Bluegrass and Traditional Music Resource Guide: Books and eBooks

Original and authentic describes the work of B. L. Dotson-Lewis, West Virginia author. Born in the coalfields of Southwest Virginia and raised in the coalfields of West Virginia. This author strikes out on her own to give the mountain people a voice through oral histories, photos and narratives. Book three explores the exciting world of bluegrass music from the grassroots.

The Appalachian dulcimer is one of America's major contributions to world music and folk art. Homemade and handmade, played by people with no formal knowledge of music, this beautiful instrument entered the post-World-War-II Folk Revival with virtually no written record. Appalachian Dulcimer Traditions tells the fascinating story of the effort to recover the instrument's lost history through fieldwork in the Southern mountains, finding of old instruments, and listening to the tales of old folks.

Tim Barnwell's photography has documented the people of Appalachia for over three decades, capturing a way of life and work that has changed little in the past hundred years. Now with sensitivity and grace he honors the music and handcrafts of the region, showing musicians and craftspeople in their homes, studios, shops, or in concert.

As in his previous books, striking duotone portraits of these artisans and musicians are accompanied by biographies and oral histories. Here we become acquainted with banjo players, wood carvers, basket weavers, fiddlers, blacksmiths, and many more. A music CD with twenty songs from musicians featured in the book rounds out this rich collection.

These 19 essays offer an examination and reevaluation of the Bristol sessions--from their germination, to the actual sessions, to their place in history and continuing influence

Based upon interviews with legendary players from the golden age of Baltimore bluegrass, this book provides the first in-depth coverage of this transplanted-roots music and its broader influence, detailing the struggles Appalachian musicians faced in a big city that viewed the music they made as the "poorest example of poor man's music."