(Vocals, songwriter, 1936–92) Born in Fort Worth, Texas, Roger Dean Miller wrote and recorded a string of brilliant novelty hits that earned him 11 Grammy Awards, as well as country and pop stardom during the 1960s. Chief among his self-penned songs are ‘Dang Me’, ‘Chug-A-Lug’ – both hits in 1964 – ‘King Of The Road’ and ...
James Joseph McGuinn (b. 1942) was raised in Chicago and became a fan of folk music as a teenager. He asked for and received a guitar from his parents after hearing Elvis’s ‘Heartbreak Hotel’. In 1957, McGuinn entered Chicago’s Old Town School of Folk Music, where he studied five-string banjo and guitar. McGuinn’s skills and solo performances attracted the ...
(Trumpet, cornet, 1894–1971) One of the leading New Orleans cornettists during the 1920s, Ernest ‘Punch’ Miller moved to Chicago in 1926 and found work with fellow New Orleanians Freddie Keppard and Jelly Roll Morton, as well as with Tiny Parham and Albert Wynn’s Gutbucket Five. He spent the 1930s in New York before returning to Chicago. In ...
(Trombone, 1904–44) Glenn Miller was a trombonist of modest accomplishments, but he became one of the most famous big-band leaders in jazz. Although disdained by jazz purists, tunes such as ‘In The Mood’, ‘Moonlight Serenade’, ‘String Of Pearls’ and ‘Tuxedo Junction’ have remained enduringly popular. Miller’s bands played precisely executed riff-based swing tunes and very slow ballads; his ...
(Harmonica, vocals, c. 1912–65) Alex Ford ‘Rice’ Miller was born in Glendora, Mississippi. He taught himself the harmonica at the age of five and by his early teens had left home to sing and play as ‘Little Boy Blue’. He worked streets, clubs and functions through Mississippi and Arkansas during the 1930s, often playing with Robert ...
(Guitar, vocals, b. 1950) An exponent of acoustic and electric blues, California-based slide guitarist Rogers played with John Lee Hooker’s Coast To Coast band from 1982–86, before releasing his debut recording as a leader, Chops Not Chaps (1986). He followed up with 1988’s Slidewinder and in 1990 produced Hooker’s Grammy-winning comeback album The Healer. Rogers maintained ...
(Piano, vocals, songwriter, publisher, 1895–1955) A Memphis riverboat pianist and bandleader, Miller got into the publishing and songwriting business in his twenties. Moving to New York, he worked for several labels as a record producer, supplying acts like Gene Autry and Cliff Carlisle with material of his own, such as ‘Twenty-One Years’, ‘Seven ...
The Sons Of The Pioneers are one of the most influential vocal groups in American history – an impeccable hallmark of fluid precision and musical integrity since 1933, universally admired for their tight sound and gorgeous harmonies. The group also boasted two great American songwriters in Tim Spencer and Bob Nolan, and two of the most influential country instrumentalists ...
(Vocals, b. 1938) In the early 1960s Rogers joined The New Christy Minstrels, and formed The First Edition in 1968. The following year, the group became Kenny Rogers And The First Edition. Their worldwide hit, ‘Ruby Don’t Take Your Love To Town’, was written by Mel Tillis. In 1973, Rogers went solo, and 1977 brought ...
(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 ...
Composed: 1918–24 Premiered: 1926, Warsaw Libretto by J. Iwaszkiewicz and the composer Act I The archbishop and the abbess urge King Roger of Sicily to banish a shepherd who is proclaiming an unknown god. Queen Roxana and Edrisi, the King’s Arab counsellor, advise Roger to speak with him. The crowd calls for him to be stoned. He rhapsodizes ...
1896–1985 American composer Influenced early in his career by Stravinsky and Bloch, whose teaching assistant he was in the early 1920s, and resident for some years in Europe (where he encountered Schoenberg’s music and witnessed the rise of Fascism), Sessions was regarded in the US as a more European than American composer. Though friendly with Copland (they organized a ...
(Vocal/instrumental group, 1966–86) A cauldron of blues and psychedelia, 1968’s Children Of The Future was a US Top 30 entry for a California-based outfit in which the only constant would be Miller (guitar, vocals), though first singer Boz Scaggs enjoyed solo success. Becoming more radio-friendly, Miller made greater impact from the early 1970s with US chart-toppers ‘The ...
(Publisher, promoter, executive, 1923–72) Born in Poteet, Texas, Long was a central figure in the growth of the country-music industry from the 1950s until his death in the early 1970s. His business acumen was manifest in nearly every aspect of the business – everything from artist management and booking, to promotion and advertising. Long was ...
(Vocals, guitar, b. 1936) Kristofferson grew up on country music in Texas, but college in California, a Rhodes scholarship to England and service as an army helicopter pilot convinced him that the times demanded a new kind of country lyric – one that owed as much to Bob Dylan as to Hank Williams. Kristofferson moved to Nashville ...
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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.