BOOKS
Country Music Records: A Discography, 1921-1942
2004
by Tony Russell, edited by Bob Pinson with the assistance of the staff of the Country Music Hall of Fame
Oxford University Press
Country Music Records: A Discography, 1921-1942 documents all country music recording sessions from 1921 through 1942. Until now, discographies of pre-World War II country music recordings were only to be found scattered in journals and fanzines, or in books devoted to single artists. With primary research based on files and session logs from record companies, interviews with surviving musicians, as well as the 200,000 recordings archived at the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum'sFrist Library and Archives, this work is the first compendium to accurately report the key details behind all the recording sessions of country music during the pre-World War II era. In doing so it tells the commercial story of the music's first two decades.
References
"It is a monumental work of American music scholarship, and may well redefine the parameters of future studies in country music. For years, the thousands of commercial recordings which preserved the vital sounds of one of America's most original musics formed a vast, confusing terra incognita; here, after twenty years' work, is a map to those vast riches."--Charles Wolfe, country music historian and author of Classic Country, and A Good Natured Riot: The Birth of the Grand Ole Opry
"This volume has turned out to be mightily impressive, beyond even what aficionados could possibly have hoped for. The American arm of Oxford University Press have served the project in the finest possible manner."--Musical Traditions
Awards
2005 Belmont University Book Award
2005 ARSC Award for Excellence in Recorded Sound Research
