(Vocals, guitar, b. 1923) Arthel ‘Doc’ Watson was a blind, 37-year farm worker who was playing old-time country and rockabilly on weekends when folklorist Ralph Rinzler came across him in the North Carolina mountains in 1960. Recognizing Watson as one of the most dazzling guitar virtuosos of his generation, Rinzler soon convinced him to perform and record ...
Few guitarists have gone through as many career changes as Johnny ‘Guitar’ Watson (1935–96). Rock, blues, jazz, funk, disco – Watson excelled at all of them. He wasn’t just a guitarist either. He could, and did, play anything except drums and horns on his records. But it is as a guitarist that he left the ...
(Trumpet, vocals, 1905–97) Adolphus Cheatham played in countless bands and small groups in the 1920s, before settling in the Cab Calloway orchestra in 1931. He remained with Calloway until 1939, after which he resumed work with a variety of bands. He didn’t emerge as a soloist until the 1960s, working with George Wein, Benny Goodman ...
(Guitar, piano, vocals, 1935–96) The self-proclaimed ‘Gangster Of Love’, Watson learned piano from his father in Houston, Texas but became known for his terse, stinging guitar, which influenced Frank Zappa and has been sampled by rappers. Etta James patterned her early singing after Watson’s declarative vocals, best immortalized along with his wicked instrumental prowess ...
(Vocals, banjo, 1898–1971) Boggs grew up in south-western Virginia at a time when mountain people were reluctantly quitting the backwoods for the hell of the coalmines. His music, too, reflects adaptation – ‘Country Blues’, ‘Pretty Polly’ and ‘Down South Blues’ making an eerie connection between the dispassionate narrative of the hillbilly ballad and the personal testimony of ...
(Vocal duo, 1930s–60s) For years, husband and wife vocal team Andrew John Smik (b. 1914) and Jesse Wanda Crupe (b. 1919) sang on WWVA Jamboree, in Wheeling, West Virginia, and earned regional popularity within that radio show’s wide broadcast area. The Williamses were champions of old-time country music and their band The Border Riders created a ...
(Vocals, b. 1943) Texan Gene Watson started out in music at only 13 and recorded for local labels in 1965, but it wasn’t until 1975 that ‘Bad Water’ became his first country chart hit, and the same year’s ‘Love In The Hot Afternoon’ started a successful run of hits on Capitol and, later, MCA. He has ...
The ‘doctrine of the affections’ was the main theory for the design of opera in the eighteenth century. Its name was not coined until the twentieth century, but the ideas behind it were discussed in the writings of theorists such as Johann Mattheson (1681–1764). These ideas were put into practice on stage by the famous librettists Zeno and, in ...
(Vocal/instrumental group, 1988–present) This American band formed in New York, comprising Chris Barron (vocals), Eric Schenkman (guitar), Mark White (bass) and Aaron Comess (drums). Their good-time blend of blues rock in Phish/Blues Traveler vein was pleasant without appearing to threaten the charts. Debut album Pocket Full Of Kryptonite (1991) sold steadily due to hard touring, although when MTV ...
One of modern country music’s most remarkable figures, Chester Burton Atkins born in Luttrell, Tennessee, rose from rural obscurity to become one of the world’s most celebrated guitarists and one of Nashville’s most influential record producers. Atkins’ musical vision did much to shape country music during the 1950s and 1960s. Early Years Atkins was born on 20 June ...
(Vocals, banjo, 1895–1967) Tom Ashley (as everyone but record companies called him) learned his trade as an entertainer by working on travelling shows. In the 1920s he played in The Carolina Tar Heels and recorded exceptional banjo-accompanied versions of ‘The Coo Coo Bird’ and the traditional ballad ‘The House Carpenter’. As late as the 1950s he was working with ...
Ricky Skaggs was born on 18 July 1954, in Cordell, Kentucky, and from the age of five Skaggs and his trusty mandolin have been almost inseparable. A child prodigy, he was invited on stage to play a tune at a Bill Monroe concert at the age of six, and a year later, he appeared on ...
(Vocal/instrumental group, 1960s–present) The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band began as a jug-band revival group in Los Angeles, but evolved into a band that took traditional country music very seriously – so seriously that it organized Will The Circle Be Unbroken – the 1972 album that introduced Earl Scruggs, Jimmy Martin, Doc Watson and Maybelle Carter to the ...
Bill Monroe invented the ‘high, lonesome’ sound of bluegrass vocals, but The Stanley Brothers perfected it. Ralph and Carter Stanley refined those vocals into close, three-part harmonies that were unprecedented at the time and which have had a lasting influence ever since. If Bill Monroe And The Blue Grass Boys set the standard for bluegrass picking, The ...
Mention of the folk revival is generally applied to the late-1950s and early 1960s, when a new generation of enthusiasts earnestly set about exploring the history of folk music and recreating its passionate, social ideals. There had been other folk revivals throughout history, but they tended to stem from the middle classes in search of a purer identity ...
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...
CURATED
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.