The story of how unexpected connections between music, technology, and race across three tumultuous decades changed American culture.
How did a European social dance craze become part of an American presidential election? Why did the recording industry become racially divided? Where did rock n roll really come from? And how do all these things continue to reverberate in todays world Revolutions in American MusicThrough the music of each decade, we come to see anew the social, cultural, and political fabric of the time. Broyles combines broad historical perspective with an eye for the telling detail and presents a variety of characters to serve as focal points, including the original Jim Crow, a colorful Hungarian dancing master named Gabriel de Korponay, Empress of the Blues Bessie Smith, and the singer Johnnie Ray, whom Tony Bennett called the father of rock n roll. Their stories, and many others, animate Broyless masterly account of how American music became what it is today.
