Research Catalog

Title

Sacred steel : inside an African American steel guitar tradition / Robert L. Stone.

Author

Stone, Robert L., 1944-

Publication

Urbana : University of Illinois Press, ©2010.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

xiv, 280 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations; 24 cm.

Summary

• ""Robert L. Stone knows sacred steel music in a most profound way. He has amassed an incredible archive of photos, interviews, and recordings related to this remarkable musical culture. This book Will appeal to those interested in not just sacred steel but the history of the steel but the history of the steel guitar, gospel, blues, and American roots music in general."--Craig Morrison, ethnomusicologist and author of Go Cat Go! Rockabilly Music and Its Makers.
• "A Pioneering work on the emergence, development, and current status of a vital but long overlooked tradtition. Enlightening and engaging." --Scott Barretta, musci historian and former editor of Living Blues magazine.
• Robert L. Stone follows the sound of steel guitar into the music-driven Pentecostal worship of two related chruches: the House of God and the Church of the Living God. A rare outsider who has gained the trust of members and musicians inside the church, Stone uses nearly two decades of research, interviews, and fieldwork to tell the story of a vibrant musical tradition that straddles Sacred and secular contexts.
• Most often identified with country and western bands, steel guitar is almost unheard of in African American churches --except for the House of God and the Church of the Living God, where it has been part of worship since the 1930s. Sacred Steel traces the tradition through four generations of musicians and in Some two hundred churches extending across the country from Florida to California, Michigan to Alabama. Presenting detailed portraits of muscial pioneers such as brother Troman and Willie Eason and contemporary masters such as Chuck Campbell, Glenn Lee, and Robert Randolph, Stone expertly outlines the fundamental tensions between sacred steel musicians and church hierarchy. "--Book jacket.

Series Statement

Music in American life

Uniform Title

Music in American life

Alternative Title

Inside an African American steel guitar tradition

Subject

• Church music > African American churches
• Hawaiian guitar music > History and criticism
• African American guitarists
• African American church musicians
• Hawaiian guitar music
• Steel Guitar
• Schwarze
• Kirchenmusik
• USA

Genre/Form

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references, discography and index.

Contents

Discovery -- The churches : beliefs, social milieu, and the development of the steel guitar -- Traditions -- Church meetings and the steel guitarist's role in them -- The steel guitar -- The Eason Brothers -- Little Willie and his talking guitar -- Henry Nelson : the liberace of sacred steel -- The Jewell Dominion -- Motor city steel -- Calvin Cooke -- Shaping the modern sound : pedal-steel guitar innovators Chuck Campbell and Glenn Lee -- Negotiating the new millennium.

ISBN

• 9780252035548
• 0252035542
• 9780252077432
• 0252077431
• 9780252090301 (epub) (canceled/invalid)

LCCN

• 2010024455
• 40018312039

OCLC

• ocn601331188
• 601331188
• SCSB-14690816

Owning Institutions

Princeton University Library