Revolutions in American Music: Three Decades That Changed a Country and Its Sounds [Hardcover]

The story of how unexpected connections between music, technology, and race across three tumultuous decades changed American culture. ...a highly digestible history, showing in lively detail how eclectic inventiveness has defined American culture. [E]ngaging reading...A well-researched and provocative look at the long-term, uneasy connections between race and music. [V]ibrant history... Broyles's discerning analysis illuminates how complex social and technological factors interacted to shape the course of American music. This hits all the right notes. Broyles's fresh approach with interest anyone curious about the history of American music, and readers will learn a great deal from his extensive research and insights. A well-researched and astute look at the evolution of American culture through popular music. [Broyles] breathes new life into popular music's stylistic and technological innovations(...)to create a true sense of historical perspective. Reminiscent of a great Hudson River School paintingthe canvas is large, majestic, rich in color and subject, and undeniably American. An exhilarating book. Michael Broyles illuminates three decades when not just music but much else in American culture was more than usually in flux. By imaginatively connecting such phenomena as country fiddling, modernist experimentation, and rock n roll to underlying themes of racial injustice and technological change, Michael Broyles positions the story of music in America where it belongs: at the center of the nations cultural history. Michael Broyles illuminates three revolutionary eras in American music history by showing the backstories, the political contexts, and the social relevance that in hindsight make them seem inevitable. Only a scholar with his vast knowledge could compare the contexts of rock n roll, jazz, and the polka with such insight. US