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Ten Masterpieces of Music
by Harvey SachsSome pieces of music survive. Most fall into oblivion. What gives the ten masterpieces selected for this book their exceptional vitality? In this penetrating volume, Harvey Sachs, acclaimed biographer and historian of classical music, takes readers into the hearts of ten extraordinary works of classical music in ten different genres, showing both the curious novice and the seasoned listener how to recognize, appreciate, and engage with these masterpieces on a historical and compositional level. Far from what is often thought, classical music is neither dead nor dying. As a genre, it is constantly evolving, its pieces passing through countless permutations and combinations yet always retaining that essential élan vital, or life force. The works collected here, composed in the years between 1784 and 1966, are a testament to this fact. As Sachs skillfully demonstrates, they have endured not because they were exceptionally well-made or interesting but because they were created by composers—Mozart and Beethoven; Schubert, Schumann, Berlioz, Verdi, and Brahms; Sibelius, Prokofiev, and Stravinsky—who had a particular genius for drawing music out of their deepest wellsprings. “Through music,” Sachs writes, “they universalized the intimate.” In describing how music actually sounds, Ten Masterpieces of Music seems to do the impossible, animating the process of composing as well as the coming together of disparate scales and melodies, trills and harmonies. It tells us, too, how particular compositions came to be, often revealing that the pieces we now consider “classic” were never intended to be so. In poignant, exquisite prose, Sachs shows how Mozart, a former child prodigy under constant pressure to produce new music, hastily penned Piano Concerto No. 17 in G major, one of his finest piano concertos, for a teenage student, and likewise demonstrates how Goethe’s Faust, Part One, became a springboard for the musical imagination of the French composer Berlioz. As Sachs explains, these pieces are not presented as candidates for a new “Top Ten.” They represent neither the most well-known nor the most often-performed works of each composer. Instead, they were chosen precisely because he had something profound to say about them, about their composers, about how each piece fits into its composer’s life, and about how each of these lives can be contextualized by time and place. In fact, Sachs encourages readers to form their own favorites, and teaches them how to discern special characteristics that will enhance their own listening experiences. With Ten Masterpieces of Music, it becomes evident that Sachs has lived with these pieces for a veritable lifetime. His often-soaring descriptions of the works and the dramatic lives of the men who composed them bring a heightened dimension to the musical perceptions of all listeners, communicating both the sheer improbability of a work becoming a classic and why certain pieces—these ten among them—survive the perilous test of time.
Ten, Nine, Eight
by Molly BangNine stuffed animals, one sleepy toddler. Numbers from ten to one are part of this lullaby which observes the room of a little girl going to bed.<P><P> Winner of the Caldecott Honor
Ten Thousand Apologies: Fat White Family and the Miracle of Failure
by Adelle Stripe Lias SaoudiFrom the mountains of Algeria to the squats of South London via sectarian Northern Ireland, Ten Thousand Apologies is the sordid and thrilling story of the country's most notorious cult band, Fat White Family. Loved and loathed in equal measure since their formation in 2011, the relentlessly provocative, stunningly dysfunctional "drug band with a rock problem" have dedicated themselves to constant chaos and total creative freedom at all costs.Like a tragicomic penny dreadful dreamed up by a mutant hybrid of Jean Genet, the Dadaists and Mark E. Smith, the Fat Whites' story is a frequently jaw-dropping epic of creative insurrection, narcotic excess, mental illness, wanderlust, self-sabotage, fractured masculinity, and the ruthless pursuit of absolute art.Co-written with lucidity and humour by singer Lias Saoudi and acclaimed author Adelle Stripe, Ten Thousand Apologies is that rare thing: a music book that barely features any music, a biography as literary as any novel, and a confessional that does not seek forgiveness. This is the definitive account of Fat White Family's disgraceful and radiant jihad - a depraved, romantic and furious gesture of refusal to a sanitised era.
Ten Thousand Apologies: Fat White Family and the Miracle of Failure
by Adelle Stripe Lias SaoudiFrom the mountains of Algeria to the squats of South London via sectarian Northern Ireland, Ten Thousand Apologies is the sordid and thrilling story of the country's most notorious cult band, Fat White Family. Loved and loathed in equal measure since their formation in 2011, the relentlessly provocative, stunningly dysfunctional "drug band with a rock problem" have dedicated themselves to constant chaos and total creative freedom at all costs.Like a tragicomic penny dreadful dreamed up by a mutant hybrid of Jean Genet, the Dadaists and Mark E. Smith, the Fat Whites' story is a frequently jaw-dropping epic of creative insurrection, narcotic excess, mental illness, wanderlust, self-sabotage, fractured masculinity, and the ruthless pursuit of absolute art.Co-written with lucidity and humour by singer Lias Saoudi and acclaimed author Adelle Stripe, Ten Thousand Apologies is that rare thing: a music book that barely features any music, a biography as literary as any novel, and a confessional that does not seek forgiveness. This is the definitive account of Fat White Family's disgraceful and radiant jihad - a depraved, romantic and furious gesture of refusal to a sanitised era.
Tenement Kid: Rough Trade Book of the Year
by Bobby GillespieTenement Kid is Bobby Gillespie's story up to the recording and release of the album that has been credited with 'starting the 90's', Screamadelica.Born into a working class Glaswegian family in the summer of 1961, Bobby's memoirs begin in the district of Springburn, soon to be evacuated in Edward Heath's brutal slum clearances. Leaving school at 16 and going to work as a printers' apprentice, Bobby's rock n roll epiphany arrives like a bolt of lightning shining from Phil Lynott's mirrored pickguard at his first gig at the Apollo in Glasgow. Filled with 'the holy spirit of rock n roll' his destiny is sealed with the arrival of the Sex Pistols and punk rock which to Bobby, represents an iconoclastic vision of class rebellion and would ultimately lead to him becoming an artist initially in the Jesus and Mary Chain then in Primal Scream.Structured in four parts, Tenement Kid builds like a breakbeat crescendo to the final quarter of the book, the Summer of Love, Boys Own parties, and the fateful meeting with Andrew Weatherall in an East Sussex field. As the '80s bleed into the '90s and a new kind of electronic soul music starts to pulse through the nation's consciousness, Primal Scream become the most innovative British band of the new decade, representing a new psychedelic vanguard taking shape at Creation Records.Ending with the release of Screamadelica and the tour that followed in the autumn, Tenement Kid is a book filled with the joy and wonder of a rock n roll apostle who would radically reshape the future sounds of fin de siècle British pop. Published thirty years after the release of their masterpiece, Bobby Gillespie's memoir cuts a righteous path through a decade lost to Thatcherism and saved by acid house.
Tenney Shares the Stage: Tenney Grant, Book 3) (Tenney Grant #3)
by Kellen HertzTenney & Logan are a harmonious match onstage, but behind the scenes, they are totally out of tune. In this third novel, Tenney has signed a recording contract and is ready to make the album of her dreams . . . she just wishes she didn't have to do it with moody Logan Everett! They're supposed to be songwriting partners, but Logan doesn't even seem to be trying. Just when it looks like they've found their harmony, Logan suddenly disappears, and Tenney wonders if he has bailed on their act. A couple of months ago, Tenney would have gladly taken the opportunity to go solo. But as she learns more of Logan's story, she begins to wonder: Do she and Logan need each other--and their music--now more than ever before?
Tenor: History of a Voice
by John PotterFrom its emergence in the sixteenth century to the phenomenon of the "Three Tenors" and beyond, the tenor voice has grown in popularity and esteem. This engaging and authoritative book--the first comprehensive history of tenor singing--presents fascinating details about the world's great performers, styles of singing in different countries, teachers and music schools, the variety of compositions for the tenor voice, and much more. John Potter begins by surveying the prehistory of the tenor in the medieval period, when Gregorian chant and early polyphony had implications for a voice-type, and proceeds to the sixteenth century, when singers were first identified as tenors. He focuses on many of the greatest tenors-- those who predated the gramophone as well as those whose recorded voices may still be heard--and considers the ways in which each is historically significant. The names range from legendary early figures like Ludwig Schnoor von Carolsfeld (Wagner's first Tristan) to those more familiar like Enrico Caruso, Richard Tauber, Mario Lanza, Roberto Alagna, Ian Bostridge, Andrea Bocelli, Il Divo, and, of course, Pavarotti, Domingo, and Carreras. Admirers of the tenor voice will especially appreciate the book's unique reference section, with bibliographical and discographical/video information on several hundred tenors.
Teresita Gómez: Música, toda una vida
by Beatriz Helena RobledoLa inspiradora biografía de una de las mejores pianistas en la historia de Colombia. A lo largo de más de seis décadas de carrera artística, la pianista Teresita Gómez ha sido una inspiración para muchos. Su talento extraordinario la ha llevado a conquistar los escenarios más importantes del mundo -como la Sociedad Chopin, en Varsovia; el Palacio Real de El Pardo, en Madrid, y el Festival Internacional Franz Liszt, en Weimar-, en los que ha sido una embajadora invaluable del patrimonio musical colombiano y una intérprete destacada de los clásicos. Nacida en Medellín, empezó a tocar piano cuando era niña, y la pasión por ese instrumento, que es también una filosofía de vida, la ha acompañado siempre. Ha sido agregada cultural en el exterior, receptora de la Orden de Boyacá -entre otras distinciones-, miembro de la Ópera de Colombia, madre, amiga y abuela, y durante años ha contribuido a formar a las nuevas generaciones de pianistas en el país. En esta biografía autorizada, producto de un trabajo cuidado y riguroso, Beatriz Helena Robledo narra la historia de una mujer que logró el éxito a pesar de haber tenido que enfrentarse al racismo sistemático de nuestra sociedad; un ejemplo de constancia y de lucha, pero, sobre todo, de entrega total a su arte. Teresita Gómez como nunca antes se había contado.
Terminated for Reasons of Taste: Other Ways to Hear Essential and Inessential Music
by Chuck EddyIn Terminated for Reasons of Taste, veteran rock critic Chuck Eddy writes that "rock'n'roll history is written by the winners. Which stinks, because the losers have always played a big role in keeping rock interesting." Rock's losers share top billing with its winners in this new collection of Eddy's writing. In pieces culled from outlets as varied as the Village Voice, Creem magazine, the streaming site Rhapsody, music message boards, and his high school newspaper, Eddy covers everything from the Beastie Boys to 1920s country music, Taylor Swift to German new wave, Bruce Springsteen to occult metal. With an encyclopedic knowledge, unabashed irreverence, and a captivating style, Eddy rips up popular music histories and stitches them back together using his appreciation of the lost, ignored, and maligned. In so doing, he shows how pop music is bigger, and more multidimensional and compelling than most people can imagine.
Terrence Malick: Sonic Style (Filmmakers and Their Soundtracks)
by James WierzbickiIn the course of a decades-spanning career as a filmmaker, Terrence Malick has carved out a distinctive cinematic aesthetic. Central to this style is the use of sound. James Wierzbicki offers the first comprehensive study of Malick's soundtracks, arguing that they create a distinctive sonic style throughout his oeuvre and exploring how that style functions. Considering voice, noise, and music as elements in the soundtrack, this concise book enriches our understanding of one of our most philosophical filmmakers, and of the interplay between the sonic and visual elements in film.
Terrible Freedom: The Life and Work of Lucia Dlugoszewski (California Studies in 20th-Century Music #31)
by Amy C. BealFrom her childhood in Detroit to her professional career in New York City, American composer Lucia Dlugoszewski (1925–2000) lived a life of relentless creativity as a poet and writer, composer for dance, theater, and film, and, eventually, choreographer. Forging her own path after briefly studying with John Cage and Edgard Varèse, Dlugoszewski tackled the musical issues of her time. She expanded sonic resources, invented instruments, brought new focus to timbre and texture, collaborated with artists across disciplines, and incorporated spiritual, psychological, and philosophical influences into her work. Remembered today almost solely as the musical director for the Erick Hawkins Dance Company, Dlugoszewski's compositional output, writings on aesthetics, creative relationships, and graphic poetry deserve careful examination on their own terms within the history of American experimental music.
Tessa's Tip-tapping Toes
by Carolyn Crimi Marsha Gray CarringtonAn enchanting performance starring a little mouse who was born to boogie and a cat who can't stop crooning. Other mice scurry, but not Tessa. She boogies, bops shimmies, and hops. On her family's raids through Mrs. Timboni's kitchen, Tessa tangos across the teapot and sashays with saltshakers. Soon Mrs. Timboni brings home a cat--but Oscar is no ordinary cat. He doesn't like to nap or chase mice. Instead, he croons on Mrs. Timboni's counter, sings in her sinks, and trills on the dining room table. Is it any wonder that there's magic in the air when these two talents finally meet?
Testimony: A Memoir
by Robbie RobertsonOn the fortieth anniversary of The Band's legendary The Last Waltz concert, Robbie Robertson finally tells his own spellbinding story of the band that changed music history, his extraordinary personal journey, and his creative friendships with some of the greatest artists of the last half-century. Robbie Robertson's singular contributions to popular music have made him one of the most beloved songwriters and guitarists of his time. With songs like "The Weight," "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down," and "Up on Cripple Creek," he and his partners in The Band fashioned music that has endured for decades, influencing countless musicians. In this captivating memoir, written over five years of reflection, Robbie Robertson employs his unique storyteller's voice to weave together the journey that led him to some of the most pivotal events in music history. He recounts the adventures of his half-Jewish, half-Mohawk upbringing on the Six Nations Indian Reserve and on the gritty streets of Toronto; his odyssey at sixteen to the Mississippi Delta, the fountainhead of American music; the wild, early years on the road with rockabilly legend Ronnie Hawkins and The Hawks; his unexpected ties to the Cosa Nostra underworld; the gripping trial-by-fire "going electric" with Bob Dylan on his 1966 world tour, and their ensuing celebrated collaborations; the formation of The Band and the forging of their unique sound, culminating with history's most famous farewell concert, brought to life for all time in Martin Scorsese's great movie The Last Waltz. This is the story of a time and place--the moment when rock ʼnʼ roll became life, when legends like Buddy Holly and Bo Diddley crisscrossed the circuit of clubs and roadhouses from Texas to Toronto, when The Beatles, Hendrix, The Stones, and Warhol moved through the same streets and hotel rooms. It's the story of exciting change as the world tumbled through the ʼ60s and early ʼ70s, and a generation came of age, built on music, love, and freedom. Above all, it's the moving story of the profound friendship among five young men who together created a new kind of popular music. Testimony is Robbie Robertson's story, lyrical and true, as only he could tell it.From the Hardcover edition.
Testimony
by Robbie RobertsonOn the 40th anniversary of The Band's legendary The Last Waltz concert, Robbie Robertson finally tells his own spellbinding story of the band that changed music history, his extraordinary personal journey, and his creative friendships with some of the greatest artists of the last half-century. Robbie Robertson's singular contributions to popular music have made him one of the most beloved songwriters and guitarists of his time. With songs like "The Weight," "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down," and "Up on Cripple Creek," he and his partners in The Band fashioned a music that has endured for decades, influencing countless musicians. In this captivating memoir, written over five years of reflection, Robbie Robertson employs his unique storyteller's voice to weave together the journey that led him to some of the most pivotal events in music history. He recounts the adventures of his half-Jewish, half-Mohawk upbringing on the Six Nations Indian Reserve and on the gritty streets of Toronto; his odyssey at sixteen to the Mississippi Delta, the fountainhead of American music; the wild early years on the road with rockabilly legend Ronnie Hawkins and The Hawks; his unexpected ties to the Cosa Nostra underworld; the gripping trial-by-fire "going electric" with Bob Dylan on his 1966 world tour, and their ensuing celebrated collaborations; the formation of the Band and the forging of their unique sound, culminating with history's most famous farewell concert, brought to life for all time in Martin Scorsese's great movie The Last Waltz. This is the story of a time and place--the moment when rock 'n' roll became life, when legends like Buddy Holly and Bo Diddley criss-crossed the circuit of clubs and roadhouses from Texas to Toronto, when The Beatles, Hendrix, The Stones, and Warhol moved through the same streets and hotel rooms. It's the story of exciting change as the world tumbled through the '60s and early 70's, and a generation came of age, built on music, love and freedom. Above all, it's the moving story of the profound friendship between five young men who together created a new kind of popular music. Testimony is Robbie Robertson's story, lyrical and true, as only he could tell it.From the Hardcover edition.
Testimony: The Memoirs of Dmitri Shostakovich
by Solomon VolkovA wonder of the 20th century, composer Dmitri Shostakovich, tells his story to Solomon Volkov for history's recordSince the time of his death, Dmitri Shostakovich’s place in the pantheon of 20th century composers has become more commanding and more celebrated, while his musical legacy, with all its wonderfully varied richness, is performed with increasing frequency throughout the world.This seemingly endless surge of interest can be attributed, at least in part, to Testimony, the powerful memoirs the ailing compose dictated to the young Russian musicology Solomon Volkov. When Testimony was first published in the West in 1979, it became an international bestseller, and was called the “book of the year” by The Times in London. The Guardian heralded Testimony as “the most influential music book of the 20th century.” Testimony offers a chance to reckon with the life and work of one of history’s most lauded musical geniuses—as a man and an artist.
Testimony, A Tribute to Charlie Parker: With New and Selected Jazz Poems (Wesleyan Poetry Series)
by Miriam Zolin Yusef Komunyakaa Sandy Evans Christopher Williams Sascha FeinsteinPulitzer Prize-winning poet Yusef Komunyakaa is well known for his jazz poetry, and this book is the first to bring together the verve and vitality of his oeuvre. The centerpiece of this volume is the libretto "Testimony." Paying homage to Charlie Parker, "Testimony" was commissioned for a radio drama with original music by eminent Australian composer and saxophonist Sandy Evans. Remarkably rich and evocative, encompassing a wide range of musical energy and performers, this moving affirmation of Parker's genius became a milestone in contemporary radio theater. Twenty-eight additional poems spanning the breadth of Komunyakaa's career are included, including two never previously published. Accompanying the poems are interviews and essays featuring Komunyakaa, Evans, radio producer Christopher Williams, jazz critic Miriam Zolin, jazz writer and editor Sascha Feinstein, and musical director, Paul Grabowsky. Sascha Feinstein writes the foreword. Check for the online reader's companion at testimony.site.wesleyan.edu. (This edition does not include any audio.)
Texas Bluegrass History: High Lonesome on the High Plains
by Jeff Campbell Braeden PaulTexas has nurtured a thriving bluegrass scene since the early 1950s. The Lone Star State boasts the country's first bluegrass college degree and even hosts a Beatles bluegrass cover band. Meet the Pickin' Singin' Professor, the Fiddle Engineer and Blanco's Bluegrass Boy. Hit the trail with cowboys like the Mayfield brothers and go backstage with Grammy-nominated acts like Wood & Wire. Jeff Campbell and Braeden Paul celebrate the musicians who contributed to the harmonious heritage of Texas bluegrass.
Texas Bluegrass Legacies: Families and Mentors through the Generations
by Jeff Campbell Braeden PaulEnjoy a breakdown of the Lone Star State's generational bluegrass harmonies. From the moment they picked up the radio signal of Bill Monroe's mandolin, Texans have been enamored with this uniquely American style of music. But the high lonesome sound couldn't have put down roots without a tradition of mentorship that runs through families and spans generations. Meet the Van Cliburn piano prodigy that became a multi-instrumentalist for Taylor Swift. Travel to the summer bluegrass camp where students develop into teachers. Sit in on a back porch jam session with the Rogers, the Brocks, the Vestals and the Whites. From the state's first Asian-American bluegrass family to its banjo-building Santa Claus, Jeff Campbell and Braeden Paul set the stage for the stewards of Texas bluegrass.
Texas Flood: The Inside Story of Stevie Ray Vaughan
by Alan Paul Andy AledortAn instant New York Times bestseller!The first definitive biography of guitar legend Stevie Ray Vaughan, with an epilogue by Jimmie Vaughan, and foreword and afterword by Double Trouble’s Chris Layton and Tommy Shannon.Just a few years after he almost died from a severe addiction to cocaine and alcohol, a clean and sober Stevie Ray Vaughan was riding high. His last album was his most critically lauded and commercially successful. He had fulfilled a lifelong dream by collaborating with his first and greatest musical hero, his brother Jimmie. His tumultuous marriage was over and he was in a new and healthy romantic relationship. Vaughan seemed poised for a new, limitless chapter of his life and career.Instead, it all came to a shocking and sudden end on August 27, 1990, when he was killed in a helicopter crash following a dynamic performance with Eric Clapton. Just 35 years old, he left behind a powerful musical legacy and an endless stream of What Ifs. In the ensuing 29 years, Vaughan’s legend and acclaim have only grown and he is now an undisputed international musical icon. Despite the cinematic scope of Vaughan’s life and death, there has never been a truly proper accounting of his story. Until now.Texas Flood provides the unadulterated truth about Stevie Ray Vaughan from those who knew him best: his brother Jimmie, his Double Trouble bandmates Tommy Shannon, Chris Layton and Reese Wynans, and many other close friends, family members, girlfriends, fellow musicians, managers and crew members.
Texas Jailhouse Music: A Prison Band History
by Caroline GnagyInside the Texas State Prison is a surprising story of ingenuity, optimism and musical creativity. During the mid-twentieth century, inmates at the Huntsville unit and neighboring Goree State Farm for Women captured hearts all over Texas during weekly radio broadcasts and live stage performances. WBAP's Thirty Minutes Behind the Walls took listeners inside the penitentiary to hear not only the prisoners? songs but also the stories of those who sang them. Captivating and charismatic, banjo player Reable Childs received thousands of fan letters with the Goree All-Girl String Band during World War II. Hattie Ellis, a young black inmate with a voice that rivaled Billie Holiday's, was immortalized by notable folklorist John Avery Lomax. Cowboys, songsters and champion fiddlers all played a part in one of the most unique prison histories in the nation. Caroline Gnagy presents the decades-long story of the Texas convict bands, informed by prison records, radio show transcripts and the words and music of the inmates themselves.
A Texas-Mexican Cancionero: Folksongs of the Lower Border
by Manuel PeñaThe folksongs of Texas's Mexican population pulsate with the lives of folk heroes, gringos, smugglers, generals, jailbirds, and beautiful women. In his cancionero, or songbook, Américo Paredes presents sixty-six of these songs in bilingual text—along with their music, notes on tempo and performance, and discography. Manuel Peña's new foreword situates these songs within the main currents of Mexican American music.
The Texas-Mexican Conjunto: History of a Working-Class Music
by Manuel H. PeñaA history of conjunto music and musicians.
Texas Tornado: The Times and Music of Doug Sahm (Brad and Michele Moore Roots Music Series)
by Jan ReidDoug Sahm was a singer, songwriter, and guitarist of legendary range and reputation. The first American musician to capitalize on the 1960s British invasion, Sahm vaulted to international fame leading a faux-British band called the Sir Douglas Quintet, whose hits included "She's About a Mover," "The Rains Came," and "Mendocino. " He made the cover of Rolling Stone magazine in 1968 and 1971 and performed with the Grateful Dead, Dr. John, Willie Nelson, Boz Scaggs, and Bob Dylan. Texas Tornado is the first biography of this national music legend. Jan Reid traces the whole arc of Sahm's incredibly versatile musical career, as well as the manic energy that drove his sometimes turbulent personal life and loves. Reid follows Sahm from his youth in San Antonio as a prodigy steel guitar player through his breakout success with the Sir Douglas Quintet and his move to California, where, with an inventive take on blues, rock, country, and jazz, he became a star in San Francisco and invented the "cosmic cowboy" vogue. Reid also chronicles Sahm's later return to Texas and to chart success with the Grammy Award-winning Texas Tornados, a rowdy "conjunto rock and roll band" that he modeled on the Beatles and which included Sir Douglas alum Augie Meyers and Tejano icons Freddy Fender and Flaco Jimenez. With his exceptional talent and a career that bridged five decades, Doug Sahm was a rock and roll innovator whose influence can only be matched among his fellow Texas musicians by Buddy Holly, Roy Orbison, Janis Joplin, and Stevie Ray Vaughan. Texas Tornado vividly captures the energy and intensity of this musician whose life burned out too soon, but whose music continues to rock.
Texas Tornado: The Times and Music of Doug Sahm (Brad and Michele Moore Roots Music Series)
by Jan Reid Shawn SahmA biography of the Sir Douglas Quintet and Texas Tornados founder, a rock and roll innovator whose Grammy Award–winning career spans half the twentieth century.Doug Sahm was a singer, songwriter, and guitarist of legendary range and reputation. The first American musician to capitalize on the 1960s British invasion, Sahm vaulted to international fame leading a faux-British band called the Sir Douglas Quintet, whose hits included &“She&’s About a Mover,&” &“The Rains Came,&” and &“Mendocino.&” He made the cover of Rolling Stone magazine in 1968 and 1971 and performed with the Grateful Dead, Dr. John, Willie Nelson, Boz Scaggs, and Bob Dylan.Texas Tornado is the first biography of this national music legend. Jan Reid traces the whole arc of Sahm&’s incredibly versatile musical career, as well as the manic energy that drove his sometimes-turbulent personal life and loves. Reid follows Sahm from his youth in San Antonio as a prodigy steel guitar player through his breakout success with the Sir Douglas Quintet and his move to California, where, with an inventive take on blues, rock, country, and jazz, he became a star in San Francisco and invented the &“cosmic cowboy&” vogue. Reid also chronicles Sahm&’s later return to Texas and to chart success with the Grammy Award–winning Texas Tornados, a rowdy &“conjunto rock and roll band&” that he modeled on the Beatles and which included Sir Douglas alum Augie Meyers and Tejano icons Freddy Fender and Flaco Jimenez.With his exceptional talent and a career that bridged five decades, Doug Sahm was a rock and roll innovator whose influence can only be matched among his fellow Texas musicians by Buddy Holly, Roy Orbison, Janis Joplin, and Stevie Ray Vaughan. Texas Tornado vividly captures the energy and intensity of this musician whose life burned out too soon, but whose music continues to rock.&“Doug was like me, maybe the only figure from that period of time that I connected with. His was a big soul. He had a hit record, &“She&’s About a Mover,&” and I had a hit record [&“Like a Rolling Stone&”] at the same time. So we became buddies back then, and we played the same kind of music. We never really broke apart. We always hooked up at certain intervals in our lives. . . . I&’d never met anyone who&’d played on stage with Hank Williams before, let alone someone my own age. Doug had a heavy frequency, and it was in his nerves. . . . I miss Doug. He got caught in the grind. He should still be here.&” —Bob Dylan&“I once made the analogy that Doug was like St. Sebastian—pierced by 1,000 arrows—but instead of blood, talent coming out of every wound. I really regard him as the best musician I ever knew, because of his versatility, and the range of his information and taste.&” —Jerry Wexler, Atlantic Records producer
Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)
by Sly StoneOne of the few indisputable geniuses of pop music, Sly Stone is a trailblazer who created a new kind of music, mixing Black and white, male and female, funk and rock; penned some of the most iconic anthems of the 1960s and 70s, from "Everyday People" to "Family Affair"; and electrified audiences with a persona and stage presence that set a lasting standard for pop culture performance. Yet he has also been a cautionary tale, known as much for how he dropped out of sight as for what put him in the spotlight in the first place. As much as people know the music, the man remains a mystery. In Thank You, his much-anticipated memoir, he's finally ready to share his story - a story that many thought he'd never have the chance to tell. Written with Ben Greenman, who has written memoirs with George Clinton and Brian Wilson among others, Thank You will include a foreword by Questlove. The book was created in collaboration with Sly Stone's manager Arlene Hirschkowitz. "For as long as I can remember folks have been asking me to tell my story," says Stone. "I wasn't ready. I had to be in a new frame of mind to become Sylvester Stewart again to tell the true story of Sly Stone. It's been a wild ride and hopefully my fans enjoy it too."