All Music Guide to Country: The Definitive Guide to Country Music

by Various

(Book). Now in its second edition, the All Music Guide to Country rounds up the music you love, from the Appalachian Mountains to the Grand Ole Opry, from gospel tents to honky-tonk bars, and from the open range to the open road, giving this diverse genre its due respect and helping you choose the most essential albums from more than 1,200 artists. Country legends like Johnny Cash, Loretta Lynn and Hank Williams are covered in depth, along with such popular artists as the Dixie Chicks, Wynonna Judd, Garth Brooks and Faith Hill. You'll also find 10,281 reviews and ratings for a wide range of country-influenced performers, including Will Oldham, Lyle Lovett, k.d. lang and country rockers ranging from Gram Parsons to Uncle Tupelo. Whether you prefer old-time or contemporary country, acoustic banjo or electric guitar, everything you need to make the most of your music-buying dollar is here!

Genres: Music

964 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2003

About the author

Various is the correct author for any book with multiple unknown authors, and is acceptable for books with multiple known authors, especially if not all are known or the list is very long (over 50).

If an editor is known, however, Various is not necessary. List the name of the editor as the primary author (with role "editor"). Contributing authors' names follow it.

Note: WorldCat is an excellent resource for finding author information and contents of anthologies.

Reviews

[Tom Schulte · Rating 4 out of 5]

With country music and its manifestations reaching ever deeper into the world's cultural psyche, All Music offers an in-depth encyclopedic guide to the massive genre. The book covers the extended bluegrass scene given greater popularity by O Brother Where Art Thou?, with entries from the close harmony traditionalists, Osborne Brothers, to such progressives as Darrell Scott. Doc Watson gets four pages and the FM country scene from Dwight Yoakam to popular western swing revivalists, Asleep at the Wheel, is here. The alt-country scene is present, too, covered from Bloodshot recording artist Robbie Fulks to the popular Old 97's. The entries are in the expected form for these successful All Music 'cyclopedias. That is, biographies and then key reviews with recommended starting points. This makes for over 10,000 rated reviews. The well-indexed tome includes style descriptions, a section for compilations and sound-tracks, essential albums by genre and two dozen rich essays on aspects of country music, like "Country on Film" and "Country Soundtracks." This is a valuable resource for the serious fan of any part of the varied country music spectrum. Where else would you find that The Residents, Savoy Brown, and Elvis Costello all drew on the early 70s countrified British pub rock group Chili Willi & the Red Hot Peppers for members?

[I was a contributor to this and other All Music Guides]