This is an excerpt from the print edition of Dirty Linen magazine #103 (December 2002 / January 2003). The magazine is available on newsstands and by subscription.

Early American Roots - Violin Tradition
transcribed and edited by Geoff Wysham, music compiled by Tina Chancey
Mel Bay ISBN 0-7866-3193-7 (2002);
80 pp.; $12.95

Most of the time when we hear the phrase "early music," we think of Western Europe, but Hesperus' album Early American Roots goes to the early days of this country to gather music popular around the time of the American Revolution. This book transcribes the 33 tunes from that recording in good, clear staff notation with chords. An introduction gives a nice bit of context for the music and some suggestions about how ornaments and variations work. There are many good tunes in here, and some classic titles: "Cuckolds All in a Row," "The Killerman," and more. Anyone concerned with historical accuracy in Colonial, Revolutionary, and early Federal events or stage productions would be well served by this book.
— Bruce E. Baker (Chapel Hill, NC)

A Hot-Bed of Musicians: Traditional Music in the Upper New River Valley-Whitetop Region
by Paula Hathaway Anderson-Green
University of Tennessee Press ISBN
1-57233-181-X (2002); 272 pp.; $14.00

The Upper New River Valley-Whitetop region has drawn the attention of folklorists, musicians, and fans of old-time music on a national level since at least the early years of the 20th century. It got a big boost with the advent of hillbilly music in the 1920s and the Whitetop Folk Festival in the 1930s. Hundreds of albums have been made over the years featuring musicians from this fertile area, yet there remains no monograph analyzing the history of this musical culture in any kind of depth. Tom Carter, Alan Jabbour, David E. Whisnant, Stephen Foster, and many others have addressed parts of the story, but no one has tackled the whole story. Paula Hathaway Anderson-Green does not attempt this, but she has put together a nice book that provides much-needed synthesis on several of the outstanding figures in the region's traditional musical culture in the 20th century. Anderson-Green begins with a brief explanation of the region's significance to traditional American music. A chapter tells the story of Ola Belle Campbell Reed, a banjo player who migrated to the Baltimore region and was important in promoting old-time and bluegrass music outside the mountains starting in the 1940s and 1950s at her venue, the New River Ranch. Fiddler and fiddle-maker Albert Hash occupies another chapter. The musical Sturgill family is the subject of a third chapter, and a fourth chapter discusses a contemporary group of musicians including Wayne Henderson and Gerald Anderson. Anderson-Green's book contains plenty of information about the music, lists of musicians past and present, and popular music venues. While not the last word on the mystical Upper New River Valley-Whitetop region, A Hot-Bed of Musicians is an excellent introduction to this seminal musical territory.
— Bruce E. Baker (Chapel Hill, NC)

Earth & Sky: The
Laurie Lewis Songbook
by Laurie Lewis
Confluence Press ISBN 1-8810090-41-8 (2002); 120 pp.

Singer/songwriter Laurie Lewis has been plying her craft for nearly three decades, and few artists have produced a body of songs as worthy of anthologizing in a book as she. Earth and Sky, a beautifully conceived and executed compilation of photos and sheet music, brings together virtually all of the original tunes Lewis has recorded to date. The sheet music provides the main melody lines for each of the 46 songs, as well as suggested capo positions and chord forms for guitar accompaniment. The photos trace Lewis' life and musical career, starting with pictures of her parents (including one of her father playing piccolo in a 1940 MGM musical) and moving on through her childhood and the many musical partnerships she has been part of through the years. Taken together, the songs and photos illuminate Lewis' art in a way that neither could on its own. The book comes in two formats: a deluxe hardbound edition, including a compilation CD, and a large-format paperback version.
— Michael Parrish (Downers Grove, IL)