(Vocals, b. 1934) Vern Gosdin was part of The Gosdin Family Gospel radio show in the 1950s in Alabama, before moving to California with his brother, Rex Gosdin (1938–83), to form The Golden State Boys, a bluegrass combo who in 1964 became The Hillmen (featuring Chris Hillman, later of The Byrds). After emerging in 1976 as ...
c. 1490–1545 English composer Taverner’s career fell entirely within the reign of Henry VIII. Apparently on good terms with the king’s most powerful ministers (first with Wolsey and then with Cromwell), he must have been an astute politician. Most of his music, which is thought to have been composed mostly in the 1520s and 30s, is firmly in the ...
Opera was essentially an Italian genre: it had been born in Florence, come to its first maturity in Venice and developed next in Naples and Rome. However, Italian art of all sorts was admired across Europe, and opera soon took root in France, Austria, Germany, England and Spain, even in distant Sweden and Russia. ...
(Vocals, harmonica, 1883–1948) Although a trained singer with experience in opera – and from 1917 a full-time recording artist in the popular field – the Texas-born Dalhart is best known for his vast catalogue of recordings in the hillbilly idiom, beginning with ‘The Wreck Of The Old ’97’ and ‘The Prisoner’s Song’ in 1924. In all, he ...
(Guitar, vocals, 1883–1945) Jules Verne Allen was significant among early singing cowboys in that he had actually been a working cowboy. After years of trail driving he became a professional cowboy singer in an era when such a thing scarcely existed. In addition to radio, he recorded 24 sides for Victor during 1928–29. In 1933–34, he led ...
(Vocals, b. 1929) Chicago-born Delores Williams sang in church choirs, but after bandleader Fletcher Henderson discovered her, she became the first black torch singer of the rock era, and in 1953, was one of the early artists signed to Atlantic Records. Many of her 20 US R&B hits were novelty items, including her 1957 No. ...
(Vocals, b. 1947) Indiana-born Janie Fricke (as her surname was spelt until the mid-1980s) moved to Nashville after spending time in Dallas, Memphis and Los Angeles. In country’s capital, however, she quickly became a much sought-after session and jingle singer, providing backup vocals on hits by Conway Twitty, Elvis Presley, Moe Bandy, Mel ...
(Vocals, guitar, songwriter, b. 1957) Oklahoman Vince Gill paid his dues, first in high-school band Mountain Smoke, then with Sam Bush in Bluegrass Alliance around 1975, and was a member of Pure Prairie League from 1978–80. Gill joined The Cherry Bombs in 1981, backing Rodney Crowell and Rosanne Cash, and befriended musician/producer/label executive ...
The names of this array of landmark artists whose music either straddled or transcended specific genres, – Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton, Tammy Wynette, Loretta Lynn, George Jones, Conway Twitty, Charley Pride and Buck Owens among others – have become synonymous with country music. During the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, country’s popularity penetrated ...
Major changes occurred in country music during the 1970s and 1980s, and country icons came and went as the music escaped from the stereotypical image of the 1960s, when it had been gingham dresses for the ladies and rhinestone suits for the men. Now country music had a new face: Dolly Parton’s extravagant dress sense and the shaggy-haired Outlaw ...
New country took many years and miles of travel before its current evolution – not least the new traditionalist movement of the 1980s, which returned country music to its roots. Garth Brooks (b. 1962) did it far more quickly, but that’s a different story. Sometimes it seemed like these artists were chipping away at a mountain with nothing more ...
Country music and gospel have always been close partners, since many gospel acts come from the American South, and Nashville, the home of country music, lies in the heart of the Bible Belt. Numerous influences abound within the Church, stretching from traditional shape-note singing that goes back several hundred years, to today’s contemporary and Christian ...
(Yo’-han Mat’-te-zon) 1681–1764 German composer and theorist Mattheson was the most important writer on music during the Baroque era. His Die Vernünfftler, which translated the Tatler and Spectator of Addison and Steele, was the first German weekly (1713). He befriended Handel when he arrived in Hamburg in 1703 and sang the leading tenor role in Handel’s first opera, Almira ...
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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.