(Dobro, b. 1925) The dobro was pretty much a novelty instrument before Josh Graves established it as one of the most crucial voices in bluegrass. Graves had played with Mac Wiseman and Wilma Lee And Stoney Cooper before joining Flatt & Scruggs in 1955, but it was with that duo that he made his biggest impact. He was prominently ...
(Guitar, vocals, 1908–69) Joshua Daniel White was born in Greenville, South Carolina, to a preacher father and a mother who sang in church. He worked in tandem with street singers such as Blind Blake and Blind Joe Taggart for much of the 1920s. His recording debut was made for Paramount in 1928 but his work for Banner/ARC ...
(Tenor and soprano saxophones, b. 1969) Joshua Redman neé Shedroff grew up in Berkley, California and played reeds throughout high school. He was accepted by Yale Law School, but his victory at the 1991 Thelonious Monk competition persuaded him to take up music professionally. He was quickly accepted by jazz elders, peers and audiences due to his ...
b. 1967 American violist and conductor Bell took up the violin at the age of four, and at 14 made his concerto debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra. A regular chamber musician (working with Isserlis and Kissin, among others), he has recorded concerto repertory as well as film soundtracks, including the Oscar-winning score for The Red Violin (1999). In ...
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 ...
Acoustic Guitar Throughout its history, the guitar has – perhaps more than any other instrument – managed to bridge the gap between the often disconnected worlds of classical, folk and popular music. Its roots go back to Babylonian times; by the 1500s it was prevalent in Spain, and is still sometimes called the Spanish guitar. Medieval versions – ...
Lester Flatt (1914–79) was relieved when Dave ‘Stringbean’ Akeman left Bill Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys in 1945, for Flatt felt the group was better off without a banjo, which had been hindering their efforts to play faster and cleaner than anyone had before. But Monroe agreed to audition a 21-year-old banjoist from western North Carolina, and Earl Scruggs ...
Unlike practically any other strain of indigenous American music, bluegrass can be traced back to a particular time and a particular group of men: Kentucky-born mandolin player/bandleader Bill Monroe and a select handful of musicians he gathered in his band, The Bluegrass Boys. Monroe and the celebrated 1940s vintage line-up of The Bluegrass Boys first transformed traditional acoustic guitar-fiddle-bass-fiddle ...
The temptation is to think of bluegrass as an ancient music, for its repertoire and instrumentation stretch back into the shadowy mists of the nineteenth century. But in many ways bluegrass was a radical innovation, a music of the modern world, a sound invented just a decade before rock’n’roll. It was a new/old music, and that central ...
When Vassar Clements formed a band called Hillbilly Jazz in 1975, Bill Monroe’s former fiddler pulled the cover off the hidden connection between country music and jazz. The two genres had more in common than most people thought. After all, Jimmie Rodgers recorded with Louis Armstrong early in their careers; jazz legend Charlie Christian debuted on Bob Wills’ radio ...
(Guitar, piano, vocals, 1906–77) Booker T. Washington White was raised on a farm outside Houston, Texas; his father taught him guitar in 1915. Two years later he learned piano and by 1921 he was working barrelhouses and honky tonks in St. Louis. Inspired by a meeting with Charley Patton, he hoboed through the South for much ...
Alt-rock guitarist John Frusciante (b. 1970) was born into a musical family in Queens, New York. While living in Los Angeles after his parents’ divorce, Frusciante became involved with the city’s punk-rock scene. Frusciante was particularly inspired by The Germs, teaching himself to play the songs on their first album before taking guitar lessons. He studied Jeff Beck ...
Anthony James Donegan was born in Glasgow, the son of a professional violinist, on 29 April 1931. The family moved to the east end of London when Tony, as he was then known, was two. He finally got the guitar he craved in his early teens. He attended his first jazz club soon after and was smitten ...
(Vocal/instrumental group, 1988–present) Nine Inch Nails – Trent Reznor (vocals), Aaron North (guitar), Jeordie White (bass), Alessandro Cortini (keyboards) and Josh Freese (drums) – are the latest line-up of Reznor’s ever-popular band. Somehow walking the thin line between electro and metal, mainstream yet eternally credible, they are one of America’s least deified rock bands, but a five-album ...
(Guitar, singer-songwriter, b. 1969) Hailing from the UK’s ‘West Country’, P.J. Harvey is now eight albums into her career. Trading in a primeval, highly feminine strain of blues rock, Polly Jean Harvey has moved from stripped-down rock to sophisticated acoustic ballads before a stomping brand of indie that is incendiary when caught live. She has influenced ...
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.