Synopses & Reviews
Easy Riders, Rolling Stones delves into the history of twentieth century American popular music to explore the emergence of 60s andldquo;road music.andrdquo; This musicandmdash;which includes styles like blues and RandBandmdash;andmdash;andshy;andshy;took shape at pivotal moments in history and was made by artists and performers who were, in various ways, seekers after freedom. Whether journeying across the country, breaking free from real or imaginary confines, or in the throes of self-invention, these artists incorporated their experiences into scores of songs about travel and movement, as well as creating a new kind of road culture.and#160;
Starting in the Mississippi Delta and tracking the emblematic routes and highways of road music, John Scanlan explores the music and the life of movement it so often represented, identifyingand#160; andldquo;the roadandrdquo; as the key to an existence that was uncompromising. He shows how the road became an inspiration for musicians like Jim Morrison and Bob Dylan and how these musicians also drew stimulus from a Beat movement that was equally enthralled with the possibilities of travel. He also shows how the quintessential American concepts of freedom and travel influenced English bands such as the Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin. These bands may have been foreigners in the US, but they also found their spiritual home thereandmdash;of blues and rock andlsquo;nandrsquo; rollandndash;andndash;and glimpsed the possibility of a new kind of existence, on the road.
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Easy Riders, Rolling Stonesand#160;is an entertaining, rich account of a key strand of American music history, and will appeal to both road music fans and music scholars who want to andldquo;head out on the highway.andrdquo;
Synopsis
Permeating the shadows and the darkness of the bayoua world all its own that stretches from Houston, Texas, to Mobile, Alabamathis study of marsh music leaves New Orleans to discover secret legends and vivid mythology in the surrounding wilderness. The people and the cultures that have called the bayou homesuch as Bob Dylan, Jerry Reed, Nick Cave, Bo Didley, and a one-armed Cajun backwoodsman and gator hunter named Amos Mosesare unearthed not only through their own words and lives but also through a study of their music and interviews with visitors to and residents from the region. The interviews with Jerry Reed and Bo Didley, who both died in 2008, are among the last, emphasizing the books importance as a piece of cultural preservation. Part social history, part epic travelogue, and partly a lament for a way of life that has now all but disappeared, this is the gripping story of American musics forgotten childhoodand the parentage it barely even knows.
Synopsis
A veteran music journalist explores rock-n-roll's bayou roots in "a jolting 18-track joy ride that] unlocks secrets and back-stories worth savoring" -- The Wall Street Journal
The bayou of the American south -- stretching from Houston, Texas, to Mobile, Alabama -- is a world all its own, with a rich cultural heritage that has had an outsized influence on musicians across the globe. In this unique study of marsh music, Dave Thompson goes beyond the storied stomping grounds of New Orleans to unearth secret legends and vivid mythology.
In Bayou Underground, the people who have called the bayou home -- such as Bob Dylan, Nick Cave, a one-armed Cajun backwoodsman, and a gator hunter named Amos Moses -- are revealed through their own words, their lives and music, and interviews with residents from the region. Including interviews with legendary musicians like Jerry Reed and Bo Didley, Bayou Underground is part travelogue, part social history, and part lament for a way of life that has now all but disappeared.
Synopsis
?The Bayou is a world of its own a marshy, sometimes treacherous, oft-times sinister land of creeping darkness and living shadows, secret legends and vivid mythology. It is that darkness and those shadows that permeate Bayou Underground, the first study of the Louisiana music scene ever to leave behind the bright lights of big city New Orleans, and plunge instead into the wilderness that not only surrounds the Big Easy, but which stretches for hundreds of miles on either side, from Houston, Texas, to Mobile, Alabama. Bayou Underground explores the music of the region from the House of the Rising Sun to gator hunting with Amos Moses (the one-armed Cajun backwoodsman created by country songwriter Jerry Reed) to artists like Bo Diddley, Nick Cave, Bob Dylan, and Creedence Clearwater Revival, who were influenced by unsung heroes of the Bayou. In Bayou Underground, the people and the cultures that have called the bayou home are unearthed through their words and lives, but most of all through the music that has, over the last century, either arisen from the swamplands themselves, or been drawn from fellow visitors to the region, as they seek to set down for posterity the emotions, dreams, and enchantments that the area instilled in them. Part social history, part epic travelogue, and partly a lament for a way of life that has now all but disappeared, Bayou Underground is the gripping story of American musics forgotten childhood, and the parentage it barely even knows about. By comparison, the Big Easy had it easy.
About the Author
"In this part travelog, part music history, and part personal reminiscence, prolific rock writer Thompson . . . conjures up images of a mythical Louisiana. He uses 18 rock n roll songs as a backdrop to weave a tale of voodoo queens, riverboats, swamps, crocodiles, prostitutes, and pirates."
Library Journal"A head-long dive into the music and culture of New Orleans and its environs . . .
Bayou Underground unlocks secrets and back-stories worth savoring." Wall Street Journal Online
"Kind of like listening to a good album for the first time; the paths taken may surprise you." antimusic.com
"An intriguing folklore travelogue . . . the focus is on the filter through which writers (sometimes thousands of miles away) view the southern states of the US. This neatly illustrates the far-reaching impact that New Orleans continues to have on the wider music community." Record Collector