Revolutions in American Music - Three Decades That Changed a Country and Its Sounds

Michael Broyles shows how three key decades-the 1840s, the 1920s and the 1950s-shaped America's musical future. In each, new styles of music combined with emerging technologies, from the locomotive to the transistor radio, to have lasting impact on our cultural landscape. All too often, these new developments revealed racial fault lines running through the business of music in an echo of American society as a whole. Through the music of each decade we see the social, cultural and political fabric of the time. A variety of characters serve as focal points for each chapter, including the original Jim Crow, a colourful Hungarian dancing master named Gabriel De Korponay, "Empress of the Blues" Bessie Smith, and the singer Johnnie Ray, whom Tony Bennett called "the father of rock 'n' roll." Their stories, and many others, animate this fascinating look at how American music became what it is today.

About the author

Michael Broyles holds a PhD from the University of Texas at Austin and is professor of musicology at Florida State University. He was formerly the music critic for the Baltimore Sun and is a past president of the Society for American Music. He lives in Tallahassee, Florida.

Summary

The story of how three tumultuous decades changed American music

Product details

• Authors: Michael Broyles, Michael (Florida State University) Broyles
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 26.03.2024
• EAN: 9780393634204
• ISBN: 978-0-393-63420-4
• Dimensions: 160 mm x 239 mm x 38 mm
• Weight: 723 g
• Illustrations: 12 illustrations
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Music > General, dictionaries; Non-fiction book > History > Miscellaneous; USA, MUSIC / Genres & Styles / General, United States of America, USA, Music: styles and genres, Music: styles & genres