Bluegrass Books

Born Country: How Faith, Family, and Music Brought Me Home

Randy Owen, Allen Rucker

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Terrific Book....Even better than I expected !!! 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.

I want to say first off I have been a big fan of Alabama ever since 1979 when I first heard 'My Home's In Alabama' so I had extremely high hopes for this book and I wasn't disappointed at all...as a matter a fact it's even better than I could have imagined.

The book starts out with Randy going for his morning drive around Lookout Mountain to start his day.....His and his daughter's dogs all go on this drive through the country with Randy describing the area and how beauiful it is and how much he loves it....From that first chapter you feel like you are going along for a ride with Randy and he is talking to you telling you his story...The book is written in such an easy fun style to read...It makes it very enjoyable...I read it in less than 2 days (for me that is pretty remarkable---never read a book of almost 300 pages that fast before )...I just couldn't put it down !

You will read so many things you never knew..... Like when you hear them sing about a place in one of their songs...you find it's a REAL place that they went to and wrote it into their songs....There is a line in one of their songs called 'Vacation'...Where he talks about going swimming in the Blue Hole...Come to find out in this book....there really is such a place...but you probably wouldn't know that if you didn't live up there....Another cool one is the song 'Ole Baugh Road' on the Southern Star album.....He really did grow up on Baugh Rd !

Liking Alabama as long as I have I feel like I was right there with them all these years and knew the guys (Randy, Teddy, Jeff and Mark) pretty well....but there are so many things that you don't know since they are all private people and don't want to be all over the news (that's a good thing !)....Anyway...some of the things you will remember right along with Randy and some will be brand new ! (For example---In the video 'Tar Top'....That is his son Heath riding the bicycle)...Growing up reading everything I could back then about Alabama...I didn't know that.

He also mentions Dale Earnhardt in here a couple of times (Dale is a big hero of mine) and I didn't know they had known each other since 1981...I knew they were good friends..but had no idea it was for such a long time.


Randy talks alot about his wife (Kelly) and his 3 kids (Alison, Heath and Randa)....His parents also play a huge role in the book.....St Jude's Childrens Hospital is also metioned obviously since it's such an important part of his life....I just can't see how the book could be any better...He intertwined his personal life with his life with the group Alabama so perfectly.....you really get to learn about the whole person...not just the singer.

Honestly I would recommend this book for anyone to read it's just a terrific book, period....but for fans of Alabama this is a must read !....All my friends are wanting copies after seeing mine and hearing me talk about it....Oh yeah I almost forgot...there are some wonderful pictures in it I had never seen before too !

Editorial Review:

Randy Owen, the front man and lead vocalist for one of the biggest music groups of all time, was raised in rural Alabama, grew up working on a small sharecropper farm, and today lives on this same land that his family worked for generations. Born Country weaves together never-before-shared stories about life on the road with the legendary band Alabama, Randy's family, his experiences with temptation in the face of superstardom, and how he held on to his traditional Christian values through it all. Born Country is an inspiring story about how a poor country boy came to touch the lives of millions of fans.

Country Music with CD: The Masters

Marty Stuart

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Subjects -> Arts & Photography -> Photography -> Photo Essays
Subjects -> Arts & Photography -> Photography -> Photographers, A-Z -> General
Subjects -> Arts & Photography -> Photography -> Photographers, A-Z -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

A photographic love letter to the founders and legends of country music by musician and storyteller Marty Stuart.

When Marty Stuart first entered the Hard Rock Cafe, he was impressed to see the work of rock preservationists, yet realized that the artifacts of country music were being lost or destroyed. He set out to change that, becoming a leading curator of roots music memorabilia and photographer of roots founders.

After years of careful preservation, Stuart brings the early days of country to vibrant life again with Country Music: The Masters. In a unique pairing, completely original for a photography book of this scope, an integrated audio CD is included featuring 60 minutes of the fascinating stories behind selected photos. Stuart, a born storyteller, gives readers a glimpse into the subjects and the photograph at the moment the shutter snapped. The CD includes "Dark Bird," an unreleased song dedicated to Johnny Cash, written by Stuart after Cash's death. This new recording marks the first-ever commercial release of the song.

"A photograph can just be a piece of paper with an image on it... But when the observer with his finger on the button has the life experience it takes to understand the life he's shooting, the photograph is a story. Marty"s photographs live and breathe. If it's a person, you can hear their thoughts, feel their pain or joy, and read at least a part of their story. If it's a building or a landscape, you can feel the presence of those who have walked there or lived there through the years."
- Billy Bob Thornton

(20081103)

Hot Burritos: The True Story of The Flying Burrito Brothers

John Einarson

Amazon Price: $13.57 List Price: $19.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Jawbone Press Amazon Marketplace: 13 new & used starting at $12.87

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Subjects -> Entertainment -> Music -> History & Criticism
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Subjects -> Entertainment -> Music -> Musical Genres -> Country

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Widely regarded as the original country-rock band, The Flying Burrito Brothers were determined to pull rock music back from the psychedelic abyss and return it to its pure and simple roots. To say that they succeeded would be an understatement. In a brief four-year span, the original troupe became one of the most influential rock groups of all time, reaching everyone from the Eagles and Jackson Browne to Uncle Tupelo and Alan Jackson. Hot Burritos is the colorful, hard-hitting, insightful, and deeply personal account of this maverick band, as told by founder Chris Hillman and other group members and associates. It shatters common myths about the group, taking readers for the first time inside the Parsons-Hillman partnership, their notoriously extravagant 1969 train trip tour, the doomed Altamont Festival, the Rolling Stones' inner circle, the discovery of Emmylou Harris, Parsons’ overindulgence and ultimate dismissal, and the legacy the group, and the enigmatic Parsons, left behind.

Cash: The Autobiography

Johnny Cash

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Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> Arts & Literature -> Composers & Musicians -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 81 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

He was the "Man in Black," a country music legend, and the quintessential American troubadour. He was an icon of rugged individualism who had been to hell and back, telling the tale as never before. In his unforgettable autobiography, Johnny Cash tells the truth about the highs and lows, the struggles and hard-won triumphs, and the people who shaped him.

In his own words, Cash set the record straight -- and dispelled a few myths -- as he looked unsparingly at his remarkable life: from the joys of his boyhood in Dyess, Arkansas to superstardom in Nashville, Tennessee, the road of Cash's life has been anything but smooth. Cash writes of the thrill of playing with Elvis, the comfort of praying with Billy Graham; of his battles with addiction and of the devotion of his wife, June; of his gratitude for life, and of his thoughts on what the afterlife may bring. Here, too, are the friends of a lifetime, including Willie Nelson, Roy Orbison, Bob Dylan, and Kris Kristofferson. As powerful and memorable as one of his classic songs, Cash is filled with the candor, wit, and wisdom of a man who truly "walked the line."

Behind the Grand Ole Opry Curtain: Tales of Romance and Tragedy

Grand Ole Opry, Robert K. Oermann

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Subjects -> Entertainment -> Music -> History & Criticism

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

The Grand Ole Opry has been home to the greatest legends of country music for over eighty years, and in that time it has seen some of conutry music's most dramatic stories unfold.
We'll hear of the great love stories ranging from Johnny Cash and June Carter in the 1960s to Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood, who married in 2005. We'll get the truth of the tragedies that led to the loss of three stars all in the same month, starting the rumor of the "Opry Curse." We'll learn how after being stabbed, shot, and maimed, Trace Adkins calls his early honky-tonk years "combat country," and we'll find inspiration from DeFord Bailey, an African American harmonica player in 1927 crippled by childhood polio who rose to fame as one of the first Opry stars. Our hearts will break for Willie Nelson, who lost his only son on Christmas Day, and soar for Amy Grant and Vince Gill, who found true love.
Based on over 150 firsthand interviews with the stars of The Grand Ole Opry, these are stories that tell the heart of country--the lives that are lived and inspire the songs we love.

A Tale Out of Luck: A Novel

Willie Nelson, Mike Blakely

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Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> Genre Fiction -> Westerns -> General
Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> Genre Fiction -> Westerns -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Retired Texas Ranger Captain Hank Tomlinson intends to spend the rest of his days raising cattle on his Broken Arrow Ranch, and nurturing his frontier town of Luck, Texas. But when the brutal murder and scalping of a mysterious drifter leads to a clash between cavalry soldiers and a band of Comanche Indians suspected of the killing, a full-scale Indian uprising seems likely. Worse yet, the murder of the drifter bears a disturbing resemblance to a string of killings Hank remembers from his distant and violent past as a Texas Ranger.


Meanwhile, Hank's twenty-year-old son, Jay Blue, and his adoptive brother, Skeeter, find themselves on the trail of a valuable Kentucky mare who vanished under their watch. The trail leads them into the dangerous haunts of outlaws and vengeful Comanche warriors. Now Hank must attempt to keep his sons safe while trying to catch a murderer who he knows will soon strike again. His ace-in-the-hole is beautiful Flora Barlow, the tavern owner with a knack for detective work.


Though rival lawman, Matt Kenyon, and competing rancher, Jack Brennan, complicate Hank's investigation, he and Flora slowly begin to uncover a crooked web of crime, deception, and murder. Dark secrets emerge, and everyone must choose sides as lawmen, outlaws, soldiers, and Indian warriors converge for a final, bloody confrontation. (2008)

Bluegrass Banjo for the Complete Ignoramus (Book & CD set)

Wayne Erbsen

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Subjects -> Entertainment -> Music -> Theory, Composition & Performance -> Instruction & Study

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 15 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

superb 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

i learned very quickly (bout 3 weeks) to play the banjo pretty decently using this book. I has multiple levels of difficulty for each tune so you start it simpleand then build on it as you get better. you can do the simple version of all the songs in the book if you want before you go back and do the harder versions (with added note doodads)

Best way to learn basic banjo 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

This is definitely worth the money. It is the best book for basic banjo pickin' I've came across thus far for a beginner like myself. Tablature is a good way to get you started. The instructions and songs are laid out well for the ease of understanding, but the only draw back is there needs to be a couple of more recent songs or just a few more songs in general.

Editorial Review:

Most beginning banjo books teach tunes with the rolls already incorporated into the song. With that approach most students find it difficult or impossible to figure out an arrangement on their own without reading the tab. This book uses a different approach. For each of the 23 tunes included, only the melody is tabbed out, no rolls. The student then learns he or she can play all 23 tunes using only the simplest roll--the pinch. They gradually learn to play the melody using any or all of seven different rolls. And after teaching banjo for 41 years, Wayne Erbsen is convinced the melody approach to teaching bluegrass works very well indeed.

Norton Anthology of Western Music: Volume 2: Classic to Twentieth Century

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 30 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Christmas Present 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

This was a Christmas present for my wife. She sings and arranges music. I can only tell you that she is ecstatic about the book, and is excited at the prospect of going on line for the streaming music that comes with.

Needed for class 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Most recent edition. Does not go along with NAWM 3rd edition. It must be referring to a more recent edition of that book as well.

Good 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 4 people found this review helpful.

I got the book in good time. I ended up having to mail it back just because I dropped the class, but there was nothing wrong with the book.

Pleased with product 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I was pleased with this seller and the product. The product was as described and it came in a fairly short time. I would buy from this seller again.

History of Western Music 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 1 people found this review helpful.

The book was in great condition. It is an easy read, especially considering that it is music history. It's also put together very logically, which is what helps it be so easily read.

Editorial Review:

Recognized as the finest survey of Western art music in the English language, this distinguished book has enlightened a multitude of music lovers since it first appeared in 1960. This handsome new edition incorporates the latest advances in music scholarship.

R. Crumb's Heroes of Blues, Jazz, & Country

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Subjects -> Entertainment -> Music -> Musical Genres -> Bluegrass
Subjects -> Entertainment -> Music -> Musical Genres -> Blues

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 18 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Novelty Item Reincarnated As Artistic Tour De Force 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Richard Nevins of Rounder Records first came up with the idea for Robert Crumb to illustrate a series of early Blues, Jazz, and Old Time Music and Bluegrass greats along the lines of the baseball cards of his childhood. Crumb went for the idea and produced what became three boxes of cards with illustrations taken from old photos on the front and write-ups about the players on the back (many of them by Nevins).

Now the famous fine arts publisher Abrams Books has designed and published a superb volume that includes the Crumb artwork as never before -- in brilliant color and on a larger scale than the cards -- along with expanded bios and a bonus CD that samples some of this great American roots music. Anyone interested in high-level cartoon art and this powerful expressive music will want to own this book.

Editorial Review:

Anyone who knows R. Crumb’s work as an illustrator knows of his passion for music. And all those who collect his work prize the Heroes of the Blues, Early Jazz Greats, and Pioneers of Country Music trading card sets he created in the early to- mid-1980s. Now they are packaged together for the first time in book form, along with an exclusive 21-track CD of music selected and compiled by Crumb himself (featuring original recordings by Charley Patton, “Dock” Boggs, “Jelly Roll” Morton, and others). A bio of each musician is provided, along with a full-color original illustration by the cartoonist. A characteristically idiosyncratic tribute by an underground icon to the musical innovators who helped inspire him, R. Crumb’s Heroes of Blues, Jazz & Country is a must-have collection for Crumb aficionados, comics fans, and music lovers alike.