For the first time, this groundbreaking songbook collaboration by music writer Kristina R. Gaddy and Grammy Award winner Rhiannon Giddens makes nineteen examples of early Black Atlantic music accessible and playable for today's musicians, music enthusiasts, and historians. Presenting music from 1687 through the 1860s in modern treble clef and banjo tablature, along with the rich stories behind each song, Gaddy and Giddens take readers on a journey from the Caribbean across the Americas.
Immensely readable for amateurs and professionals alike, Go Back and Fetch It explains the significance of early Black Atlantic music and how the patterns of tunings, melodic lines, and lyrics shed light on the impact that Black American music has had on nineteenth-century popular music, early country, old time, and bluegrass. Each tune pairs with an engaging essay on its historical background and how the tune transformed over time, as well as information about the collector. Deeply researched and carefully approached, this essential source restores the roots of Black music to the musical canon.
Immensely readable for amateurs and professionals alike, Go Back and Fetch It explains the significance of early Black Atlantic music and how the patterns of tunings, melodic lines, and lyrics shed light on the impact that Black American music has had on nineteenth-century popular music, early country, old time, and bluegrass. Each tune pairs with an engaging essay on its historical background and how the tune transformed over time, as well as information about the collector. Deeply researched and carefully approached, this essential source restores the roots of Black music to the musical canon.
Upcoming Events
SEPT. 13 - 6pm - Baltimore Book Festival
SEPT. 15 - 7pm - Enoch Pratt Free Library with Pete Ross
SEPT. 23 - 7PM - University of Michigan with Rhiannon Giddens
SEPT. 27 - 6PM - Politics & Prose @ Union Market, DC
OCT. 25 - 2:30PM - West Virginia Book Festival, Charleston, WV
OCT. 18 - Southern Festival of Books, Nashville, TN
OCT. 30 - Banjo Gathering, Chapel Hill, NC
SEPT. 15 - 7pm - Enoch Pratt Free Library with Pete Ross
SEPT. 23 - 7PM - University of Michigan with Rhiannon Giddens
SEPT. 27 - 6PM - Politics & Prose @ Union Market, DC
OCT. 25 - 2:30PM - West Virginia Book Festival, Charleston, WV
OCT. 18 - Southern Festival of Books, Nashville, TN
OCT. 30 - Banjo Gathering, Chapel Hill, NC
Praise for Go Back and Fetch It
"This volume beautifully showcases the rich diversity of Afro-Atlantic music in a welcoming and accessible way. All those who love and play this music should get this book!"—Laurent Dubois, author of The Banjo: America's African Instrument
"Giddens and Gaddy have threaded music scholarship's most troublesome needle, making the tunes more accessible than ever before without simplifying, distorting, or discarding the important history that comes with them."—Jake Blount, musician and interpreter of Black folk music
"Giddens and Gaddy have threaded music scholarship's most troublesome needle, making the tunes more accessible than ever before without simplifying, distorting, or discarding the important history that comes with them."—Jake Blount, musician and interpreter of Black folk music