A beautifully written exploration of the world of Edwardian folk music, and its influence on the composer Ralph Vaughan Williams

In January 1905 the young Vaughan Williams, not yet one of England’s most famous composers, visited Norfolk to find folk songs ‘from the mouths of the singers’. An old fisherman, James ‘Duggie’ Carter, performed ‘The Captain’s Apprentice’, a brutal tale of torture sung to the most beautiful tune the young composer had ever heard.

With this transformational moment at its heart, the book traces the contrasting lives of the well-to-do composer and a forgotten cabin boy who died at sea, and brings fresh perspectives on folk-song collectors, the singers and their songs.

***AS READ ON BBC RADIO 4***

‘A quirky, fascinating read. Davison excels in evoking English landscapes’ Sunday Times

‘Animated, entertaining… Presenting a richly complex picture of a subject that can all too easily be shrouded in a sentimental haze’ Daily Telegraph

‘This lovely book is almost as thrilling as the bird’s immortal song – balm for a troubled soul and a glimpse of paradise.’ JOANNA LUMLEY
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Come to the forest, sit by the fireside and listen to intoxicating song, as Sam Lee tells the story of the nightingale.

Every year, as darkness falls upon woodlands, the nightingale heralds the arrival of Spring. Throughout history, its sweet song has inspired musicians, writers and artists around the world, from Germany, France and Italy to Greece, Ukraine and Korea.

Here, passionate conservationist, renowned musician and folk expert Sam Lee tells the story of the nightingale. This book reveals in beautiful detail the bird’s song, habitat, characteristics and migration patterns, as well as the environmental issues that threaten its livelihood.

From Greek mythology to John Keats, to Persian poetry and ‘A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square’, Lee delves into the various ways we have celebrated the nightingale through traditions, folklore, music, literature, from ancient history to the present day. The Nightingale is a unique and lyrical portrait of a famed yet elusive songbird.
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‘Sam Lee has brought the poetic magic that has long enchanted so many of his musical fans into the written word. Allow yourself to glimpse the world Sam sees, to be part of his love affair with the nightingale, and you will no doubt be delighted.’ LILY COLE

‘A wonderful book.’ STEPHEN MOSS

‘A magical marriage of the lyrical and practical: a book that makes us want to seek out the nightingale and then reveals how we can.’ TRISTAN GOOLEY

In 2016 it was announced that Bob Dylan had sold his personal archive to the George Kaiser Foundation in Tulsa, Oklahoma, reportedly for $22 million. As the boxes started to arrive, the Foundation asked Clinton Heylin – author of the acclaimed Bob Dylan: Behind the Shades and ‘perhaps the world’s authority on all things Dylan’ (Rolling Stone) – to assess the material they had been given. What he found in Tulsa – as well as what he gleaned from other papers he had recently been given access to by Sony and the Dylan office – so changed his understanding of the artist, especially of his creative process, that he became convinced that a whole new biography was needed. It turns out that much of what previous biographers – Dylan himself included – have said is wrong; often as not, a case of, Print the Legend.

With fresh and revealing information on every page A Restless, Hungry Feeling tells the story of Dylan’s meteoric rise to fame: his arrival in early 1961 in New York, where he is embraced by the folk scene; his elevation to spokesman of a generation whose protest songs provide the soundtrack for the burgeoning Civil Rights movement; his alleged betrayal when he ‘goes electric’ at Newport in 1965; his subsequent controversial world tour with a rock ‘n’ roll band; and the recording of his three undisputed electric masterpieces: Bringing it All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde on Blonde. At the peak of his fame in July 1966 he reportedly crashes his motorbike in Woodstock, upstate New York, and disappears from public view. When he re-emerges, he looks different, his voice sounds different, his songs are different. That other story will be told in Volume 2, to be published in autumn 2022.

Clinton Heylin’s meticulously researched, all-encompassing and consistently revelatory account of these fascinating early years is the closest we will ever get to a definitive life of an artist who has been the lodestar of popular culture for six decades.

A beautifully written exploration of the world of Edwardian folk music, and its influence on the composer Ralph Vaughan Williams

In January 1905 the young Vaughan Williams, not yet one of England’s most famous composers, visited King’s Lynn, Norfolk, to find folk songs ‘from the mouths of the singers’. He had started collecting in earnest little more than a year before but was now obsessed with saving these indigenous tunes before they were lost forever. An old fisherman, James ‘Duggie’ Carter, performed ‘The Captain’s Apprentice’, a brutal tale of torture sung to the most beautiful tune the young composer had ever heard.

The Captain’s Apprentice is the story of how this mysterious song ‘opened the door to an entirely new world of melody, harmony and feeling’ for Vaughan Williams. With this transformational moment at its heart, the book traces the contrasting lives of the well-to-do composer and a forgotten King’s Lynn cabin boy who died at sea, and brings fresh perspectives on Edwardian folk-song collectors, the singers and their songs.

While exploring her own connections to folk song, via a Hebridean ancestor, a Scottish ballad learnt as a child and memories of family sing-songs, the author makes the unexpected discovery that Vaughan Williams has been a hidden influence on her musical life from the beginning – an experience she shares with generations of twentieth-century British schoolchildren.

Published for Vaughan Williams’s 150th birthday in August, this evocative, sensitive look at the great composer will also be read on BBC Radio 4.

‘Her gift is a work of love and infinite care‘ KEGGIE CAREW, author of Dadland

‘I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and its weaving of biography, social history and folk song’ STEVE ROUD, author of Folk Song in England

Have you ever wondered how blues influenced rock music? Or why jazz went Latin? Classical or rock, everyone has their favourite music style, but how did your top choice come about? If you find yourself asking these musical questions and more, then this may be the book for you!

Music is a compelling and richly illustrated history of the most unifying art form in the world. Explore the roots of all genres from chants of the middle ages through the grandeur of the classical period to the modern rhythm of blues, jazz, hip-hop, and pop. Music includes illustrated histories of instruments and listening suggestions for each musical genre. Spectacular galleries display families of instruments from around the world, while special features showcase the evolution of key instruments, such as the piano and the guitar, and profile iconic innovators such as Mozart, Billie Holiday, and David Bowie. Charting every musical revolution, from bone flutes to electronica and from jazz to hip-hop, this visually stunning history of music will hit the right note, whether you are into pop or rock, or disco or rap, classical or opera.

Explore the magical world of music like you’ve never known it before, and discover:

-Revolutionary musical developments outlined step by step
-Biographies profiling the lives and works of groundbreaking musicians
-Collection spreads feature families of instruments, such as the gamelan
-“Story of” spreads chart the evolution of individual instruments
-Key Works boxes provide listening suggestions for different music styles
-Illustrated glossary clearly explains musical terminology and genres

This magnificent book about music charts and explains the entire global history of music, whether it’s music in the Middle Ages, to the Sounds of Soul, music in the Romance period to Renaissance and so much more. This new edition of Music has been updated with the latest facts and information, including the latest on streaming music, with specially-comissioned photography including a Stradivarus guitar, the earliest cello known to survice and a guitar used personally by Bob Dylan!

A must-have volume for musicians, music students or simply those wanting to learn about the history of their favourite music genre or their chosen instrument, Music is sure to delight!

FEATURING EXCLUSIVE LISTENING SESSIONS WITH: Paul Simon; Justin Vernon of Bon Iver; Gus Van Sant; Rhiannon Giddens; The Bad Plus; Gavin Bryars; Van Dyke Parks; Sam Amidon; Hal Willner; Jim Woodring; Martin Hayes & Dennis Cahill

‘A beautiful and long overdue portrait of one of America’s true living cultural treasures.’
JOHN ZORN

‘The perfect companion-piece to the music of its subject.’
MOJO

‘Outlines the subject’s life in a series of scrupulous strokes and intimate interviews that are rare in such undertakings . . . a cool, casual victory.’
IRISH TIMES

Over a period of forty-five years, Bill Frisell has established himself as one of the most innovative and influential musicians at work today.

Growing up playing clarinet in orchestras and marching bands, Frisell has progressed through a remarkable range of musical personas – from devotee of jazz master Jim Hall to ‘house guitarist’ of estimable German label ECM, from edgy New York downtown experimentalist to plaintive country and bluegrass picker. He has been a pioneering bandleader and collaborator, a prolific composer and arranger and a celebrated Grammy Award winner.

A quietly revolutionary guitar hero who has synthesised many disparate musical elements into one compellingly singular sound, Frisell connects to a diverse range of artists and admirers, including Paul Simon, Elvis Costello, Lucinda Williams, Gus Van Sant, Marianne Faithfull and Justin Vernon, many of whom feature in this book.

Through unprecedented access to the guitarist and interviews with his close family, friends and associates, Philip Watson tells Frisell’s story for the first time.

‘Stuffed with musical encounters, so many that every couple of pages there’s an unheard Frisell recording for the reader to chase down.’
NEW YORKER

‘Superb . . . the book races along like Sonny Rollins in full sail. Like subject, like writer: this is super-articulate, adventurous prose.’
PERSPECTIVE

‘[Watson’s] writing balances unbridled passion and dispassionate research nearly as deftly as Mr. Frisell’s playing does sound and silence . . . compelling.’
WALL STREET JOURNAL

The memoir of international music icon Richard Thompson, co-founder of the legendary folk rock group Fairport Convention.

‘I encourage everyone to read this wonderful book.’
ELVIS COSTELLO

‘Thompson could be said to be an English Dylan – only in some ways he’s even better than that.’
GUARDIAN

‘Fresh and exploratory.’ NEW YORK TIMES
‘Gripping . . . affecting and enlightening.’ GUARDIAN
‘Perceptive, lyrical, amiable and seemingly effortless.’ CAUGHT BY THE RIVER
‘Thompson writes exceptionally well.’ NEW YORK JOURNAL OF BOOKS

Guitarist and songwriter Richard Thompson came of age during an extraordinary moment in British culture: it was 1967 and popular music was reflecting a great cultural awakening. In the midst of this, eighteen-year-old Thompson co-founded Fairport Convention and helped invent a new genre of music.

Thompson packed more than a lifetime of experiences into his late teens and twenties. From the pivotal years of 1967 to 1975, he matured into a major musician, survived a devasting car crash and departed Fairport Convention for a duo act with his wife, Linda, at the height of the band’s popularity. His discovery and ultimate embrace of Sufism profoundly reshaped his approach to everything in his life and, of course, the music he wrote thereafter.

In Beeswing, Thompson goes back to his childhood, recreates the spirit of the sixties and takes us inside life on the road in the UK and the US, crossing paths – and occasionally sharing the stage – with the likes of Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Nick Drake, Jimi Hendrix and more.

An intimate memoir of musical discovery, personal history and social revelation, Beeswing – like Patti Smith’s Just Kids or Marianne Faithfull’s Faithfull – vividly captures the life of one of Britain’s most significant artists during a heady period of creative intensity, in a world on the cusp of change.

‘Honest in its self-appraisal, often very moving and sometimes extremely funny – this quiet joy of a memoir is just what you’d expect from one of the finest British musicians of the last 50 years.’
RICHARD WILLIAMS

‘With Beeswing [Thompson] adds master memoirist to his long list of artistic accomplishments . . . fascinating.’
BOB MOULD

In 2016 it was announced that Bob Dylan had sold his personal archive to the George Kaiser Foundation in Tulsa, Oklahoma, reportedly for $22 million. As the boxes started to arrive, the Foundation asked Clinton Heylin – author of the acclaimed Bob Dylan: Behind the Shades and ‘perhaps the world’s authority on all things Dylan’ (Rolling Stone) – to assess the material they had been given. What he found in Tulsa – as well as what he gleaned from other papers he had recently been given access to by Sony and the Dylan office – so changed his understanding of the artist, especially of his creative process, that he became convinced that a whole new biography was needed. It turns out that much of what previous biographers – Dylan himself included – have said is wrong; often as not, a case of, Print the Legend.

With fresh and revealing information on every page A Restless, Hungry Feeling tells the story of Dylan’s meteoric rise to fame: his arrival in early 1961 in New York, where he is embraced by the folk scene; his elevation to spokesman of a generation whose protest songs provide the soundtrack for the burgeoning Civil Rights movement; his alleged betrayal when he ‘goes electric’ at Newport in 1965; his subsequent controversial world tour with a rock ‘n’ roll band; and the recording of his three undisputed electric masterpieces: Bringing it All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde on Blonde. At the peak of his fame in July 1966 he reportedly crashes his motorbike in Woodstock, upstate New York, and disappears from public view. When he re-emerges, he looks different, his voice sounds different, his songs are different. That other story will be told in Volume 2, to be published in autumn 2022.

Clinton Heylin’s meticulously researched, all-encompassing and consistently revelatory account of these fascinating early years is the closest we will ever get to a definitive life of an artist who has been the lodestar of popular culture for six decades.