About this item
At a time when Acid Rock and Heavy Metal dominated popular music, The Band rebelled against the rebellion with tight ensemble arrangements, masterful musicianship, impressionable lead vocals, earthened harmonies, highly literate lyrics, and a respect for the musical traditions of the American South. Comprised of Canadians Robbie Robertson, Rick Danko, Richard Manuel, and Garth Hudson, and Arkansas-born Levon Helm, The Band sparked a new appreciation for America's musical roots, fusing R&B, jump blues, country, folk, boogie-woogie, swing, Cajun, New Orleans-style jazz, and rock, and setting the foundations for the Americana that would take hold 30 years later. The Band: Pioneers of Americana Music explores the diverse influences on the quintet's music, and the impact that their music had in turn on contemporary music and American society.
About the Author
Author/photographer/educator/percussionist Craig Harris has expressed passion for music in numerous ways. Writing about music (and photographing musicians) for more than four decades, his work has appeared in newspapers, magazines, and websites. The author of The New Folk Music (White Cliffs Media) and The Heartbeat, Warble, and Electric Powwow: Native America's Musical Tapestry (forthcoming) , he was a major contributor to Music Hound Folk Music: Essential Album Guide and Music Hound World Music: Essential Album Guide (Viking Ink) . Playing drums and hand percussion since his preteens, he has appeared in concert and/or recordings with Rod MacDonald, CJ Chenier, Jonathan Edwards, Greg Brown, the Fast Folk Music Revue, Gaea Star Band, and the late Merl Saunders and Rick Danko (The Band) . He currently performs with Western Massachusetts-based Stillbridge. A skilled auteur, Harris has served as staff photographer of the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, since its inception, in 1988, and his photographs have exhibited throughout New England. Possessing a master's degree in education, he taught music in public and charter schools for a quarter of a century before launching his award-winning, multicultural, and participatory Drum Away the Blues program.
