
An Evolving Tradition
The Child Ballads in Modern Folk and Rock Music
Dave Thompson(Author)
Backbeat Books (Publisher)
Will be published approx. on 15. July 2023
Book
Hardback
544 pages
978-1-4930-6806-7 (ISBN)
Description
The Child Ballads are a series of over 300 traditional ballads from England and Scotland that, along with their American variants, were anthologized by folklorist Francis James Child in the nineteenth century. An Evolving Tradition is the story of the Child Ballads-the world's best-known and most highly regarded repository of traditional English folk songs, and the wellspring for approximately 10,000 recordings over the last century, from obscure musicological archives to classic releases from Bob Dylan, Simon & Garfunkel, and Led Zeppelin.
Drawing on interviews with numerous scholars and musicians, author Dave Thompson explains what a ballad is, outlines their dominant themes, and recounts how these ballads survived to become a mainstay of field recordings made by Cecil Sharp, Alan Lomax, and others as they traveled the English and American countryside in search of old songs. Thompson traverses the entire spectrum of rock, pop, folk, roots, experimental music, industrial, and goth to reveal the remarkable legacy and incalculable influence of the Child Ballads on all manner of modern music.
Drawing on interviews with numerous scholars and musicians, author Dave Thompson explains what a ballad is, outlines their dominant themes, and recounts how these ballads survived to become a mainstay of field recordings made by Cecil Sharp, Alan Lomax, and others as they traveled the English and American countryside in search of old songs. Thompson traverses the entire spectrum of rock, pop, folk, roots, experimental music, industrial, and goth to reveal the remarkable legacy and incalculable influence of the Child Ballads on all manner of modern music.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Hal Leonard Corporation
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
With dust jacket
Illustrations
67 b/w photos
Dimensions
Height: 230 mm
Width: 155 mm
Thickness: 31 mm
Weight
844 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4930-6806-7 (9781493068067)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
07/2023
1st Edition
Backbeat Books
€35.49
Available for download

E-Book
07/2023
Backbeat Books
€35.49
Available for download
Person
Dave Thompson is the author of over 150 books, including cowritten autobiographies with Motown songwriting legends Eddie and Brian Holland, rock photographer Bob Gruen, and New York punk heroes Sylvain Sylvain and Walter Lure, among others. He has also written biographies of James Taylor, Paul Simon, and the Pogues. He is the editor of Goldmine's industry standard record price guides.