A portrait of the life and career of Randy Travis follows the country singer from his troubled youth through his rise to stardom in the world of country music

Randy Travis: King of the New Traditionalists

Arts & Photography

Cusic, Don

Music

St Martins Pr

Shows how the ground-breaking female country vocalist won the hearts of American fans, from a dusty rodeo arena in Oklahoma to the bright lights of Nashville's Grand Ol' Opry

Reba McEntire: Country Music's Queen

Humor & Entertainment

The story of a platinum country music star recounts her humble beginnings on the Oklahoma rodeo circuit, her Hollywood performances beside Kenny Rogers and Burt Reynolds, and the tragic plane crash that took the lives of her entire band. Reprint.

Reba McEntire: Country Music's Queen (The Unauthorized Biography)

St. Martin's Paperbacks

Discovering Country Music chronicles the incredible evolution of country music in America - from the fiddle to the pop charts - and provides an insightful account of the reasons and motives that have determined its various transformations and offshoots over the years. In order to understand what country music is, and why, it is essential to understand how it makes its money ― the basic revenue streams, the major companies involved, and how country artists are booked and marketed. Author Don Cusic helps readers do that, and goes even further, covering not only the business and the technology that have shaped the industry, but also tackling the question of country's relationship to the other major genres of the American recording industry, including pop, blues, and rock music.
Discovering Country Music is broken down into ten sections which include: key musical trends; ancillary business trends such as recording technology, radio, and the recording industry; and prominent artists, including as a small sample Stephen Foster, The Carter Family, Elvis, Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, Garth Brooks, The Dixie Chicks, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, and Kenny Chesney. This work should appeal to fans, scholars, educators, libraries and the general reader alike.

Discovering Country Music

Praeger

Sharecropper's Son

Literature & Fiction

Contemporary

Brackish Publishing

The Sound of Light is a sweeping overview of the history of gospel music. Powerful and incisive, it traces contemporary Christianity and Christian music to the 16th century and the Protestant Reformation after examining music in the Bible and early church music. From the psalms of the early Puritans through the hymns of human composure of Isaac Watts and the social activism of the Wesleys, gospel music was established in 18th century America. With the camp meeting songs of the Kentucky Revival, the spirituals that came from the slave culture, and the hymns from the great revival after the Civil War, gospel music advanced through the 19th century. The 20th century brought recording technology and electronic media to the table. Gospel music has developed with Christian revivals and the history of American gospel music is the history of Christianity in America. Gospel music reflects the American spirit of freedom and the free market as a Christian culture emerges in the 20th century, providing a spiritual as well as economic foundation. The Sound of Light presents gospel music as part of the history of contemporary Christianity. It is a work broad in scope that defines a music essential to understanding American culture as well as American music in the 20th century. Don Cusic is the author of ten books, including the biography Eddy Arnold: I'll Hold You in My Heart and an encyclopedia of cowboys, Cowboys and the Wild West: An A-Z Guide from the Chisholm Trail to the Silver Screen. He joined the faculty at Middle Tennessee State University in 1982, teaching courses in the music business. He earned a Masters and Doctorate in Literature from MTSU. Since August of 1994, Cusic has been Professor of Music Business at Belmont University.

The Sound of Light: The History of Gospel and Christian Music

Biographies & Memoirs

Arts & Literature

HAL LEONARD CORPORATION

Gene Autry: His Life and Career

Gene Autry was the first of the wildly popular "singing cowboys" of the thirties and forties and the man who carried the flag for "western" in "country and western," popularizing the genre's marriage of seemingly disparate western and hillbilly influences. Beyond his highly successful recording career, his on-screen persona influenced an entire generation of American boys. Autry was also an accomplished investor and businessman, and was the longtime owner of Major League Baseball's Angels franchise. This meticulously researched biography takes the reader from Gene Autry's childhood in Oklahoma through his phenomenally successful career as a singer and actor, and covers his later triumphs in business and sports. Of particular interest is the book's detailed day-to-day treatment of Autry's performing career, with a wealth of information on each recording session and film shoot, including key personnel (e.g., songwriters, engineers, directors, crew) and interesting anecdotes. The work includes information from the author's own interviews with Autry's contemporaries.

McFarland Publishing

Born in 1856 in Thomasville, Georgia, Henry Ossian Flipper was nine at the end of the Civil War. His parents, part of a privileged upper class of slaves, were allowed to operate an independent business under the protection of their owner. This placed Henry in an excellent position to take advantage of new educational opportunities opening up to African Americans and he graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1877. Flipper served at Fort Sill in what is now Oklahoma; took part in the Indian Wars; and served at Fort Davis in Texas, where a court-martial relating to missing funds ended his Army career with a dishonorable discharge. He later was an assistant to the Secretary of the Interior during the early 1920s Harding administration, and died in 1940. Investigations into the circumstances of Flipper's court-martial resulted in an upgrade to honorable discharge in 1976 and a posthumous pardon from President Clinton in 1999. Passages from Flipper's 1878 autobiography and excerpts from contemporary military reports and newspaper articles contribute firsthand observations to this biography of West Point's first black graduate.

The Trials of Henry Flipper, First Black Graduate of West Point

Community & Culture

McFarland

Gene Autry was the first of the wildly popular “singing cowboys” of the thirties and forties and the man who carried the flag for “western” in “country and western,” popularizing the genre’s marriage of seemingly disparate western and hillbilly influences. Beyond his highly successful recording career, his on-screen persona influenced an entire generation of American boys. Autry, an accomplished investor and businessman, was a longtime owner of Major League Baseball’s Angels franchise. This meticulously researched biography takes the reader from Gene Autry’s childhood in Oklahoma through his phenomenally successful career as a singer and actor, and covers his later triumphs in business and sports. Of particular interest is the book’s detailed day-to-day treatment of Autry’s performing career, with a wealth of information on each recording session and film shoot, including key personnel (e.g., songwriters, engineers, directors, crew) and interesting anecdotes. The work includes information from the author’s own interviews with Autry’s contemporaries.

McFarland Company

This series of biographical profiles shines a spotlight on that special place "Where the West meets the Guitar." From Gene Autry and Roy Rogers to contemporary artists like Michael Murphy, Red Steagall, Don Edwards and Riders in the Sky, many entertainers have performed music of the West, a genre separate from mainstream country music and yet an important part of the country music heritage. Once called "Country and Western," it is now described as "Country or Western." Though much has been written about "Country," very little has been written about "Western"--until now. Featured are a number of photos of the top stars in Western music, past and present. Also included is an extensive bibliography of works related to the Western music field.

The Cowboy in Country Music: An Historical Survey with Artist Profiles

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Cusic, Don. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Cusic, Don

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Cusic, Don. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Randy Travis: King of the New Traditionalists

Reba McEntire: Country Music's Queen

Reba McEntire: Country Music's Queen (The Unauthorized Biography)

Discovering Country Music

Sharecropper's Son

The Sound of Light: The History of Gospel and Christian Music

Gene Autry: His Life and Career

The Trials of Henry Flipper, First Black Graduate of West Point

Gene Autry: His Life and Career

The Cowboy in Country Music: An Historical Survey with Artist Profiles