John Troutman
From: Washington, DC
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Posted 11 May 2016 5:45 am
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Hi all,
Some kind souls have discussed this book over in the no pedals section, but since the official release day is May 16th, I thought I would quickly post something here this week as well. I'm a history professor by day, steel player by night, and over the last eight years I have researched and written a new history of the steel guitar. It's called, Kika Kila: How the Hawaiian Steel Guitar Changed the Sound of Modern Music. It weighs in just shy of 400 pages and features a slew of rare b/w and color photos.
The book digs deeply into the origins of the steel guitar in Hawaiʻi, tracks the earliest players as they fanned out throughout the world in the early 20th century, considers the influence of the instrument in all sorts of genres (including country and the blues), and pontificates on the near disappearance of the instrument in the Islands, as well as its rebirth over the last decade.
The book was published by the University of North Carolina Press, a non-profit press. They did a great job on the design. If you are interested in the book, you may order it through the uncpress.com website, or through Amazon. I have posted some early reviews of the book, more info, and a Spotify playlist here: http://www.johnwtroutman.com/kika-kila.html
Many folks on the forum contributed to this book, and I can't thank them enough for it, nor thank Bob enough for creating this awesome space--where all of us players, enthusiasts, and music history buffs can get together and learn from each other!
Thanks y'all--
John |
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