It Still Moves : Lost Songs, Lost Highways, and the Search for the Next American Music

Where lies the boundary between meaning and sentiment? Between memory and nostalgia? America and Americana? What is and what was? Does it move?--Donovon Hohn, A Romance of Rust Part travelogue, part cultural criticism, part music appreciation, It Still Moves does for today's avant folk scene what Greil Marcus did for Dylan and The Basement Tapes, Amanda Petrusich outlines the sounds of the new, weird America--honoring the rich tradition of gospel, bluegrass, country, folk, and rock that feeds it, while simultaneously exploring the American character as personified in all of these genres historically. Through interviews, road stories, geographical and sociological interpretations, and detailed music criticism, Petrusich traces the rise of Americana music from its gospel origins through its new and compelling incarnations (as evidenced in bands and artists from Elvis to Iron and Wine, the Carter Family to Animal Collective, Johnny Cash to Will Oldham) and explores how the genre is adapting to the twenty-first century. Ultimately the book is an examination of all things American: guitars, cars, kids, motion, passion, enterprise, and change, in a fervent attempt to reconcile the American past with the American present, using only dusty records and highway maps as guides. Ain't it a pity, I'm in New York City! Bluesland : Beale Street, Memphis Young and loose and full of juice : Sam Phillips, Sun Studios, and the birth of rock and roll I'm going to Graceland Trail of the hellhounds : Clarksdale's deep Mississippi blues Music City, USA : building the Nashville sound I'm going where there's no depression : alternative country I-64 west : Charlottesville, Lexington, Charleston Country rolls : minstrel shows, race, and the rise of radio Ain't that a pretty ole mountain? : Applachia, the Carter family, and early country music The little old country store from Lebanon, Tennessee : Cracker Barrel's americana A matter of song! : John Lomax, Lead Belly, Moses Asch, and Folkways Records Making familiar strange : Harry Smith's anthology of American folk music and the birth of Smithsonian-Folkways You won't find it so hot if you ain't got the do re mi : Woody Guthrie, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, and the folk revival of the 1960s The new, weird, hyphenated America : anti-folk, free-folk, free-folk, indie-folk and the next American revival. "Part travelogue, part musical history, Amanda Petrusich's It Still Moves outlines the sounds of the new, weird America - honoring the rich traditions of gospel, blues, country, folk, and rock that feed it while simultaneously exploring the American character as personified by its songs and landscapes. What is Americana? Where does it come from? Through interviews, road stories, and rich music criticism, Petrusich traces the rise of Americana music from its early origins to its new and compelling incarnations - from Elvis to Iron and Wine, the Carter Family to Animal Collective, Johnny Cash to Will Oldham, Charley Patton to Wilco - and explores how the genre is adapting to the twenty-first century."--Jacket. From country to blues, jazz to soul, bluegrass to the more recent alternative takes on these genres, It Still Moves looks at the paths trodden in American roots music and those to come.