Dick Spottswood is preparing to update the reference book COUNTRY MUSIC SOURCES, first published by the John Edwards Memorial Forum and the Southern Folklife Collection in 2002. Anyone with corrections, additions or updates is invited to contact him online at dick@wamu.org. UPDATE: Joe Hickerson has generously signed on to expand and update bibliographic entries; contact him at jhick@starpower.net.
The book provides information on some 14,500 recordings of 3,500 old-time folk and country songs recorded between 1921 and 1942. Each performance receives a full citation, including the date and place of recording, original and variant artist, and title credits. Whenever possible, songs are traced back to their original lyricists and composers or to major published and unpublished folksong collections. Entries are grouped into broad subject categories: ballads, popular songs, religious songs, and instrumentals.
Based on 35 years of research in public and private collections of recordings, broadsides, pamphlets, and sheet music, this valuable resource allows a fresh understanding of pre-World War II country music and its intricate connections to the blues, old world folk music, and the broad spectrum of American popular song.
“One of the most impressive accomplishments in the history of country music scholarship. It is a big, juicy mother-lode that contains more new, hard data than anyone in this field has seen in years. . . . A definitive reference book that should be on every library shelf and in the hands of any serious student of American music.” –Journal of Country Music
2003 Award for Excellence in Historical Recorded Country Music, Association for Recorded Sound Collections