(Vocals, multi-instrumentalist, 1906–2001) Born near Ripley, West Virginia, Oby Edgar Starcher performed on radio stations in Baltimore and elsewhere. From the 1940s until the late 1960s, he recorded for various labels and wrote songs such as ‘You’ve Still Got A Place In My Heart’ and ‘I’ll Still Write Your Name’, many of which were popularized by ...
Buddy Holly helped define and popularize rock’n’roll in its earliest days, when its future was in doubt and its existence was under attack. Strumming a Fender Stratocaster, he brought an extra dose of country to a sound that was still closely related to pure blues and rhythm and blues. He blazed a trail for white artists who, unlike ...
One of the young gunslingers who invigorated the blues in the 1960s, Buddy Guy (b. 1936) wowed audiences with high-octane guitar histrionics and energy that were matched by a tortured vocal manner. Guy is a master of dynamics, allowing a song to drift towards oblivion before suddenly bringing it back to a crescendo of intensity. Notable fans have included ...
(Clarinet, b. 1923) Buddy DeFranco (Boniface Ferdinand Leonardo) became the leading clarinet player of the post-swing era. His liquid sonority and flowing improvisations drew on elements from both swing and bebop, but without settling fully in either camp. He served a big-band apprenticeship with Gene Krupa, Charlie Barnet and Tommy Dorsey in the mid-1940s, but is best ...
(Drums, 1917–87) Bernard ‘Buddy’ Rich was a powerhouse drummer with a phenomenal technique, but he was also capable of great delicacy when required. He grew up in the family vaudeville act before joining Joe Marsala’s band in 1937. It was the beginning of a series of associations with major swing era bandleaders such as Harry James, Artie Shaw ...
‘When I first heard of the electric guitar, I thought somebody was bullshittin’ me,’ says George ‘Buddy’ Guy. ‘We lived so far in the country I didn’t even know what an acoustic guitar was until my mother started getting mail-order catalogs’. In 2005, Guy, who was born in Lettsworth, Louisiana on 30 July 1936, stands ...
(Vocals, guitar, 1936–59) Born Charles Holley in Lubbock, Texas, Buddy was one of the biggest names of the rock’n’roll era. Along with his group, The Crickets, he recorded for producer Norman Petty and created a series of instantly recognizable worldwide hits. He came from a strictly hillbilly background but incorporated both R&B and blues into ...
(Vocals, guitar, 1933–99) Knox came from the tiny west Texas town of Happy. His group, The Rhythm Orchids included future country-music executive Jimmy Bowen on upright bass. Their biggest hit, ‘Party Doll’ (1957), was recorded at Norman Petty’s studio in Clovis, New Mexico. Buddy’s style was light and melodic, and less aggressive than his contemporaries. ...
(Vocals, guitar, b. 1952) Miller is short and stocky, just like Buck Owens, and applies a similar thick hillbilly twang to similar down-to-earth, hard-country songs. Julie Miller (vocals, b. 1956) is as tall and willowy as Joni Mitchell, and writes the same sort of poetic, folk-rock songs for the same sort of reedy ...
Buddy Holly was born Charles Hardin Holley in Lubbock, Texas, on 7 September 1936. Buddy got a guitar in his mid-teens and started practising with friend, Bob Montgomery. They liked country and western but also had predilection for the blues. An Elvis gig in Lubbock in early 1955 alerted them to new possibilities. Buddy and Bob, as ...
(Guitar, vocals, 1933–99) Texas-born Knox formed The Rhythm Orchids at West Texas State high school with Jimmy Bowen (bass, vocals). ‘Party Doll’ (by Knox) and ‘I’m Stickin’ With You’ (by Bowen), recorded by Norman Petty, which possibly influenced Buddy Holly to choose Petty as his producer, were released as the two sides of a 1957 million-selling ...
(Vocals, 1914–99) This Nova Scotia-born singer was one of country music’s most popular figures in the 1950s and 1960s, and a Grand Ole Opry headliner for a half century. He recorded over 100 albums and had nearly as many chart singles. For more than a decade he recorded for the Canadian Bluebird label before breaking through in the USA ...
(Vocals, guitar, 1955–89) Initially a bluegrass artist, Whitley began performing at the age of eight on the Buddy Starcher radio show from Charleston, Virginia. In 1970, Whitley and his friend Ricky Skaggs joined Ralph Stanley’s Clinch Mountain Boys, and during the 1970s, recorded with J. D. Crowe And The New South. He turned to ...
Bugle Best known in its military guise, the bugle is one of the simplest of brass instruments in terms of construction, but it is very difficult to play. The single tube of metal has no valves to help create different notes, so players have to do all the work by changing their embouchure – a combination of the ...
From its roots, country music has been associated with simplicity – in melody, in subject-matter and in instrumentation, and it is this that has perhaps ensured its longevity. However, all good musicians make their craft look simple, and the history of country music is packed with virtuosos, from the pioneering banjoist Earl Scruggs, through ...
AUTHORITATIVE
An extensive music information resource, bringing together the talents and expertise of a wide range of editors and musicologists, including Stanley Sadie, Charles Wilson, Paul Du Noyer, Tony Byworth, Bob Allen, Howard Mandel, Cliff Douse, William Schafer, John Wilson...
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Classical, Rock, Blues, Jazz, Country and more. Flame Tree has been making encyclopaedias and guides about music for over 20 years. Now Flame Tree Pro brings together a huge canon of carefully curated information on genres, styles, artists and instruments. It's a perfect tool for study, and entertaining too, a great companion to our music books.
David Bowie
Fantastic new, unofficial biography covers
his life, music, art and movies, with a
sweep of incredible photographs.