An Introduction to America's Music

Crawford (U. of Michigan) tells the story of music in the U.S., from the sacred works of the 1500s to the jazz and rock of today. Following the widely varied paths music has taken (beginning with Native American songs and chants and continuing with traditions introduced by Spanish, French, and English colonizers, Africans brought here as slaves, and other immigrants to North America), he sets each topic in its historical and social context and shows how the spheres of folk, popular and classical music have continually interacted to form a variegated whole. The book contains many bandw illustrations. Annotation copyrighted by Book News Inc., Portland, OR