Will You Miss Me When I'm Gone? The Carter Family & Their Legacy in American Music
by Mark Zwonitzer, Charles Hirshberg
List Price:
Our Price: $9.08
You Save: $6.91 (43%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $2.96 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Charles Hirshberg, Mark ZwonitzerEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2004-02-17
ISBN: 074324382X
Number of pages: 417
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Book Reviews of Will You Miss Me When I'm Gone? The Carter Family & Their Legacy in American Music
Book Review: How important is music for your life?
Summary: 5 Stars
How important is music for your life? Maybelle Carter talked about poor people who could barely afford a loaf of bread but were keen of paying for watching their concerts and in the end would go out all smiles and oblivious of any sorrow. "Music was for them like medicine".
I am this kind of guy. For me, the Carter Family of Country music evokes the cherished mother, rocking gently the cradle of my childhood dreams. It does instinctively, whether you can understand the lyrics or not. My heart returns to my Blue eyes, never reached and gone, in my ghostly reality in Ireland, surrounded by countryside evergreens and bogs; Feeling so deep over the sunny clouds... The music crossed back the Ocean and arrived to me, new Irish.
A travel in time. The lost world granny used to talk about. In the remote Appalacchian Mountains when daily life was still an adventure. A world of precocious devoted mothers and careless wanderer men. When people still had the feeling of belonging to a community and neighbours would live, sing and pray together. But lovely family had to face poverty, disease and death.
Big changes were coming. Virginia inhabitants would gather in the shop-post office to get to hear in person the exciting news from the world outside brought by the train. Railway, electricity and radio were going to develop a new human dimension of global communications. And this time, the men in the family, the dreamers, were the ones aware of the potential of this deep socio-economical transformation.
Eck and Alvin Pleasant Carter were both moved for great ambition but of different kind. The former wanted to be known as the best man, in the material meaning of the word, for all his neighbours; the latter wanted to be known for his genius by future generations. Both accomplished largely their targets. Eck owned the most luxurious and comfortable cabin in the valley, with every novelty in it. Maybelle was a privileged one with her brand new Gibson guitar, which she would keep for her whole life, and an excellent collection of records to be played in their phonograph.
The Carter Family. As important as Bob Dylan or The Rolling Stones might be for American-British popular music. A.P. Carter, "the man who started it all", giving voice and dignity to the songs of common people, whose identification with his compositions as their true living and feelings would be the key of his succes. Pleasant passion for traditional music helped to break even the racial barriers of his time and place: Lesley Riddle, a black man, would be guest in his house and best fellow in A.P. continuous pilgrimages searching for new jewels.
Sara and Maybelle, the performers of the songs, would do just what they would had done all their lives, harmonizing and picking guitar and autoharp, but now for strangers and business. And their talent overpassed all their humble expectations: no musician could match Maybelle's virtuosity; no singer could match Sara's authenticity, which came from her orphan and lonelyhearted needs of expression. But Sara Carter Dougherty was the first victim of the short story of musical business: she hated it, as she hated to be always neglected because of her husband true love: Folk music.
Maybelle was different: a happy woman, with the patience and endurance required to keep a long term career and marriage. She adored playing for the audience, people's warmth, and, after the other original members of the Carter Family had left, would continue in the musical business until the day of her death in the company of her daughters: Helen, June and Anita.
Times had changed. Tastes too. The band never left the road but periods of obscurity were frequent. Anita, the most talented and beautiful, neither got the succes she deserved nor could do a thing for fallen angels Hank Williams and Elvis. June did not have a great voice but was able of fun and leadership. She married Johnny Cash and helped him out of the drugs.
Finally, Folk revival had arrived. Scholars, hippies and urban musicians rescued Maybelle and The Carter Family from bad times, and adopted her as the worshipped grandmother of the new generation. Alvin Pleasant could not know these moments of hommage and recognition. He died several years before in the only company of relatives and neighbours, tore apart from the two things which were the reason of his life: Country Music and Sara.
----- A review from "Will you miss me when I'm gone", by Mark Zwonitzer. An accomplished biography, and a deserved hommage to The Carter Family of Country Music-----
More Will You Miss Me When I'm Gone? The Carter Family & Their Legacy in American Music reviews:
1 2 3 4
1 2 3 4
Summary of Will You Miss Me When I'm Gone? The Carter Family & Their Legacy in American Music
Will You Miss Me When I'm Gone? is the first major biography of the Carter Family, the musical pioneers who almost single-handedly created the sounds and traditions that grew into modern folk, country, and bluegrass music. Meticulously researched and lovingly written, it is a look at a world and a culture that, rather than passing, has continued to exist in the music that is the legacy of the Carters -- songs that have shaped and influenced generations of artists who have followed them.Brilliant in insight and execution, Will You Miss Me When I'm Gone? is also an in-depth study of A.P., Sara, and Maybelle Carter, and their bittersweet story of love and fulfillment, sadness and loss. The result is more than just a biography of a family; it is also a journey into another time, almost another world, and theirs is a story that resonates today and lives on in the timeless music they created.
Music Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Music Books
Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brainby Oliver Sacks
Knopf Publishing Group; Published: 2008; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.17
Listenby Joseph Kerman, Gary Tomlinson
Bedford/St. Martin's; Published: 2007-02-21; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $23.00
The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Centuryby Alex Ross
Picador; Published: 2008-10-14; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.94
Price in other shops:
Forever Young: Photographs of Bob Dylanby Douglas R. Gilbert, Dave Marsh
Da Capo Press; Published: 2006-10-24; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.55
Price in other shops:
Heroes And Villains: The True Story Of The Beach Boysby Steven Gaines
Da Capo Press; Published: 1995-08-22; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.15
Price in other shops:
Handbook for Sound Engineers, Third Editionby Glen Ballou
Focal Press; Published: 2002-01-21; Hardcover; Book
Price in other shops:
Jazz Anecdotesby Bill Crow
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 1990-05-17; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $24.18
Lovesick Blues: The Life of Hank Williamsby Paul Hemphill
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 2006-08-29; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.99
Price in other shops:
How to Train Singers/ Book and Tapeby Larra Browning Henderson
Parker; Published: 1991-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $29.95
Price in other shops:
I, Tina: My Life Story (icon!t)by Tina Turner, Kurt Loder
It Books; Published: 2010-06-22; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.00
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
Rural Roots of Bluegrass: Songs, Stories & Historyby Wayne Erbsen
Native Ground Music; Published: 2003-09-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.14
Price in other shops:
Can't You Hear Me Callin': The Life of Bill Monroe, Father of Bluegrassby Richard Smith, Richard D. Smith
Da Capo Press; Published: 2001-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.93
Price in other shops:
Man of Constant Sorrow: My Life and Timesby Ralph Stanley, Eddie Dean
Gotham; Published: 2009-10-15; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $5.26
Price in other shops:
The Original Carter Family: with a biography by Johnny Cashby The Carter Family
HL USA; Hal Leonard Corporation; Published: 1999-03-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.68
Price in other shops:
Stomp and Swerve: American Music Gets Hot, 1843-1924by David Wondrich
Chicago Review Press; Published: 2003-08-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.49
Price in other shops:
Satchmo (Da Capo Paperback)by Louis Armstrong
Da Capo Press; Published: 1986-08; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.61
Price in other shops:
Searching for Robert Johnson: The Life and Legend of the "King of the Delta Blues Singers"by Peter Guralnick
Plume; Published: 1998-08-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.68
Price in other shops:
Carter Family - Volume 2: 1935-1941Release date: 2003-04-08; Music CD
Best price: $22.00
Price in other shops:
The Carter Family - Will the Circle Be UnbrokenParamount; Release date: 2005-09-20; DVD
Best price: $9.41
Price in other shops:
Carter Family - The Carter Family: 1927-1934Release date: 2002-04-30; Music CD
Best price: $22.11
Price in other shops: