The Folksinger's Daughter


Book Description

When you're growing up as the daughter of famed folksinger and composer Oscar Brand, you get Arlo Guthrie as a swim instructor and Eleanor Roosevelt as a babysitter. You experience a childhood laced with such stunning personalities as John Raitt, Joni Mitchell, Theodore Bikel, Jean Ritchie, Johnny Cash, and Pete Seeger. You spend your summer vacations floating from one folk festival to another. You even have a blues legend like Brownie McGhee singing you your lullabies. But you also get the vagaries of an uncertain existence - an existence that is not only uncertain financially, but often emotionally, as your single-father Dad struggles to balance the responsibilities of parenthood with the time-devouring necessity to make a living and build his career. Thus you frequently find yourself charged with responsibilities well beyond your years. At times hilarious and at times tragic, Jeannie Brand's story is one of both great joy and great sorrow, and never dull. A "must" for folk aficionados, and fascinating even for the general reader. Includes numerous photo illustrations.




Woody Guthrie


Book Description

The timely, passionate, and humanely political work of America's greatest folk singer and songwriter is presented through his own words and art – curated by Woody's daughter – in this essential self-portrait, including never-before published lyrics and personal writing, and testimony from contemporary writers and musicians on his powerful relevance today. Woody Guthrie and his passionate social politics are as crucial today as they have ever been. A powerful voice for justice, and the author of more than 3,000 songs (including "This Land is Your Land"), he was also a poet, painter, illustrator, novelist, journal keeper, and profuse letter writer. Curated by his daughter Nora and award-winning music historian Robert Santelli, this fresh, intimate, and beautifully designed book thematically reveals Woody's story through his own personal writings, lyrics, and artwork, urgently bringing his voice to life. Featuring never-before-published lyrics to some of his greatest songs, personal diary entries, doodles, quips and jokes, and piercing insights on his politics and justice, this is an undeniable and important celebration of Woody's vibrant life's work. Created to be enjoyed by all – those interested in folk music or those interested in Woody's thoughts on Life in all its aspects, from Politics and Spirituality, to Love and Family – this book reflects Bob Dylan's thoughts on Woody Guthrie; "You can listen to his songs and learn how to live." ONE OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL SONGWRITERS IN AMERICAN MUSIC HISTORY: Woody Guthrie has had a profound impact on American musicians, writers, politicians (and the everyman who found solace and kinship in Guthrie's writings and political beliefs), who have been shaped by his music and activism – namely the great founding father of songwriting himself, Bob Dylan, for whom he was a mentor. Others who have named Guthrie as a major influence include Bruce Springsteen, Johnny Cash, Pete Seeger, John Mellencamp, Billy Bragg, Joe Strummer, and Jerry Garcia, just to name a few. RARE ARCHIVAL MATERIAL: This is Woody's life told primarily in his own words, with never-before published handwritten lyrics, artwork, journals, and much more. WORDS OF WISDOM RELEVANT TODAY: Woody Guthrie's lyrics and writings carry pointed relevance to our world today – he wrote powerfully about economic inequality, immigration reform, fascism, war, corruption from capitalism gone wild, patriotism, and environmentalism – not to mention spirituality of all kinds, love, and family. EXCLUSIVE CONTRIBUTORS: Includes new writing about Woody and his music by Chuck D., Ani DiFranco, Douglas Brinkley, Jeff Daniels, Arlo Guthrie, and Rosanne Cash. Perfect for: • Music lovers • Musicians and artists • Political activists and historians • Fans of Americana




Libba


Book Description

Elizabeth Cotten was only a little girl when she picked up a guitar for the first time. It wasn't hers (it was her big brother's), and it wasn't strung right for her (she was left-handed). But she flipped that guitar upside down and backwards and taught herself how to play it anyway. By age eleven, she'd written "Freight Train," one of the most famous folk songs of the twentieth century. And by the end of her life, people everywhere—from the sunny beaches of California to the rolling hills of England—knew her music. This lyrical, loving picture book from popular singer-songwriter Laura Veirs and debut illustrator Tatyana Fazlalizadeh tells the story of the determined, gifted, daring Elizabeth Cotten—one of the most celebrated American folk musicians of all time.




Reckless Daughter


Book Description

"She was like a storm." —Leonard Cohen Reckless Daughter is the story of an artist and an era that have left an indelible mark on American music. Joni Mitchell may be the most influential female recording artist and composer of the late twentieth century. In Reckless Daughter, the music critic David Yaffe tells the remarkable, heart-wrenching story of how the blond girl with the guitar became a superstar of folk music in the 1960s, a key figure in the Laurel Canyon music scene of the 1970s, and the songwriter who spoke resonantly to, and for, audiences across the country. A Canadian prairie girl, a free-spirited artist, Mitchell never wanted to be a pop star. She was nothing more than “a painter derailed by circumstances,” she would explain. And yet, she went on to become a talented self-taught musician and a brilliant bandleader, releasing album after album, each distinctly experimental, challenging, and revealing. Her lyrics captivated listeners with their perceptive language and naked emotion, born out of Mitchell’s life, loves, complaints, and prophecies. As an artist whose work deftly balances narrative and musical complexity, she has been admired by such legendary lyricists as Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen and beloved by such groundbreaking jazz musicians as Jaco Pastorius, Wayne Shorter, and Herbie Hancock. Her hits—from “Big Yellow Taxi” to “Both Sides, Now” to “A Case of You”—endure as timeless favorites, and her influence on the generations of singer-songwriters who would follow her, from her devoted fan Prince to Björk, is undeniable. In this intimate biography, drawing on dozens of unprecedented in-person interviews with Mitchell, her childhood friends, and a cast of famous characters, Yaffe reveals the backstory behind the famous songs—from Mitchell’s youth in Canada, her bout with polio at age nine, and her early marriage and the child she gave up for adoption, through the love affairs that inspired masterpieces, and up to the present—and shows us why Mitchell has so enthralled her listeners, her lovers, and her friends.




Miss You Like Hell


Book Description

“This is a fresh take on the American road story, filled with people and ideas we rarely get to see onstage…It offers two seriously rich roles for women, each with important things worth singing about…Miss You Like Hell is a powerful example of what musicals do best: explore the unprotected border where individual needs and social issues intermix.” —Jesse Green, New York Times A troubled teenager and her estranged mother—an undocumented Mexican immigrant on the verge of deportation—embark on a road trip and strive to mend their frayed relationship along the way. Combined with the musical talent of Erin McKeown, Hudes artfully crafts a story of the barriers and the bonds of family, while also addressing the complexities of immigration in today’s America.




Wayward Daughter


Book Description

Eliza Carthy is the daughter of Martin Carthy and Norma Waterson. The clan has often been rightly described as folk's royal family. Martin was in Steeleye Span, Albion Dance band and the Watersons as well as holding down a successful solo career. Norma was a member of the Watersons folk group. Perhaps it was inevitable that Eliza would follow the family trade and become a folk musician. She is no pale imitator though, and can play just about any stringed instrument like a virtuoso, though amazingly she underrates herself. This self- doubt seems at odds with the public persona of a brassy northern lass, who has sometimes been described as 'difficult' (though not in our experience). Her albums are exceptional slices of traditional and new folk, but the stage is her natural home, enthralling audiences with a blend of folk, jazz, rock and music hall. 2011 saw her win two out of the three categories she was nominated for in the Radio 2 British Folk Awards, to swell an already bulging trophy cabinet. At 35 years of age it seems apt to chronicle the first half of an eventful life. In addition to extensive interviews with Eliza herself, the book contains interviews with her parents and other family members and also many of the people Eliza has worked with: Billy Bragg, comedian Stewart Lee, Richard Thompson Vandyke Parkes and many more were fulsome in their praise of Eliza when interviewed. She has toured America with Joan Baez. Eliza has an extensive collection of photographs that people have taken of her and she has been exceptionally generous in letting us use them.




Girls Like Us


Book Description

A groundbreaking and irresistible biography of three of America’s most important musical artists—Carole King, Joni Mitchell, and Carly Simon—charts their lives as women at a magical moment in time. Carole King, Joni Mitchell, and Carly Simon remain among the most enduring and important women in popular music. Each woman is distinct. Carole King is the product of outer-borough, middle-class New York City; Joni Mitchell is a granddaughter of Canadian farmers; and Carly Simon is a child of the Manhattan intellectual upper crust. They collectively represent, in their lives and their songs, a great swath of American girls who came of age in the late 1960s. Their stories trace the arc of the now mythic sixties generation—female version—but in a bracingly specific and deeply recalled way, far from cliché. The history of the women of that generation has never been written—until now, through their resonant lives and emblematic songs. Filled with the voices of many dozens of these women's intimates, who are speaking in these pages for the first time, this alternating biography reads like a novel—except it’s all true, and the heroines are famous and beloved. Sheila Weller captures the character of each woman and gives a balanced portrayal enriched by a wealth of new information. Girls Like Us is an epic treatment of midcentury women who dared to break tradition and become what none had been before them—confessors in song, rock superstars, and adventurers of heart and soul.







Since Then


Book Description

An honest and revealing memoir from musician David Crosby, founding member of The Byrds and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. A true rock-and-roll survivor, David Crosby was the quintessential American icon of the counterculture of the sixties and seventies. In Since Then, the follow-up memoir to his New York Times bestseller Long Time Gone, the legendary, controversial, and beloved poster boy for folk-rock utopia again turns his wry and unstinting eye to a fascinating, prickly subject: himself. Reunited with his adult son while awaiting a liver transplant, becoming a famous sperm donor (to Melissa Etheridge and Julie Cypher), coming back from a crippling motorcycle accident, losing his house in an earthquake, and through it all making beautiful music, David Crosby once again reveals all with self-skewering humor and honesty—as only he can. “A fascinating life worthy of a sequel.”—Entertainment Weekly