Dirty Linen

This is an excerpt from the print edition of Dirty Linen #117 (April/May 2005).
The full article is in the magazine, available on newsstands, by subscription, and at the Dirty Linen webstore.

Book Reviews

The NPR Curious Listener's Guide to World Music

by Chris Nickson
Perigee/Penguin ISBN 0-399-53032-0 (2004); 272 pp.; $13.95

The NPR Curious Listener's Guide to American Folk

by Kip Lornell
Perigee/Penguin ISBN 0-399-5303309 (2004); 235 pp.; $13.95

The intended goal of these slim volumes seems to be a Reader's Digest-style overview of musical genres that are played frequently on National Public Radio (and regrettably, rarely anywhere else on the airwaves). Each volume provides an overview of the genre, followed by an overview of subgenres, profiles of key musicians, key songs, a very select 50-CD discography, and a glossary. As such, these do not fulfill the role of more comprehensive compendia such as the Rough Guides, but they will get the novice listener started.

Nickson, a Dirty Linen contributor, has been given the somewhat daunting task of surveying traditional and popular music around the globe, and he succeeds admirably in conveying not only the key musical touchstones of major world music genres, but also his own enthusiasm for, and knowledge of, the myriad styles that have been lumped together as world music.

Lornell, who won a Grammy for his liner notes to the reissue of the Harry Smith anthology, takes a decidedly historical stance to his overview of American folk music. You won't find any singer/songwriters here, the last two decades are dismissed in a few paragraphs, and the only musician profiled in depth who was born after 1950 is Alison Krauss. What Lornell does provide is a fascinating overview of the genesis of American folk styles, basically carrying them up to the folk boom of the late 1950s.

-- Michael Parrish (Downers Grove, IL)

There are 11 more books reviewed in the print edition of Dirty Linen #117 (April/May 2005).
All the reviews are in the magazine, available on newsstands, by subscription, and at the Dirty Linen webstore.

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