Dick Spottswood – författare

During the 1940s, country music was rapidly evolving from traditional songs and string band styles to honky-tonk, western swing, and bluegrass, via radio, records, and film. The Blue Sky Boys, brothers Bill (1917-2008) and Earl (1919-1998) Bolick, resisted the trend, preferring to perform folk and parlor songs, southern hymns, and new compositions that enhanced their trademark intimacy and warmth. They were still in their teens when they became professional musicians to avoid laboring in Depression-era North Carolina cotton mills. Their instantly recognizable style was fully formed by 1936, when even their first records captured soulful harmonies accented with spare guitar and mandolin accompaniments. They inspired imitators, but none could duplicate the Blue Sky Boys' emotional appeal or their distinctive Catawba County accents. Even their last records in the 1970sretained their unique magical sound decades after other country brother duets had come and gone.In this absorbing account, Dick Spottswood combines excerpts from Bill Bolick's numerous spoken interviews and written accounts of his music, life, and career into a single narrative that presents much of the story in Bill's own voice. Spottswood reveals fascinating nuggets about broadcasting, recording, and surviving in the 1930s world of country music. He describes how the growing industry both aided and thwarted the Bolick brothers' career, and how World War II nearly finished it. The book features a complete, extensively annotated list of Blue Sky Boys songs, an updated discography that includes surviving unpublished records, and dozens of vintage photos and sheet music covers.

During the 1940s, country music was rapidly evolving from traditional songs and string band styles to honky-tonk, western swing, and bluegrass, via radio, records, and film. The Blue Sky Boys, brothers Bill (1917-2008) and Earl (1919-1998) Bolick, resisted the trend, preferring to perform folk and parlor songs, southern hymns, and new compositions that enhanced their trademark intimacy and warmth. They were still in their teens when they became professional musicians to avoid laboring in Depression-era North Carolina cotton mills. Their instantly recognizable style was fully formed by 1936, when even their first records captured soulful harmonies accented with spare guitar and mandolin accompaniments. They inspired imitators, but none could duplicate the Blue Sky Boys' emotional appeal or their distinctive Catawba County accents. Even their last records in the 1970sretained their unique magical sound decades after other country brother duets had come and gone.In this absorbing account, Dick Spottswood combines excerpts from Bill Bolick's numerous spoken interviews and written accounts of his music, life, and career into a single narrative that presents much of the story in Bill's own voice. Spottswood reveals fascinating nuggets about broadcasting, recording, and surviving in the 1930s world of country music. He describes how the growing industry both aided and thwarted the Bolick brothers' career, and how World War II nearly finished it. The book features a complete, extensively annotated list of Blue Sky Boys songs, an updated discography that includes surviving unpublished records, and dozens of vintage photos and sheet music covers.

During the 1940s, country music was rapidly evolving from traditional songs and string band styles to honky-tonk, western swing, and bluegrass, via radio, records, and film. The Blue Sky Boys, brothers Bill (1917-2008) and Earl (1919-1998) Bolick, resisted the trend, preferring to perform folk and parlor songs, southern hymns, and new compositions that enhanced their trademark intimacy and warmth. They were still in their teens when they became professional musicians to avoid laboring in Depression-era North Carolina cotton mills. Their instantly recognizable style was fully formed by 1936, when even their first records captured soulful harmonies accented with spare guitar and mandolin accompaniments. They inspired imitators, but none could duplicate the Blue Sky Boys'' emotional appeal or their distinctive Catawba County accents. Even their last records in the 1970s retained their unique magical sound decades after other country brother duets had come and gone.In this absorbing account, Dick Spottswood combines excerpts from Bill Bolick''s numerous spoken interviews and written accounts of his music, life, and career into a single narrative that presents much of the story in Bill''s own voice. Spottswood reveals fascinating nuggets about broadcasting, recording, and surviving in the 1930s world of country music. He describes how the growing industry both aided and thwarted the Bolick brothers'' career, and how World War II nearly finished it. The book features a complete, extensively annotated list of Blue Sky Boys songs, an updated discography that includes surviving unpublished records, and dozens of vintage photos and sheet music covers.

During the 1940s, country music was rapidly evolving from traditional songs and string band styles to honky-tonk, western swing, and bluegrass, via radio, records, and film. The Blue Sky Boys, brothers Bill (1917-2008) and Earl (1919-1998) Bolick, resisted the trend, preferring to perform folk and parlor songs, southern hymns, and new compositions that enhanced their trademark intimacy and warmth. They were still in their teens when they became professional musicians to avoid laboring in Depression-era North Carolina cotton mills. Their instantly recognizable style was fully formed by 1936, when even their first records captured soulful harmonies accented with spare guitar and mandolin accompaniments. They inspired imitators, but none could duplicate the Blue Sky Boys'' emotional appeal or their distinctive Catawba County accents. Even their last records in the 1970s retained their unique magical sound decades after other country brother duets had come and gone.In this absorbing account, Dick Spottswood combines excerpts from Bill Bolick''s numerous spoken interviews and written accounts of his music, life, and career into a single narrative that presents much of the story in Bill''s own voice. Spottswood reveals fascinating nuggets about broadcasting, recording, and surviving in the 1930s world of country music. He describes how the growing industry both aided and thwarted the Bolick brothers'' career, and how World War II nearly finished it. The book features a complete, extensively annotated list of Blue Sky Boys songs, an updated discography that includes surviving unpublished records, and dozens of vintage photos and sheet music covers.

Ma Rainey’s Traveling Blues is the fullest and most nuanced portrait to date of Gertrude "Ma" Rainey (1886-1939), once promoted as the "Mother of the Blues." Although Rainey’s place in American music history is firmly established, much about her life has remained shrouded in uncertainty. This book presents a carefully reconstructed timeline of the verifiable facts of her triumphs and hardships and thoughtfully fills in the gaps with context drawn from the worlds she inhabited. Rainey emerges not just as a pioneering performer, but as an icon of Black creative power and artistic expression. Drawing on fresh archival discoveries, survivor interviews, early Black press coverage, and the careers of contemporaries like Ida Cox and Paramount Records producer J. Mayo Williams, Spottswood traces her path from the vaudeville circuit to her landmark recording sessions with Paramount and beyond. Combining meticulous historical research with a deep appreciation of Rainey’s artistry, Spottswood corrects long-held errors and misconceptions and sheds new light on her life, career, and cultural impact. Aimed at scholars, musicians, and general readers alike, this book restores Rainey’s voice to the historical record and ensures her story will resonate for generations to come.

Ma Rainey’s Traveling Blues is the fullest and most nuanced portrait to date of Gertrude "Ma" Rainey (1886-1939), once promoted as the "Mother of the Blues." Although Rainey’s place in American music history is firmly established, much about her life has remained shrouded in uncertainty. This book presents a carefully reconstructed timeline of the verifiable facts of her triumphs and hardships and thoughtfully fills in the gaps with context drawn from the worlds she inhabited. Rainey emerges not just as a pioneering performer, but as an icon of Black creative power and artistic expression. Drawing on fresh archival discoveries, survivor interviews, early Black press coverage, and the careers of contemporaries like Ida Cox and Paramount Records producer J. Mayo Williams, Spottswood traces her path from the vaudeville circuit to her landmark recording sessions with Paramount and beyond. Combining meticulous historical research with a deep appreciation of Rainey’s artistry, Spottswood corrects long-held errors and misconceptions and sheds new light on her life, career, and cultural impact. Aimed at scholars, musicians, and general readers alike, this book restores Rainey’s voice to the historical record and ensures her story will resonate for generations to come.

Wade Mainer (b. 1907) is believed to be the longest-lived country entertainer ever. His banjo lessons began in childhood and he played informally into his adult years, when he joined his brother, fiddler J. E. Mainer (1898–1971), in Mainer''s Mountaineers. Music became their ticket out of the cotton mills in 1934. At the time, country styles were swiftly evolving from community-based performance into mass-market broadcast via radio, records, and the silver screen. Mainer''s Mountaineers attracted radio sponsors and touring opportunities, allowing the brothers to become full-time musicians. Eventually Wade Mainer formed his own band, the Sons of the Mountaineers. His success secured a permanent place for the fiddle and banjo sound in country music, sustained that sound''s popularity throughout the 1930s, and created the foundation upon which Bill Monroe and his disciples would spread bluegrass music in the 1940s. Banjo on the Mountain features Wade''s own words and recollections from a lifetime in music and an exciting career that included a command performance at the White House for President Franklin D. Roosevelt and a key role in The Old Chisholm Trail, a 1944 BBC-sponsored radio play for American troops and embattled English civilians. The volume is rich in photographs and documents, thanks to Wade and Julia Mainer''s careful custodianship of letters, professional photos and family snapshots, posters, songbooks, flyers, and other priceless curios.