Research Catalog

Title

The Blue Sky Boys / Dick Spottswood.

Author

Spottswood, Richard K. (Richard Keith)

Publication

Jackson : University Press of Mississippi, [2018]

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

xx, 333 pages : illustrations; 24 cm.

Summary

"During the 1940s, country music was rapidly evolving from traditional songs and string band styles to honky-tonk, western swing, and bluegrass, via radio, records, and film. The Blue Sky Boys, brothers Bill (1917-2008) and Earl (1919-1998) Bolick, resisted the trend, preferring to perform folk and parlor songs, southern hymns, and new compositions that enhanced their trademark intimacy and warmth. They were still in their teens when they became professional musicians to avoid laboring in Depression-era North Carolina cotton mills. Their instantly recognizable style was fully formed by 1936, when even their first records captured soulful harmonies accented with spare guitar and mandolin accompaniments. They inspired imitators, but none could duplicate the Blue Sky Boys' emotional appeal or their distinctive Catawba County accents. Even their last records in the 1970s retained their unique magical sound decades after other country brother duets had come and gone. In this absorbing account, Dick Spottswood combines excerpts from Bill Bolick's numerous spoken interviews and written accounts of his music, life, and career into a single narrative that presents much of the story in Bill's own voice. Spottswood reveals fascinating nuggets about broadcasting, recording, and surviving in the 1930s world of country music. He describes how the growing industry both aided and thwarted the Bolick brothers' career, and how World War II nearly finished it. The book features a complete, extensively annotated list of Blue Sky Boys songs, an updated discography that includes surviving unpublished records, and dozens of vintage photos and sheet music covers." --Amazon.com.

Series Statement

American made music series

Uniform Title

American made music series

Subject

• Blue Sky Boys
• Country musicians > United States > Biography
• Country musicians
• United States

Genre/Form

• Biography
• Biographies.

Note

• The Blue Sky Boys consisted of brothers Bill (1917-2008) and Earl (1919-1998) Bolick.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (pages 307-309), discographies (pages 123-302) and index.

Contents

Introduction -- Origins, family, and childhood -- more early inspirations -- The 1930s and the call of music -- Crazy water, Odysseys with homer -- WWNC, WGST, 1935-36 -- Home redux -- The blue sky boys almost retire -- Red hicks and uncle Josh, 1938-40 -- New records, more Dario, good times, 1938-41 -- Off to War, 1940-46 -- New songs, new rules, 1946-48 -- Goodbye to Atlanta, 1948 -- Winding down, 1949-51 -- Goodbye to RCA, 1950 -- Sunset in the blue sky, 1950-74 -- Folk music and the final years, 1963-2008 -- Appendix one -- Blue sky boys songs : an annotated list -- Appendix two -- Blue sky boys discography --Chronology -- Sources and references.

ISBN

• 9781496816405
• 1496816404
• 9781496816412
• 1496816412
• 9781496816429 (epub single) (canceled/invalid)
• 9781496816436 (epub institutional) (canceled/invalid)

LCCN

2017036812

OCLC

• ocn999673719
• 999673719
• SCSB-8968145

Owning Institutions

Princeton University Library