Ecomusicology

Mark Pedelty is an Associate Professor of Mass Communication at the University of Minnesota. To learn more about this book and its music, visit his website, http://www.hypoxicpunks.org

"In this elegantly argued book, Pedelty...probes deeply the relationship between music, especially rock and folk, and the environment... [T]he great value of Pedelty's book is that... [t]rue to his field work roots, Pedelty himself straps on a guitar in order to make music and to participate in a local music scene... Pedelty urges us to get up off our chairs and dance, sing, clap, dig, vote, and record as we move from being passive recipients of music to being active creators of the soundscape of our lives." - The Journal of Ecocriticism, January 2013 "Mark Pedelty's engaging and readable Ecomusicology brings attention to an insufficiently explored subject... Pedelty's 'search for sustainable music'... centers not so much on lyrics, but on the environmental implications of musical production and performance - a standard by which most popular rock bands on world tours fail miserably... His personal experience gives insights on both songwriting strategies and the challenges of trying to save the world while also trying to get people to listen in a crowded bar... Pedelty points the way toward a harmonious reconciliation of music-making and ecocriticism." - ISLE: Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment, Winter 2013 "Ecomusicology is among the first large-scale works to merge the discourse of environmental justice and ecocriticism with an analysis of the social experience of music... [It] is a welcome addition to the literature that illustrates a plethora of potential approaches to musical ecocriticism. Pedelty's book opens up new interpretive possibilities for the ongoing study of the relationship between music and the environment." - Environmental Values "In his book Mark Pedelty asks the question of how music can be used to promote sustainability. He takes us through the political ecology of rock, using examples in a geographic exposition from global (Live Aid megaconcerts), national (political music in USA), regional (bioregions in North America) to local music. Taking an ethnographic approach, Pedelty interfaces these geographical components with an analysis of music as communication, advocacy and to a lesser degree as art." - Social Anthropology

• Introduction; 1; Pop ecology on the global stage; 2; Whose land? Popular music and the American soundscape; 3; Music makes place: Regional geographies in popular song; 4; A tonic for the troops: Local music, community, and ecology; Conclusion; Bibliography; Discography; Filmography.