Country Music Humorists and Comedians

Country Music Humorists and Comedians
Author: Loyal Jones
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
Total Pages: 450
Release: 2008-10-08
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0252033698

This volume is an encyclopedia of country music performers who have used comedy as a central component of their presentation. Loyal Jones offers a conversational and informative biographical sketch of each performer, often including a sample of the musician's humor, a recording history, and amusing anecdotal tidbits. In an entertaining style, Jones covers performers throughout the twentieth century, from such early stars of vaudeville and radio barn dances as the Skillet Lickers and the Weaver Brothers and Elviry, to regulars on Hee Haw and the Grand Old Opry, continuing to current comedians such as the Austin Lounge Lizards, Ray Stevens, and Jeff Foxworthy.

Real Country Humor

Real Country Humor
Author: Billy Edd Wheeler
Publisher: august house
Total Pages: 164
Release: 2005-12-15
Genre: Humor
ISBN: 9780874836523

The contributors comprise a "Who's Who" of country music in this book of anecdotes, funny songs, and a tribute to the late Chet Atkins.

Rachel in the World

Rachel in the World
Author: Diane Diekman
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
Total Pages: 296
Release:
Genre:
ISBN: 0252032489

Behind the Grand Ole Opry Curtain

Behind the Grand Ole Opry Curtain
Author: Grand Ole Opry
Publisher: Center Street
Total Pages: 301
Release: 2008-10-08
Genre: Music
ISBN: 1599951843

The Grand Ole Opry has been home to the greatest legends of country music for over eighty years, and in that time it has seen some of conutry music's most dramatic stories unfold. We'll hear of the great love stories ranging from Johnny Cash and June Carter in the 1960s to Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood, who married in 2005. We'll get the truth of the tragedies that led to the loss of three stars all in the same month, starting the rumor of the "Opry Curse." We'll learn how after being stabbed, shot, and maimed, Trace Adkins calls his early honky-tonk years "combat country," and we'll find inspiration from DeFord Bailey, an African American harmonica player in 1927 crippled by childhood polio who rose to fame as one of the first Opry stars. Our hearts will break for Willie Nelson, who lost his only son on Christmas Day, and soar for Amy Grant and Vince Gill, who found true love. Based on over 150 firsthand interviews with the stars of The Grand Ole Opry, these are stories that tell the heart of country--the lives that are lived and inspire the songs we love.

American Cowboy

American Cowboy
Author:
Publisher:
Total Pages: 96
Release: 1995-07
Genre:
ISBN:

Published for devotees of the cowboy and the West, American Cowboy covers all aspects of the Western lifestyle, delivering the best in entertainment, personalities, travel, rodeo action, human interest, art, poetry, fashion, food, horsemanship, history, and every other facet of Western culture. With stunning photography and you-are-there reportage, American Cowboy immerses readers in the cowboy life and the magic that is the great American West.

Make the Best of the Rest of Your Life

Make the Best of the Rest of Your Life
Author: Geri O'Neill
Publisher: DoctorZed Publishing
Total Pages: 244
Release: 2010-10
Genre: Self-Help
ISBN: 0980625904

A GUIDE TO HAPPY, HEALTHY AGING. Make the Best of The Rest of Your Life presents the latest information on body and brain in an easy to read format, sprinkled with inspirational quotes, real life experiences and funny stories. It's all waiting here for just you!Most people have around 60,000 thoughts a day and 95% are the same as yesterday and 80% of those are negative. Change your thoughts and quite literally you can change your experience of the world and all in it. You can BE HAPPIER You can BE HEALTHIER You can CHANGE YOUR ATTITUDE You can RELEASE STRESS You can OVERCOME ANGER You can IMPROVE RELATIONSHIPSA book to visit and revisit whenever you need!ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Geri O'Neill's work focuses on human development, relationships, communication, mind and memory - subjects she has been studying, writing and lecturing about for over 20 years. Her first book, Super Self, Life Without Limits, was hailed a forerunner of the self-development movement.

They Heard Georgia Singing

They Heard Georgia Singing
Author: Zell Miller
Publisher: Mercer University Press
Total Pages: 364
Release: 1996
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780865545045

Georgia's music history is diverse in that it covers gospel singer Thomas Dorsey, soul singer James Brown, opera singer Jessye Norman, country singer Alan Jackson, folk singer Hedy West and symphony and choral conductors Robert Shaw and Yoel Levi. They Heard Georgia Singing provides brief musical biographies of the men and women who have made major contributions to Georgia musical history either as natives or as personalities within the context of Georgia music.

Live Fast, Love Hard

Live Fast, Love Hard
Author: Diane Diekman
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
Total Pages: 296
Release: 2011-05-18
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0252093801

As one of the best-known honky tonkers to appear in the wake of Hank Williams’s death, Faron Young was a popular presence on Nashville’s music scene for more than four decades. The Singing Sheriff produced a string of Top Ten hits, placed over eighty songs on the country music charts, and founded the long-running country music periodical Music City News in 1963. Flamboyant, impulsive, and generous, he helped and encouraged a new generation of talented songwriter-performers that included Willie Nelson and Bill Anderson. In 2000, four years after his untimely death, Faron was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Presenting the first detailed portrayal of this lively and unpredictable country music star, Diane Diekman masterfully draws on extensive interviews with Young’s family, band members, and colleagues. Impeccably researched, Diekman’s narrative also weaves anecdotes from Louisiana Hayride and other old radio shows with ones from Young’s business associates, including Ralph Emery. Her unique insider’s look into Young’s career adds to an understanding of the burgeoning country music entertainment industry during the key years from 1950 to 1980, when the music expanded beyond its original rural roots and blossomed into a national (ultimately, international) enterprise. Echoing Young’s characteristic ability to entertain and surprise fans, Diekman combines an account of his public career with a revealing, intimate portrait of his personal life.

The Encyclopedia of Country Music

The Encyclopedia of Country Music
Author: Michael McCall
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 665
Release: 2012-02-01
Genre: Music
ISBN: 0199920834

Immediately upon publication in 1998, the Encyclopedia of Country Music became a much-loved reference source, prized for the wealth of information it contained on that most American of musical genres. Countless fans have used it as the source for answers to questions about everything from country's first commercially successful recording, to the genre's pioneering music videos, to what conjunto music is. This thoroughly revised new edition includes more than 1,200 A-Z entries covering nine decades of history and artistry, from the Carter Family recordings of the 1920s to the reign of Taylor Swift in the first decade of the twenty-first century. Compiled by a team of experts at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, the encyclopedia has been brought completely up-to-date, with new entries on the artists who have profoundly influenced country music in recent years, such as the Dixie Chicks and Keith Urban. The new edition also explores the latest and most critical trends within the industry, shedding light on such topics as the digital revolution, the shifting politics of country music, and the impact of American Idol (reflected in the stardom of Carrie Underwood). Other essays cover the literature of country music, the importance of Nashville as a music center, and the colorful outfits that have long been a staple of the genre. The volume features hundreds of images, including a photo essay of album covers; a foreword by country music superstar Vince Gill (the winner of twenty Grammy Awards); and twelve fascinating appendices, ranging from lists of awards to the best-selling country albums of all time. Winner of the Best Reference Award from the Popular Culture Association "Any serious country music fan will treasure this authoritative book." --The Seattle Times "A long-awaited, major accomplishment, which educators, historians and students, broadcasters and music writers, artists and fans alike, will welcome and enjoy." --The Nashville Musician "Should prove a valuable resource to those who work in the country music business. But it's also an entertaining read for the music's true fans." --Houston Chronicle "This big, handsome volume spans the history of country music, listing not only artists and groups but also important individuals and institutions." --San Francisco Examiner "Promises to be the definitive historical and biographical work on the past eight decades of country music. Well written and heavily illustratedan unparalleled work, worth its price and highly recommended." --Library Journal