Oh, Didn't They Ramble: Rounder Records and the Transformation of American Roots Music - Hardcover

David Menconi (author)

 
9781469674995: Oh, Didn't They Ramble: Rounder Records and the Transformation of American Roots Music
Hardcover
ISBN 10: 1469674998 ISBN 13: 9781469674995
Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press, 2023

Synopsis

What is American roots music? Any definition must account for a kaleidoscope of genres from bluegrass to blues, western swing to jazz, soul and gospel to rock and reggae, Cajun to Celtic. It must encompass the work of artists as diverse as Alice Gerard and Alison Kraus, George Thorogood and Sun Ra, Bela Fleck and Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, the Blake Babies and Billy Strings. What do all these artists and music styles have in common? The answer is a record label born in the wake of the American folk revival and 1960s movement politics, formed around the eclectic tastes and audacious ideals of three recent college grads who lived, listened, and worked together. The answer is Rounder Records.

For more than fifty years, Rounder has been the world's leading label for folk music of all kinds. David Menconi's book is the label's definitive history, drawing on previously untapped archives and extensive interviews with artists, Rounder staff, and founders Ken Irwin, Marian Leighton Levy, and Bill Nowlin. Rounder's founders blended ingenuity and independence with serendipity and an unfailing belief in the small-d democratic power of music to connect and inspire people, forging creative partnerships that resulted in one of the most eclectic and creative catalogs in the history of recorded music. Placing Rounder in the company of similarly influential labels like Stax, Motown, and Blue Note, this story is destined to delight anyone who cares about the place of music in American culture.

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About the Author

David Menconi is a journalist, music critic, and author based in Raleigh, North Carolina. His most recent book is Step It Up and Go: The Story of North Carolina Popular Music from Blind Boy Fuller and Doc Watson to Nina Simone and Superchunk.

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Publisher
The University of North Carolina Press
Publication date
2023
Language
English
ISBN 10 
1469674998
ISBN 13 
9781469674995
Binding
Hardcover
Number of pages
208