SEARCH RESULTS FOR: T. Rex
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(Vocal/instrumental group, 1967–77) The first glam rock band evolved from acoustic duo Tyrannosaurus Rex, formed by Marc Bolan (guitar, vocals) and multi-instrumentalist Steve Peregrine-Took. Mickey Finn (bongos) replaced Took in 1969 as Bolan began to deploy electric instruments. Shortening the name to T. Rex heralded a chart breakthrough in October 1970 with the single ‘Ride A White Swan’. ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock, general editor Michael Heatley

There have always been avant-garde artists and bands that take elements of country and fuse them with other musical idioms to make their own highly original, often idiosyncratic styles. Many of these artists also address controversial issues that are taboo in the politically correct country mainstream. It was the late-1960s and early 1970s, when America’s anti-war ‘alternative’ sub-culture was ...

Source: The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Music, general editor Paul Du Noyer

(Arnst Ta’-o-dôr A-ma-da’-oos Hof’-man) 1776–1822 German writer and composer E.T.A. Hoffmann’s wide-ranging talents were the source of great inspiration throughout the nineteenth century, and composers who drew on his stories include Schumann (Kreisleriana) and Offenbach (Les contes d’Hoffmann). He was also an astute and perceptive critic, and his review in 1810 of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony is justly famous. ...

Source: Classical Music Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie

(Guitar, banjo, 1890–1966) Johnny St. Cyr played around New Orleans as a teenager with A.J. Piron and the Superior, Olympia and Tuxedo bands. He joined Kid Ory’s band in 1918 and later played in Fate Marable’s riverboat band. In 1923 he moved to Chicago, where he joined King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band. He played on Armstrong’s ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Jazz & Blues, founding editor Howard Mandel

(Cornet, 1907–67) After honing a vocabulary of unorthodox trumpet techniques with Fletcher Henderson between 1926–33, Rex William Stewart switched to cornet and joined Duke Ellington. In an orchestra of distinctive voices, his was among the most unique. He played with a sharp, biting attack in the middle register. His tone had a slightly sour, almost sarcastic ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Jazz & Blues, founding editor Howard Mandel

(Vocals, 1895–1979) Carl T. Sprague was one of the earliest singing cowboys to record and, like Jules Verne Allen, he was the genuine article, having worked as a cowboy. He began recording in 1925 and ‘When The Work’s All Done This Fall’ sold almost a million copies. His recording career was short-lived and after 1927 he worked ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Music, consultant editor Bob Allen

(Vocals, songwriter, 1912–58) Though he died in poverty and obscurity in a New Orleans charity hospital and is little remembered today, Griffin’s singing strongly influenced a number of major artists, including Ernest Tubb and Hank Williams. Born in Gadsden, Alabama, Alsie ‘Rex’ Griffin sang and yodelled in the style of Jimmie Rodgers. He recorded for ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Music, consultant editor Bob Allen

(Vocals, 1916–72) Born David Luke Myrick, in Mena, Texas, Tyler first rose to prominence as a member of the Louisiana Hayride and later recorded a string of sentimental hits, including ‘Filipino Baby’ (1946), ‘Deck Of Cards’ (1948), ‘My Bucket’s Got A Hole In It’ (1949) and ‘Bummin’ Around’ (1953). Styles & Forms | War Years | ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Music, consultant editor Bob Allen

(Vocals, actor, narrator, 1920–99) The last of the singing cowboys, Arizona-born Rex Allen made 19 movies for Republic before the genre ended with his The Phantom Stallion (1954). His powerful voice ensured several chart successes – the highest being ‘Crying In The Chapel’ (1953) – and a long career as a narrator for several Disney documentaries. The ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Music, consultant editor Bob Allen

(Vocals, songwriter, guitar, b. 1936) Hall had his own band, The Kentucky Travelers, by the time he was 16. He worked as a commercial DJ and for armed-forces radio in Germany between 1957 and 1961, moving to Nashville in 1964. Hall’s career changed overnight in 1968 when Jeannie C. Riley took his song, ‘Harper ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Music, consultant editor Bob Allen

Hank Williams and George Jones would have found the whole notion of alt-country unfathomable. Why would anyone seek an alternative to bestselling country records ? For these sons of dire southern poverty, the whole point of making country records was to sell as many as possible and maybe catch hold of the dignity and comfort that a middle-class life might ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Music, consultant editor Bob Allen

When Steve Earle (b. 1955) was released from prison on 16 November 1994, it had been four years since he had released a studio album and three years since he’d done a tour. During that time lost to heroin and crack, much had changed in the world of country music. The charismatic but mainstream-pop-oriented Garth Brooks (b. 1962) was ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Music, consultant editor Bob Allen

The most influential country act of 2001 was a band that didn’t even exist. The Soggy Bottom Boys were the prime attraction on O Brother, Where Art Thou ? the soundtrack album that topped the country and pop charts and sold more than four million copies. The group revived the late 1930s and early 1940s sound when old-time string-band music ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Music, consultant editor Bob Allen

In 1981, Sam Bush (mandolin, vocals, b. 1952) lost half of his band, The New Grass Revival, to road weariness. Courtney Johnson (banjo, 1939–96) and Curtis Burch (guitar, vocals, b. 1945) were exhausted by the tours with Leon Russell and the club and festival dates in between. So Bush and his remaining partner ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Music, consultant editor Bob Allen

It makes sense that Australia would be the one country outside North America to develop an important country-music scene of its own. Like the USA and Canada, Australia had a large, under-populated frontier that was settled by English, Irish and Scotch immigrants who brought their folk songs with them. Roughened and toughened by frontier life, those songs ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Music, consultant editor Bob Allen
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