subjects
Folklore
Manners and customs
United States
Dictionary of North Carolina Biography: Vol. 5, P-S |
A volume . . . rich in detail and human drama.
Charlotte Observer
Primer of historical personalities. . . . A tribute to a remarkable editor, Bill Powell, and his legion of dedicated contributors.
Roy Parker, Jr., contributing editor, Fayetteville Observer-Times
The essential starting point for learning about the people who defined the character of the Tar Heel state.
William S. Price, Jr., Division of Archives and History, North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources
There is no other state with a biographical dictionary of comparable scope and quality.
American Reference Books Annual
This volume of 456 entries marks the completion of the Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, the most comprehensive state project of its kind. Taken together, the six volumes provide information on more than three thousand notable North Carolinians—native and adopted—whose accomplishments and occasional misdeeds span four centuries. A planned supplementary volume will include an index to all the volumes.
Also available
Dictionary of North Carolina Biography
Volume 1, A-C
ISBN 0-8078-1329-X, $49.95
Volume 2, D-G
ISBN 0-8078-1656-6, $49.95
Volume 3, H-K
ISBN 0-8078-1806-2, $49.95
Volume 4, L-O
ISBN 0-8078-1918-2, $49.95
Volume 5, P-S
ISBN 0-8078-2100-4, $49.95
North Carolina/Biography
Page 465
To be included in the 24-volume set of ANB (1999), a person had to have died before 1996; the first supplement adds 400 biographies, primarily of people who died between 1996 and early 2001. Among those making their first appearance in ANB are George Burns, Eldridge Cleaver, Greer Garson, Barbara Jordan, Stanley Kubrick, and Walter Payton. Some individuals (Jean-Michel Basquiat, Diamond Jim Brady, Eliot Ness) missing from the original volumes have also been added. The "Index by Occupations and Realms of Renown" has been slightly reformatted and encompasses entries from both the supplement and its parent set. RBB
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.
"Picking up where the American National Biography left off...Supplement I maintains the ANB's format and quality throughout....Every library holding ANB will want Supplement I; those lacking the original set should reconsider."--Choice "The first Supplement adds 400 biographies."--Booklist "Politicians, entertainers, writers, scientists and outlaws who have helped shape our nation are depicted in this excellent massive work. Highly Recommended."--History Media Review
--This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.
Pages 19, 48, 36
Title
Jazz journal, Volume 28
Publisher
Novello & Co., 1975
Original from
the University of Virginia
Digitized
12 Feb 2010
The American Book of the Dead |
The American Book of the Dead is the definitive encyclopedic guidebook to the long, strange cultural trip taken by one of America's most innovative, awe-inspiring rock groups and its fans. With rare, never-before-published photographs and over 750 entries, this kaleidoscopic look at the Grateful Dead takes you on a journey to the crossroads of music and history to see how one band changed the American musical tradition. Deadheads, and indeed anyone who loves rock and roll, will enjoy and use this ultimate celebration of the Grateful Dead - their roots, their music, their enduring influence on musicians, songwriters, and performers.
What's the meaning of "The Eleven"? Who were the Warlocks? What's the connection between Harry Belafonte and the Dead? The answers to these and other questions can be found here, amid profiles of the Dead's members and dozens of the artists whose work influenced them; exhaustive analyses of individual songs; explanations of countercultural phenomena (Ken Kesey's Acid Tests); and scads of tie-dyed trivia. -- Entertainment Weekly
With never-before-published photos and more than 800 wide-ranging entries, this panoramic look at one of America's most innovative and beloved bands is "a rare encyclopedia that should be savored from beginning to end. Essential." (The Billboard Rock 'n Roll Readers Guide). 190 photos. SimonSays web site feature.
Page 98
Title
Jazz times, Volume 31, Issues 1-5
Publisher
Jazztimes, 2001
Original from
the University of Michigan
Digitized
14 Feb 2008
Subjects
Jazz
Music / Genres & Styles / Jazz
Page 71
Blues: the Basics |
Blues: The Basics gives a brief introduction to a century of the blues; it is ideal for students and interested listeners who want to learn more about this treasured American artform. The book is organized chronologically, focusing on the major eras in blues's growth and development. It opens with a chapter defining the blues form and detailing the major genres within it. Next, the author gives the beginning blues fan points on how to listen to and truly enjoy the music. The heart of the book traces blues's growth from its folk origins through early recordings of city blues singers like Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith and country blues stars like Robert Johnson and Blind Lemon Jefferson. Finally, the author gives an overview of the blues scene today. The book concludes with lists of key recordings, books, and videos.
Blues: The Basics serves as an excellent introduction to the players, the music, and the styles that make blues an enduring and well-loved musical style.
Dick Weissman was Associate Professor of Music and Music Industry Studies from 1990-2002 at the University of Colorado at Denver. He has published many books on music, notably The Music Business: Career Opportunities and Self-Defense, now in its third edition. He lives in Portland, OR.
Pages 10, 100
Title
Frets, Volume 4
Publisher
GPI Publications, 1982
Original from
Indiana University
Digitized
23 Jul 2009
Can You Feel the Silence?: Van Morrison: A New Biography |
Page 21
This groundbreaking biography of a brilliant but disturbed performer explores the paradox of the man and the artist. Based on more than 100 interviews, this intelligent profile explores Morrison’s roots; the hard times he went through in London, New York, and Boston; the making of his seminal albums such as Moondance and Astral Weeks; and the disastrous business arrangements that left Morrison hungry and penniless while his songs were topping the charts. Detailed are the breakdown of Morrison’s marriage, the creative drought that followed, and his triumphant reemergence. In addition, this biography attempts to explain the forbidding aspects of Morrison's persona, such as paranoia, hard drinking, misanthropy, as well as why, in the words of his onetime singing partner Linda Gail Lewis, Morrison’s music “brings happiness to other people, not him.” Also included is a Van Morrision sessionography that spans 1964 to 2001.
Heylin's weighty new biography of enigmatic music man Van Morrison is an ambitious and prodigiously researched work. It is most gripping in the early chapters describing Morrison's rise from his working-class roots in East Belfast, Northern Ireland, to the top of the U.K. music charts with the hard-rocking R&B outfit Them, best known for their three-chord romp "Gloria." Heylin (Behind the Shades) paints a captivating portrait of the ambitious and driven young blues and soul enthusiast who would go on to play a historical role in the early 1960s British Invasion, alongside the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and The Who. But before Them could enjoy the success of its British musical peers, the rough-throated singer moved on, both musically and personally. Here the book gets bogged down, as Heylin chronicles Morrison's misbegotten business deals that leave him near destitute and endlessly bitter. Morrison flies through a succession of managers as fast as he shifts musical styles on such landmark albums as Astral Weeks and Moondance. To the reader, Morrison's reputation as a curmudgeon (seemingly well-earned from the anecdotal evidence presented here) doesn't compare to the transcendent experience of listening to his music.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Van Morrison first hit the charts in 1965 with the Irish rock band Them, but his 1968 solo album Astral Weeks, still one of rock's few universally acknowledged masterpieces, made him a critics' darling, and Moondance (1970) made him an FM-radio staple. Since then, he has been a prolific recording artist and a sometimes-incendiary live performer. Fusing R & B, jazz, blues, and Celtic folk, Morrison's music has grown increasingly to reflect the songwriter's spiritual quest. Legendarily cantankerous, Morrison is notoriously uncooperative with biographers and, for that matter, with most other humans, for which Heylin has compensated by talking with Morrison's many musical collaborators and perusing the three decades of previously published Morrison interviews. Fans whose interest flagged sometime during his lengthy career may find the last third of the book--largely a repetitive traversal of less-inspired, relatively nondescript later albums--rough going, but that's Morrison's fault, not his biographer's. Any popular musician who boasts highs as high as Morrison's best--not to mention his longevity--deserves a thoroughgoing biography like Heylin's. Gordon Flagg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Pages 1,2
Title
Autoharp, Issues 1-10
Publisher
Campus Folksong Club of the University of Illinois, 1961
Original from
Indiana University
Digitized
23 Jul 2009
The Life And Legend Of Leadbelly |
Huddie Ledbetter (1889–1949), known to millions of fans simply as Leadbelly, was arguably the most famous black singer in American history. His close musical associations included such towering figures as Blind Lemon Jefferson, Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, and John and Alan Lomax. He helped lay the foundations for blues, modern folk music, and rock 'n' roll. This definitive biography draws on a wealth of new archival material, interviews, and previously unknown recordings to detail Leadbelly's proud, tumultuous, and often violent life.
Well researched and thoughtful, this biography depicts the career of Huddie "Leadbelly" Ledbetter (1888-1949), among the most influential of American folksingers. Folk music enthusiasts will be familiar with the highlights of Leadbelly's life--how his music earned him a pardon from prison, how folk-music experts John and Alan Lomax discovered and promoted him, how songs he either wrote or embellished ("Goodnight Irene" and "Midnight Special," for example) have become an integral part of American musical tradition--but it is the level of detail that Wolfe and Lornell bring forward that makes this book a standout. Leadbelly's early years in Louisiana and Texas, his introduction to music and his life in prison are portrayed in a fast-paced style that lends immediacy to the book. The introduction to the Lomaxes, Leadbelly's foray into New York society, his eventual estrangement from John Lomax and his recording and performance career are equally well chronicled in this notable effort. Wolfe is an English professor at Middle Tennessee University; Lornell is a consultant for the Leadbelly Archives at the Smithsonian. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Memo to Spike Lee: For your next film, consider the story of a black man born on the edge of the frontier in the waning days of the wild West. He was strong, handsome, and a talented musician, but mixing wine, women, and song led him to a Texas penitentiary to do time for murder. After a few years, this resourceful fellow won a pardon by performing a specially written song for the governor. His freedom proved short-lived, however; his attack on a "splendid white citizen" led to a stretch in Louisiana's notorious Angola State Penitentiary. Here, he was discovered by folklorist John Lomax, who recorded him for the Library of Congress and then won his release. Leadbelly spent the last 15 years of his life cementing his reputation as the foremost curator of America's musical heritage. If this incredible story of sex, violence, redemption, and the history of American folk music sounds interesting, add it to your music collections.
- Dan Bogey, Clearfield Cty. P.L. Federation, Curwensville, Pa.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
THE COMPLETE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF POPULAR MUSIC AND JAZZ: 1900-1950 Complete in 4 Volumes |
Page 140
GOING TO CINCINNATI: A HISTORY OF THE BLUES IN THE QUEEN CITY (Music in American Life) |
When one thinks of locales famous for the blues, Chicago, the Mississippi Delta, and maybe Texas come to mind. Cincinnati, while not possessing the distinctive sounds that make the aforementioned locations so immediately identifiable with a particular style, nonetheless has a history of individual performers and record labels that makes it a notable city for blues scholars. The river and the railroad brought many rural African American musicians to the city as far back as the early 1920s. Mass popularity did not arrive until the late 1940s and early 1950s, when Roy Brown and Wynonie Harris recorded their own brand of music for King Records--a sound that became known as rhythm and blues. King would later usher in soul music with the likes of Hank Ballard and Little Willie John. An interesting look at a little-known blues mecca; recommended where there is interest.
- Dan Bogey, Clearfield Cty. P.L. Federation, Curwensville, Pa.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Hard Travelin': The Life and Legacy of Woody Guthrie (American Music Masters) |
Page 233
"[An] excellent collection . . . Undergraduates and general readers will enjoy and benefit from the balance of personal and academic commentaries. Specialists will particularly appreciate Guy Logsdon's extensive bibliography and discography." --Choice
"Woody had faults, but he was also an extraordinarily thoughtful and original talent. He had the genius of simplicity. When I first heard 'This Land Is Your Land' I didn't perceieve how famous it would become. I thought to myself, 'That song is just too simple.' I actually believed it was one of Woody's lesser efforts. Shows you how wrong you can be . . . My guess is that if Woody stayed healthy, over the years he would have made up maybe twenty versions of 'So Long' because of its great chorus. He might have had a Dustbowl version, a Joe McCarthy version, a Civil Rights version, a Vietnam version. He might even have had a Romald Reagan or a Bill Clinton version. Who knows?" (Pete Seeger )
Shakey: Neil Young's Biography |
Neil Young is one of rock and roll's most important, influential and enigmatic figures, an intensely reticent artist who has granted no writer access to his inner sanctum -- until now. In Shakey, Jimmy McDonough tells the whole story of Young's incredible life and career: from his childhood in Canada to the founding of folk-rock pioneers Buffalo Springfield; to the bleary conglomeration of Crazy Horse and simultaneous monstrous success of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young; to the depths of the Tonight's the Night depravity and the strange changes of the Geffen years; and Young's unprecedented nineties "comeback" with Ragged Glory and Harvest Moon. No detail is spared -- not the sex, drugs, relationships, breakups, births, deaths, nor the variety of chameleon-like transformations that have enabled Young to remain one of the most revered musical forces of our time. Shakey (the title refers to one of Young's many aliases) is not only a detailed chronicle of the rock era told through the life of one uncompromising artist, but the compelling human story of a lonely kid for whom music was the only outlet; a driven yet tortured figure who learned to control his epilepsy via "mind over matter"; an oddly passionate model train mogul who -- inspired by his own son's struggle with cerebral palsy -- became a major activist in the quest to help those with the condition. Based on interviews with hundreds of Young's associates (many speaking freely for the first time), as well as extensive exclusive interviews with Young himself,Shakey is a story told through the interwoven voices of McDonough -- biographer, critic, historian, obsessive fan -- and the ever-cantankerous (but slyly funny) Young himself, who puts his biographer through some unforgettable paces while answering the question: Is it better to burn out than to fade away?
Ramblin' Man: The Life and Times of Woody Guthrie |
The biographer of Gen. George C. Marshall (General of the Army) turns his prodigious skills to view another complex American hero with an equally complex story-folk singer and political activist Woody Guthrie. Cray's access to thousands of pages from the Woody Guthrie Archives (including previously unpublished letters, diaries and journals) allows him to present a comprehensive picture, although sometimes the detail keeps Cray from moving the story along. However, this is the definitive biography of a songwriter whose legendary image for the past half-century has been "the banty, brilliant songwriter who had stood up for the underdog and downtrodden." Cray provides a superb look at Guthrie's background as a real estate agent's son. He carefully details how Guthrie moved from a fairly conventional career in country music to a recreation of his image through remarkable songs, like his "Dust Bowl Ballads,'' and gained a whole new Depression-era audience: "The Okies and Arkies, the Texicans and Jayhawkers, had become Woody's people." Cray also expertly observes how the "writerly discipline" of these works was missing in his post-WWII songs. While Guthrie's folk hero status is a given today, Cray shows just how much effort it actually took for a new generation of folk singers such as Bob Dylan to raise awareness of Guthrie's importance as the man himself fell victim to Huntington's disease. Finally, Cray fully explores one of the real heroes in this story, Guthrie's second wife, Marjorie, who stuck with the singer during and after their stormy marriage.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Although Woody Guthrie has been a favorite topic of children's books in recent years, there has not been a substantive adult biography written about him since Joe Klein's definitive Woody Guthrie (1980). Cray (Chief Justice: A Biography of Earl Warren, 1997) may well supplant Klein, as he was given access to the Woody Guthrie Archives, which contain previously unpublished letters, diaries, and journals. Although his narrative is sometimes too thick with details, Cray eloquently sums up the Okie songwriter's sorrowful life, during which he endured his sister's and daughter's deaths by fire, his mother's committal to an insane asylum, and his own diagnosis and death from Huntington's disease. Cray is especially insightful on Guthrie's politics and his deep empathy for Depression-era migrant workers. A man of contradictions, the songwriter emerges as an intellectual who took pains to hide his intellect and as a crusader for social justice who neglected his own family. His second wife, Marjorie, takes on near-heroic stature as the caregiver who, though they were long divorced, looked after him during the last decade of his debilitating illness. Joanne Wilkinson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved