In this sparkling collection, "roots" music authority Tony Russell offers vivid portraits of the men and women who created country music, the artists whose lives and songs formed the rich tradition from which Hank Williams, Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, The Dixie Chicks, and so many others have drawn their inspiration.
Included here are not only such major figures as Jimmie Rodgers, The Carter Family, Fiddlin' John Carson, Charlie Poole, and Gene Autry, who put country music on America's cultural map in the 1920s and '30s, but many fascinating lesser-known figures as well, such as Carson Robison, Otto Gray, Chris Bouchillon, Emry Arthur and dozens more, many of whose stories are told here for the first time. To map some of the winding, untraveled roads that connect today's music to its ancestors, Russell draws upon new research and rare source material, such as contemporary newspaper reports and magazine articles, internet genealogy sites, and his own interviews with the musicians or their families. The result is a lively mix of colorful tales and anecdotes, priceless contemporary accounts of performances, illuminating social and historical context, and well-grounded critical judgment. The essays are enhanced by more than 200 illustrations, many of them seldom seen and some never before published, including artist photographs, record labels, song sheets, newspaper clippings, cartoons, advertisements, and magazine covers, recreating the look and feel of the entire culture of country music. Each essay includes as well a playlist of recommended and currently available recordings for each artist.
Country Music Originals is a collection of gems which will delight the aficionado and first-time enthusiast as well as the scholar of American folk music.


"Published as a hardback on excellent quality paper and superbly illustrated, CMO is a treasure chest of info and images. For fans of country music this is an essential purchase."- CharlieGillett.com
"Tony Russell has been on of the most insightful and knowledgeable writers on pre-World-War-II country music for some forty years.... This is a wonderful addition to the country music bibliography, as well as just being a lot of fun to read."--Elijah Wald, Sing Out!
"Russell brings performers like Blind Alfred Reed to colorful life with a mixture of chatty, opinionated writing, interview extracts and contemporary reviews.... The perfect introduction to what is now truly another world."--Doulgas McPherson, Country Music People
"Tony Russell has been authoring history making contributions to our knowledge and understanding of American roots music since the 1970s. Country Music Originals delivers a substantial body of new biographical information--and a host of good stories--about many of the relative obscurities from the era of his Discography."--Barry Mazor, No Depression
"Country Music Originals combines Tony Russell's encyclopedic knowledge of country music with a lively and matchless prose style. Russell brings to life the work of both major artists and obscure figures whose important contributions might well have been lost were it not for his voluminous research and penetrating insights. It's a stunning achievement, perhaps the best book yet written on the subject."--Nolan Porterfield, author of Jimmie Rodgers: The Life and Times of America's Blue Yodeler
"This is quite unlike any other equivalent documentation of the genre that I have seen.... If you have any interest in the genre at all this is certainly an essential buy."--Keith Chandler, Musical Traditions
"Few people alive know as much about the early history of country music as Tony Russell does. Even fewer can write as engagingly about it. In these concise portraits of country music's pioneers, he brings America's musical past to life, revealing such dimly remembered figures as Uncle Jimmy Thompson and Charlie Poole as the living, breathing, creative, and complicated characters they once were. Thoroughly entertaining and indispensable for fans of early country and roots music."--Paul Kingsbury, editor of Will the Circle Be Unbroken: Country Music in America and The Encyclopedia of Country Music
"Russell has accomplished a spectacular feat in that he has written a thorough reference book that is as pleasing to read as the best of narrative nonfiction." IPublishers Weekly (Starred Review)
"Tony Russell is today's pre-eminent country music historian. His exhaustive research and congenially articulate writings have bequeathed much of what we know about the music and those who made it. Reading Country Music Originals has been lots of fun, and I know a lot more now than I did before I opened it."--Dick Spottswood



Tony Russell is a music historian who has written on country music, blues, jazz, and other forms of popular music in a wide variety of publications and has researched, written, and presented many musical programs for BBC Radio. He is the author of Country Music Records: A Discography, 1921-1942 (OUP 2004), The Blues from Robert Johnson to Robert Cray, and other books. He lives in London.



Acknowledgments


Introduction


Notes on Playlists


1. Eck Robertson


2. Fiddlin' John Carson


3. Henry Whitter


4. Ernest V. Stoneman


5. Uncle Dave Macon


6. Vernon Dalhart


7. Fiddlin' Powers


8. Charlie Poole


9. Kelly Harrell


10. DaCosta Woltz


11. Uncle Jimmy Thompson


12. Dr Humphrey Bate


13. Sam McGee


14. Gid Tanner


15. Riley Puckett


16. Clayton McMichen


17. Lowe Stokes


18. Earl Johnson


19. John Dilleshaw


20. Georgia Yellow Hammers


21. South Georgia Highballers


22. Cofer Brothers


23. Dock Boggs


24. Frank Hutchison


25. Darby & Tarlton


26. The Carter Family


27. Jimmie Rodgers


28. Bridge: The Great Divide


29. Allen Brothers


30. Fleming & Townsend


31. Chris Bouchillon


32. Ed Haley


33. Clark Kessinger


34. Blind Alfred Reed


35. Roy Harvey


36. Walter Smith


37. Asa Martin


38. Dick Burnett


39. John D. Foster


40. Emry Arthur


41. Alfred G. Karnes


42. Buell Kazee


43. Raymond Render


44. G. B. Grayson


45. Clarence Ashley


46. Carolina Tar Heels


47. Carolina Twins


48. Red Fox Chasers


49. Bascom Lamar Lunsford


50. Leake County Revelers


51. Narmour & Smith


52. Hoyt Ming


53. Dr Smith's Champion Hoss Hair Pullers


54. Fiddlin' Bob Larkan


55. Golden Melody Boys


56. Walter Coon


57. Jules V. Allen


58. Powder River Jack Lee


59. Cartwright Brothers


60. Harry "Mac" McClintock


61. Goebel Reeves


62. John I. White


63. Bernard "Slim" Smith


64. Carson Robison


65. Frank Luther


66. Otto Gray & His Oklahoma Cowboys


67. Bridge: Country Music In Transition


68. Gene Autry


69. Jimmie Davis


70. Cliff Carlisle


71. Bill Cox


72. Mac & Bob


73. Bradley Kincaid


74. The Girls of the Golden West


75. Wilf Carter


76. Hank Snow


77. Bridge: The Radio Years


78. Lulu Belle & Scotty


79. Patsy Montana


80. Lily May Ledford


81. J. E. Mainer


82. Dixon Brothers


83. Callahan Brothers


84. Claude Casey


85. Snuffy Jenkins


86. Roy Acuff


87. "Ramblin' Red" Lowery


88. Delmore Brothers


89. Lonnie Glosson


90. Grandpa Jones


91. Carl Swanson


92. Bridge: Western Swing & Honkytonk


93. Milton Brown


94. Bob Wills


95. Light Crust Doughboys


96. Adolph Hofner


97. Cliff Bruner


98. Hank Penny


99. Bob Skyles


100. Swift Jewel Cowboys


101. Johnnie Lee Wills


102. Ted Daffan


103. Hoyle Nix


104. Rex Griffin


105. Buddy Jones


106. Al Dexter


107. Floyd Tillman


108. Ernest Tubb


109. Johnny Bond


110. Red River Dave McEnery


111. Leo Soileau


112. Harry Choates


113. Molly O'Day


114. Rose Maddox


Bibliography

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Distributor: Oxford University Press USA
Publication Date: 11-15-2007
Pages: 280
Measurements: 7.300in X 10.200in X 0.900in X 1.538lb