Colonial & Revolution Songbook

Keith McNeil

Wem Records

Forty songs which accompanied the shaping of the country as it evolved from thirteen struggling colonies to prosperity & rebellion, & finally, to nationhood.

This attractively illustrated one hundred twenty-five page companion to California Songs - Volume One - Nineteenth Century and California Songs - Volume Two - Twentieth Century includes eighty selections with words, music and chord symbols, plus historical commentary, background information on the songs and a bibliography. 
Part One: Indian, Spanish and Mexican California 
Spain explores California and establishes missions. Indians at the missions chant the mass to European traditional and popular music. Mexico gains independence from Spain and creates a distinctive California culture. Americans arrive, clash with Mexicans, and establish the short-lived Bear Flag Republic. The United States declares war against Mexico. 
Part Two: The Gold Rush 
Mexico cedes California to the United States. The gold discovery brings people from many countries. American citizens cross the plains, sail around the Horn and cross the Isthmus. Immigrants arrive from China, and are barred from the mines. African-Americans come to the mines, some leave California for British Columbia. Steamboats fill the rivers. The Port of San Francisco becomes notorious for shanghaiing sailors. The Indian population shrinks. 
Part Three: Railroaders, Boom and Bust 
The Union Pacific, with the help of thousands of Chinese railroad workers, completes the transcontinental railroad. The Southern Pacific monopolizes rail traffic to and from California. Farmers rebel against high-handed railroad tactics. After ten years of depression, the boom begins again. 
Part Four: Farmers and Ranchers 
As California enters the twentieth century, its wine and citrus industries are flourishing. Basques from the Pyrenees raise sheep. Cattle ranchers and cowboys sing songs from Mexican California and from the southern Appalachian mountains. 
Part Five: Temperance and Suffrage, Cars and Movie Stars 
Women organize against heavy drinking, sing militant songs. Women campaign for the right to vote. Californians sing of their love for (and frustrations with) automobiles. The movie industry moves to California, evolving from silent movies to spectacular films. 
Part Six: Immigrants and Dust Bowl Refugees 
Immigrants arrive from Italy, Portugal, Armenia and India to work on California's farms. The I.W.W. organizes farm workers. Japanese immigrants buy land and compete with established farmers. The Mexican Revolution sends thousands of refugees to California. Mexican farm workers organize unions, are deported, and replaced with workers from the Philippines. Dust storms on the great plains displace thousands, bringing more job seekers to California. Poverty is rampant. 
Part Seven: World War Two, Songs of the Cities 
World War Two absorbs men into the armed services. Women manufacture bombs, tanks, ships and airplanes. Japanese-Americans are interned in concentration camps, and many volunteer for military duty in Europe. The United States and Mexico create the Bracero program. Californians write and sing songs which reflect pride (and sometimes dismay), about their cities.

California Songbook

Arts & Photography

Rusty McNeil

Music

California Songbook [With Cassettes]

This attractively illustrated eighty-seven page companion to Moving West Songs (two CD set) includes forty-eight of the songs Americans sang as their nation expanded westward across the continent during the period between the War of 1812 and the Civil War. The song selections include words, music and chord symbols, plus historical commentary, background information on the songs and a bibliography. 
Part One: Territorial Expansion and Abolition 
As the United States expanded into the old Northwest Territory, Louisiana Territory and the Pacific Northwest, Americans built canals, cut forests, farmed the land, and trapped beaver. Their songs reflected their pride, fears and hopes, and described the dangers, the boredom, the discomforts and the loneliness of life on these new frontiers. 
Songs were effective tools for African-Americans. Slaves spread the word of escape plans through "code" songs. Songs about the hardships of slavery helped recruit white support for abolition and the Underground Railroad. 
Part Two: Texas and the Mexican War 
The lyric quality and rhythmic patterns of Mexican folk music reflect our Mexican heritage. Americans who settled in Texas sang of Texas Rangers and the struggle to make Texas a republic. 
During the Mexican War, soldiers sang of American General Zachary Taylor and Mexican General Santa Anna, of the 2,000 mile march of the Mormon Battalion, and of brutal treatment at the hands of their own officers. 
Part Three: Minstrel Shows and the California Gold Rush 
Miners carried minstrel tunes to the gold camps in California and wrote parodies which created a vivid picture of life among the forty-niners. 
Part Four: Immigrants from China, Ireland and Germany 
The songs depict the prejudice against California's Chinese population in the 1850s and the suffering of the Irish, fleeing famine, as they migrated to a new, often hostile, home in America. The songs also reflect the defiance and spirit of the Germans who, after losing the fight for a free Germany, sought freedom in the United States.

Moving West Songbook

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Books by Keith McNeil

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

Colonial & Revolution Songbook

Colonial & Revolution Songbook

California Songbook

California Songbook [With Cassettes]

Moving West Songbook