Posts Tagged ‘Johnny Cash’

Johnny Cash Returns to ‘Stamping Ovation’

John Carter Cash, Larry Gatlin, Jamey Johnson, The Oak Ridge Boys, The Roys, Marty Stuart, Randy Travis and other entertainers paid tribute to Johnny Cash as he was inducted today into the Postal Service’s Music Icons Forever stamp series at the Grand Ole Opry Ryman Auditorium. Customers may purchase the Johnny Cash Forever stamp at usps.com/stamps, at 800-STAMP-24 (800-782-6724) and at Post Offices nationwide. The Music Icons series, launched May 15, 2013, with the Lydia Mendoza Forever stamp, also will honor Ray Charles with a Forever stamp later this fall. (PRNewsFoto/U.S. Postal Service)

Legendary Singer is Second Inductee into Multi-Year Music Icons Series

NASHVILLE, Tenn. , June 5, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — John Carter Cash, Larry Gatlin, Jamey Johnson, The Oak Ridge Boys, The Roys, Marty Stuart, Randy Travis and other entertainers paid tribute to Johnny Cash as he was inducted today into the Postal Service’s Music Icons Forever stamp series at the Grand Ole Opry Ryman Auditorium.

“With his gravelly baritone and spare percussive guitar, Johnny Cash had a distinctive musical sound — a blend of country, rock ‘n’ roll and folk — that he used to explore issues that many other popular musicians of his generation wouldn’t touch,” said U.S. Postal Service Board of Governors member Dennis Toner. “His songs tackled sin and redemption, good and evil, selfishness, loneliness, temptation, love, loss and death. And Johnny explored these themes with a stark realism that was very different from other popular music of that time.”

“It is an amazing blessing that my father, Johnny Cash be honored with this stamp. Dad was a hardworking man, a man of dignity. As much as anything else he was a proud American, always supporting his family, fans and country. I can think of no better way to pay due respect to his legacy than through the release of this stamp,” said singer-songwriter, producer John Carter Cash, Johnny Cash’s son.

“My family is thrilled that my father will grace a Postal Service Forever Stamp, a great honor for any American, and an honor that would have particularly delighted him. It is a joy to know that generations will use this stamp, and my father will forever be where he loved to be: traveling the world,” added singer-songwriter and author Rosanne Cash, the music icon’s eldest daughter.

Customers may purchase the Johnny Cash Forever stamp at usps.com/stamps , at 800-STAMP-24 (800-782-6724) and at Post Offices nationwide. The Music Icons series, launched May 15, 2013, with the Lydia Mendoza Forever stamp, also will honor Ray Charles with a Forever stamp later this fall. The series will continue for the next several years with inductees being announced at a later date.

The stamp features a photograph taken by Frank Bez for Columbia Records (now part of Sony Music Entertainment) during a photo session for Ring of Fire: The Best of Johnny Cash (1963). The reverse side of the pane includes a larger version of the photograph featured on the stamp. Greg Breeding of Charlottesville, VA, served as art director and designer of the stamp. Breeding chose a photograph taken during the photo session for Ring of Fire: The Best of Johnny Cash (1963). Breeding designed the square stamp pane to resemble the appearance of a 45 rpm record sleeve.

The Man in Black
Johnny Cash (1932–2003) was a music visionary best remembered internationally as a country music artist, though his influence can be felt in many genres — from rock and folk to blues and gospel.

Born into a poor farming family, grew up in rural Arkansas, a region that struggled under the weight of the Depression and natural disasters. The culture of that era remained with him throughout his life. Three touchstones left an especially rich legacy — the Bible, gospel and country music. Cash began to find his own voice among them after leaving home in 1950 to serve in the U.S. Air Force.

Stationed in Germany, half a world away from everyone and everything he knew, Cash turned to music for solace. During breaks he pulled out his guitar and began to write his own songs. What emerged was a voice unlike any heard before: deep, quavering, and inflected with the legacy of a hardscrabble beginning.

“Folsom Prison Blues” was one of the first songs Cash recorded after returning home from military service in 1954. He landed a job as a salesman in Memphis,TN, but dreams of making music loomed large. In early 1955, he visited Sam Phillips at Sun Records in Memphis, the same studio where Elvis Presley had just recorded his first singles. Although Cash and his friends — Luther Perkins on electric guitar and Marshall Grant on bass — had limited musical ability, the boom-chicka-boom sound of their music proved infectious. They recorded several songs at those first sessions, including “Cry, Cry, Cry.” Released as a single in June 1955, “Cry, Cry, Cry” rode the country chart for a few days in November 1955, while “Folsom Prison Blues” cracked the country music top ten in 1956.

Cash’s 1956 debut on the “Grand Ole Opry,” the long-running radio show broadcast out of Nashville, TN, helped broaden his audience. He performed “I Walk the Line,” an iconic song about fidelity in the face of grand temptations that became his first number one country hit. He returned to the program many times in the 1950s and also began to make television appearances. By the mid-1960s, Cash had performed at Carnegie Hall in New York City and become one of the top names in country music.

Cash found inspiration for his music in the nation’s history, in the stories of outlaws and laborers, and in his own life experience. His songs about Depression-era America, especially the rural landscape of his childhood, made him unique among the popular artists of the day. Themes of redemption, loneliness, love, loss, and death colored his music with a gritty realism that differed markedly from other socially conscious popular music.

In 1977, Cash was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, and three years later, he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. In 1992, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 1996, he received the Kennedy Center Honors. Three years later, he received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. President George W. Bush presented him with the 2001 National Medal of Arts for lifetime achievement.

Many of this year’s other stamps may be viewed on Facebook at facebook.com/USPSStamps, via Twitter @USPSstamps or at beyondtheperf.com/2013-preview.

First-Day-of-Issue Postmarks
Customers have 60 days to obtain the first-day-of-issue postmark by mail. They may purchase stamps at a local Post Office, The Postal Store at usps.com/stamps, or by calling 800-STAMP-24. Customers should affix the stamps to envelopes of their choice, address the envelopes to themselves or others and place them in larger envelopes addressed to:

Johnny Cash Stamp
Postmaster
901 Broadway
Nashville, TN 37202-9998

After applying the first-day-of-issue postmark, the Postal Service will return the envelopes through the mail. While the first 50 postmarks are free, there is a 5-cent charge per postmark beyond that. All orders must be postmarked by Aug. 5, 2013.

First-Day Covers
The Postal Service also offers first-day covers for new stamp issues and Postal Service stationery items postmarked with the official first-day-of-issue cancellation. Each item has an individual catalog number and is offered in the quarterly USA Philatelic catalog, online at usps.com/stamps or by calling 800-782-6724. Customers may request a free catalog by calling 800-782-6724 or writing to:

United States Postal Service Catalog Request
PO Box 219014
Kansas City, MO  64121-9014

Philatelic Products
There are 10 philatelic products available for this stamp:

• 579406 Press Sheet with Die Cuts, $58.88 (print quantity of 2,500).
• 579408 Press Sheet without Die Cuts, $58.88 (print quantity of 2,500).
• 579410 Keepsake (Pane and Digital Color Postmark), $9.
• 579416 First-Day Cover, 90 cents.
• 579418 First-Day Cover (Full Pane), $9.86.
• 579419 First-Day Cancelled (Full Pane), $9.86.
• 579421, Digital Color Postmark, $1.61.
• 579430, Ceremony Program, $6.95.
• 579424, Framed Art, $39.95.
• 579425, Poster, $9.95.

A self-supporting government enterprise, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that reaches every address in the nation: 152 million residences, businesses and Post Office Boxes. The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations. With more than 31,000 retail locations and the most frequently visited website in the federal government, usps.com, the Postal Service has annual revenue of more than $65 billion and delivers nearly 40 percent of the world’s mail. If it were a private-sector company, the U.S. Postal Service would rank 42nd in the 2012 Fortune 500. The Postal Service has been named the Most Trusted Government Agency for seven years and the fourth Most Trusted Business in the nation by the Ponemon Institute.

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SOURCE U.S. Postal Service

Web Site: http://www.usps.com

See larger image The Essential Johnny Cash (Audio CD) The only 2-CD collection to date to span his entire career, 36 tracks from Hey Porter to his collaboration with U2, The Wanderer . And in between? I Walk the Line; Get Rhythm; Ballad of a Teenage Queen; Big River; Ring of Fire; Guess Things Happen That Way; I Still Miss Someone; Don't Take Your Guns to Town; Daddy Sang Bass; A Boy Named Sue; It Ain't Me, Babe and Jackson with June Carter Cash, and more. List Price: $13.94 USD New From: $10.29 USD In Stock Used from: $3.00 USD In Stock

In Celebration Of His 80th Birthday, Willie Nelson Honored As Legacy Recordings’ Artist Of The Month For April 2013

Let’s Face The Music And Dance is comprised of 20th century pop, rock, jazz and country music classics and standards

LET’S FACE THE MUSIC AND DANCE, NEWLY RECORDED STUDIO ALBUM BY WILLIE NELSON AND THE FAMILY, AVAILABLE EVERYWHERE APRIL 16, 2013

NEW YORK, March 26, 2013 /PRNewswire/ – As America prepares to commemorate the 80^th birthday of Willie Nelson on April 29 ^th, the country music icon will be celebrated as Artist of the Month for April, 2013 by Legacy Recordings, a division of SONY MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT.  The celebration carries on all month, and includes the April 16 ^th release of a new album, Let’s Face The Music And Dance , on Legacy Recordings.

Let’s Face The Music And Dance is comprised of 20^th century pop, rock, jazz and country music classics and standards.  It was recorded by Willie and The Family, the band that Willie started with his sister Bobbie Nelson in 1973, and that has been his touring and recording group for forty years.  On April 28 ^th, Willie and The Family will play a special “birthday” concert at the Back Yard in Austin, Texas.

Legacy’s Artist of the Month program was launched at the start of this year, commem­or­ating Janis Joplin in January, Nina Simone in February, and Sly and the Family Stone in March.

In every case, the Artist of the Month program provides fresh perspectives on musical legends whose sounds continue to affect people’s lives.  The program enables new fans and deep aficionados the opportunity to focus on an essential figure in pop music history, whose principal catalog is a cornerstone of the Sony Music archives.

For the truly multi-dimensional Willie Nelson – singer, songwriter, Gypsy jazz guitarist, producer, bandleader, family man, perennial touring musician, television and movie actor, entrepreneur, activist, philanthropist, founder of FarmAid, rancher, golfer, proud Texan, and godfather of music’s Outlaw Country movement – it has really been One Hell Of A Ride , as suggested by the title of his 4-CD Legacy box set of 2008, the year of his 75^th birthday.

In 1975, some 15 years into his career, Willie scored his first Grammy Award®-winning #1 country hit on Columbia Records, “Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain,” proving that Country Outlaws had earned a dominant chart role.  He went on to amass more than 20 #1 hits over the next three decades, which read like a mini-history of country music: “Good Hearted Woman” (with Waylon Jennings), “If You’ve Got The Money I’ve Got The Time,” the Grammy®-winning “Mammas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys” (with Waylon), the Grammy®-winning “Georgia On My Mind,” “Blue Skies,” “Heartbreak Hotel” (with Leon Russell), “My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys,” the Grammy®-winning “On The Road Again,” “Angel Flying Too Close To The Ground,” the two-time Grammy®-winning “Always On My Mind,” “Just to Satisfy You” (with Waylon), “Pancho & Lefty” (with Merle Haggard), “To All The Girls I’ve Loved Before” (with Julio Iglesias), the Grammy®-winning “City Of New Orleans,” “Seven Spanish Angels” (with Ray Charles), “Forgiving You Was Easy,” the Grammy®-winning “Highwayman” (with Waylon, Johnny Cash, and Kris Kristofferson), “Living in the Promiseland,” “Mind Your Own Business” (with Hank Williams Jr., Reba McEntire, Tom Petty, and Reverend Ike), “Nothing I Can Do About It Now,” and 2002′s “Beer For My Horses” (with Toby Keith).

Starting back home in Texas in the early 1970s, Willie Nelson’s role (along with partners Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, Townes Van Zandt, Billy Joe Shaver and others) as he emancipated country music from Nashville’s homogenized strictures, is now widely acknowledged.  In addition to eight Grammy Awards® from 1975 to 2008, Willie has received the Recording Academy’s prestigious Legends Award (1990) and Lifetime Achievement Award (1995).  In 1998, he received Kennedy Center Honors.

Willie has also received strong recognition from within the country music establishment, which embraced the musical advances brought on by the Outlaw Country upstarts.  In addition to his seven Country Music Association (CMA) awards from 1976 to 2002, Willie has also received the Entertainer Of the Year Award (1979) and in November 2012, the first inaugural Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award.  The Academy of Country Music (ACM) has honored Willie with five awards, including Entertainer Of the Year (1979).  Other notable Country honors include the Minnie Pearl Award and Living Legend Award, both at the TNN/ Music City Awards in 1995. The annual BMI Country Awards conferred its President’s Award on Willie in 2001, and the coveted BMI Icon Award in 2007.

Such outpourings belie the humble origins of Willie Hugh Nelson, born on April 29, 1933, in Abbott, Texas.  Willie arrived in Nashville in 1960, and was befriended by Hank Cochran, who got him signed to Ray Price’s music publishing company.  Willie’s breakthrough came quickly, the year Faron Young cut the #1 hit “Hello Walls,” Patsy Cline recorded the #2 hit “Crazy,” and Billy Walker cut “Funny How Time Slips Away,” all in 1961.

After LPs on Liberty and Monument, Willie was signed to RCA Records in 1965.  After making some 14 LPs for the label over the next seven years, Willie moved his family back to Texas.  He soon became the kingpin of Austin’s hotbed of honky tonk, “cosmic cowboy,” and ’70s rock, populated by hillbilly hippies, folk singers and ‘ropers & dopers,’ all at home on the  Armadillo World Headquarters concert stage.

Willie’s RCA deal ended in 1972 and he recorded two groundbreaking LPs on Atlantic: Shotgun Willie and Phases & Stages were critically hailed and signaled a new musical genre that would overtake the music for years to come: Outlaw Country.

The turning point was Willie’s self-produced Columbia debut LP of 1975, the RIAA double-platinum #1 concept album Red Headed Stranger (with “Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain”).  Capitalizing on its success, RCA repackaged an LP’s worth of left-of-center tracks by Willie, Waylon, Jessi Colter, and Tompall Glaser as Wanted: The Outlaws .  It went to #1 and its first single, “Good Hearted Woman,” a duet by Waylon & Willie also hit #1.  The project swept the CMA Awards for Vocal Duo Of the Year, Single Of the Year, and Album Of the Year.  “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain” won Willie his first Grammy Award that year, for Best Male Country Vocal.

Eighteen years at Columbia (1975 to 1993) was a long time – they encompassed five U.S. Presidents, to put it in perspective, and more than 30 album releases.  He charted 12 #1 country albums for the label, and another 12 reached Top 5; at the same time, there were 16 #1 country singles on Columbia, and another 30 that reached the Top 40.  There were historic full-album collaborations on Columbia with Leon Russell, Roger Miller, Ray Price, Merle Haggard, Webb Pierce, Faron Young, Hank Snow, and the Highwaymen (Waylon, Johnny Cash, Kristofferson).

In February 2012, after albums on Island, Sugar Hill, Lost Highway, Blue Note, and more, it was announced that Willie had returned “home” as a result of his signing to the Columbia Records-affiliated Legacy, and the release of a new album in May, Heroes .  Produced by Buddy Cannon, it included songs from a variety of sources, and guests ranging from Willie’s son Lukas to Haggard, Kristofferson, and Shaver, to Sheryl Crow and Snoop Dogg.  Let’s Face The Music And Dance , again produced by Buddy Cannon (and recorded at Pedernales Recording Studio in Austin, Texas) is the follow up.

As Legacy’s Artist of the Month, the spotlight continues to shine on Willie Nelson .  “Motivated by the desire to do good for those who did good by him, he is still playing music for all the right reasons,” fellow Texan Joe Nick Patoski has written of Willie, “for the sake of music, and for the people who created that music.  That drive and desire have rewarded him with a well-spent musical life, documented by these recordings that show a man in full, always changing, always moving, forever on the road again.”

VISIT:

willienelson.com
legacyrecordings.com

SOURCE Legacy Recordings

Web Site: http://www.legacyrecordings.com

See larger image Let's Face The Music and Dance (Audio CD) This April-2013 Willie Nelson turns 80 years old, a milestone which has not slowed down the American icon in the slightest. Following the success of his 2012 success Heroes, Willie Nelson returns, this time with his Family band, to deliver another beautiful new album of songs that are near and dear to his heart. Like the man himself, this stunning collection is not easily defined by genre or style. The songs include American standards and country classics, Irving Berlin and Carl Perkins, Django Reinhart as well as Willie-penned originals. Yet the result is a beautiful, cohesive set songs about love and reflection in Willie's inimitable style. It is a record in the vein of both Stardust and Redheaded Stranger and destined to become a classic. List Price: $11.98 USD New From: $9.51 USD In Stock Used from: $7.15 USD In Stock Release date April 16, 2013.

Renowned Rock Trio Rush to be Inducted into Guitar Center’s Historic RockWalk

Renowned Rock Trio Rush to be Inducted into Guitar Center’s Historic RockWalk. (PRNewsFoto/Guitar Center)

Ceremony Slated for November 20, 2012 with Induction Speech by a Special Guest

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif., Nov. 8, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — Guitar Center is proud to announce the upcoming induction of renowned rock legends Rush, into the retailer’s historic RockWalk. The exclusive, invite only induction ceremony is set to take place on Tuesday, Nov. 20, at Noon at Guitar Center’s Hollywood location on Sunset Boulevard. A special guest speaker will open the event by reflecting upon Rush’s musical impact and welcoming the band to the stage.

“We are very pleased to have been chosen by our peers and fellow musicians for induction in Guitar Center’s Rock Walk,” said Rush’s Geddy Lee.  “It is an honor to have our names added to this illustrious list of great and highly talented musicians.”

“Not only is Rush extraordinary as a band, but each member is incredibly talented in their own right,” said Dave Weiderman, Chairman of Guitar Center’s RockWalk. “With nearly thirty years together, this group has consistently delivered skilled musicianship, experimental-drive and stylistically diverse rock to music fans worldwide. In short – Rush is long-deserving of being honored by Guitar Center’s RockWalk.”

Guitar Center’s RockWalk is dedicated to honoring those artists who have made a significant impact and lasting contribution to the growth and evolution of Rock ‘n’ Roll, Blues and R&B. As the newest RockWalk inductees, Rush’s handprints will reside alongside the handprints, signatures, and faces of other equally accomplished musicians and innovators such as Eric Clapton , George Martin, Jimmy Page, Iron Maiden, Carlos Santana, Johnny Cash, Van Halen, AC/DC, Aerosmith, Marvin Gaye, James Brown, B.B. King, Stevie Wonder, Run-D.M.C. and Queen, among numerous others.

About Guitar Center’s RockWalk

Guitar Center’s RockWalk became a reality on November 13, 1985 with inaugural inductions including Stevie Wonder, Eddie Van Halen, Creator of the Gibson Les Paul guitar Ted McCarty, Martin Guitar founder C.F. Martin III, Marshall Amplifier creator Jim Marshall. At last, the Rock ‘n Roll world could claim for itself an institution every bit as compelling as Mann’s Chinese Theatre, and the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Located at Guitar Center’s Hollywood location on Sunset Boulevard, all Guitar Center RockWalk inductees are chosen solely by past honorees. In this way, inductees are chosen by real “music authorities,” those who would best be able to gauge his or her contribution to music history.

As the world’s largest retailer of musical instruments, Guitar Center is dedicated to supporting the global music community and providing musicians with opportunities to get their music heard. Guitar Center’s musicianship programs include the award winning music television series Guitar Center Sessions, the weekly radio show Connections Made By Guitar Center , and the acclaimed podcast series At: Guitar Center with Nic Harcourt as well as various competition based programs such as Guitar Center Presents Your Next Record , Guitar Center Singer-Songwriter , Guitar Center Drum Off , Guitar Center On-Stage and Guitar Center’s Battle of the Blues .

About Rush

With more than 40 million records sold worldwide and countless sold-out tours, Rush – Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, and Neil Peart – is not only one of the most inventive and compelling groups in rock history, but remains one of the most popular.  The RIAA has certified Rush for the third most consecutive gold/platinum studio albums by a rock band, topped only by the Beatles and the Rolling Stones.  Rush’s vast catalog includes such classics as 1974′s self-titled debut, 1976′s “2112,” 1981′s “MOVING PICTURES,” 1996′s “TEST FOR ECHO,” and 2002′s “VAPOR TRAILS.”  Rush released their 20^th studio album, “CLOCKWORK ANGELS,” on June 12 via Anthem/Roadrunner Records.  The highly anticipated collection marks their first studio recording since 2007′s “SNAKES & ARROWS,” and debuted at #1 in Canada and #2 on the Billboard 200, matching the highest chart debut of the band’s career.  In addition to their commercial success, Rush has also been recognized with a number of Juno Awards and multiple Grammy nominations, including one earlier this year for the acclaimed documentary “Rush: Beyond The Lighted Stage.”  Enjoying a recent pop culture renaissance, Rush made a rare television appearance – their first in over 30 years – on Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report” and a memorable cameo in the film “I Love You, Man.”  Most recently, Rush has been nominated for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2013.  A career-chronicling Rolling Stone feature summed up the renowned rock trio’s continuing artistic vitality by observing, “It’s true that Rush doesn’t mean today what it did in ’76 or even ’96. It may mean more.” For more information please visit www.rush.com.

About Guitar Center

Guitar Center is the world’s largest retailer of guitars, amplifiers, drums, keyboards and pro-audio and recording equipment. Our retail store subsidiary presently operates 238 Guitar Center stores across the U.S. We are also the largest direct response retailer of musical instruments in the United States through our wholly owned subsidiary, Musician’s Friend, Inc., and its catalog and Web site, www.musiciansfriend.com. In addition, our Music & Arts division operates more than 100 stores specializing in band instruments for sale and rental, serving teachers, band directors, college professors and students. More information on Guitar Center can be found by visiting the Company’s Web site at www.guitarcenter.com.

SOURCE Guitar Center

Web Site: http://www.rockwalk.com

See larger image Clockwork Angels (Audio CD) Legendary rock band Rush have unveiled details of its highly anticipated 2012 album, Clockwork Angels. The recording of Clockwork Angels began with Grammy Award winner Nick Raskulinecz (Foo Fighters, Deftones) who collaborated with the band on their 2007 studio album, Snakes and Arrows - and Rush co-producing. Lyrically, Clockwork Angels chronicles a young man's quest across a lavish and colorful world of steampunk and alchemy as he attempts to follow his dreams. The story features lost cities, pirates, anarchists, exotic carnival, and a rigid Watchmaker who imposes precision on every aspect of daily life. With more than 40 million records sold worldwide and countless sold-out tours, Rush - Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, and Neil Peart - is not only one of the most inventive and compelling groups in rock history, but remains one of the most popular. List Price: $18.98 USD New From: $4.94 USD In Stock Used from: $4.89 USD In Stock

Columbia Records Celebrates 125 Years Of Great American Music With 360 Sound: The Columbia Records Story

“360 Sound: The Columbia Records Story” Celebrates 125 Years of Great Music. (PRNewsFoto/Columbia Records)

Written by Pulitzer Prize-and GRAMMY-nominated author and historian Sean Wilentz, 360 Sound illustrates sweeping cultural and business changes in music over more than a century

Special deluxe version includes book by celebrated journalist Dave Marsh highlighting his selection of the 263 most important songs in Columbia’s history along with a drive including all tracks

ISBN: 978-1-4521-0736-3

NEW YORK, July 30, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — Columbia Records will celebrate its 125^th anniversary with the release of a book titled 360 Sound: The Columbia Records Story on the great American record label and its role in initiating recorded music, cultivating great artists, and igniting cultural change. Written by Pulitzer Prize-and GRAMMY nominated author and historian Sean Wilentz, the book provides a journey through Columbia Records’ storied past and its contributions to entertainment from the invention of commercial recording through the present day.

360 Sound: The Columbia Records Story, published by Chronicle Books, will be released on October 30 ^th. It begins in the late 1880′s, when Columbia, under the leadership of Edward Easton, seized upon the phonographic inventions of Thomas Edison and others to offer the public the first commercial musical recordings. The book goes on the explore the rich stories of how Columbia’s artists and producers have redefined American music and performance over the past 125 years, at once reflecting and shaping changes in the wider culture.

Simultaneously, Columbia Records will release a deluxe package, which will include, in addition to a hard cover copy of the Wilentz book, a separate book, written by Dave Marsh, entitled 360 Sound: The Columbia Records Story: Legends and Legacy. Marsh has culled from Columbia’s vaults a collection of 263 songs and tracks of the greatest historical, as well as musical, significance, and his book offers his thoughts on each selection. The package also includes a beautifully crafted drive with all 263 recordings.

360 Sound: The Columbia Records Story will also be available as an e-book through multiple platforms.

Bob Dylan (in 1966) featured in new book “360 Sound: The Columbia Records Story” by Sean Wilentz, celebrating 125 years of music. (photo: Jerry Schatzberg). (PRNewsFoto/Columbia Records)

Columbia’s list of major performers, past and present, is unsurpassed and includes much of the most important, and beloved music in all genres, including pop, rock, country, show tunes, classical, jazz, R&B, hip-hop, and blues. Artists recorded by Columbia and its subsidiaries have included Barbra Streisand, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Miles Davis, Leonard Bernstein, Johnny Cash, Beyonce, Adele, Billy Joel, Al Jolson, Frank Sinatra, Duke Ellington, Robert Johnson, Bing Crosby, Count Basie, Billie Holiday, Tony Bennett, Simon and Garfunkel, Leonard Cohen, Neil Diamond, Aerosmith, Elvis Costello, Willie Nelson, Yo-Yo Ma, LL Cool J, James Taylor, Philip Glass, Mariah Carey, Lauryn Hill, Dixie Chicks, John Mayer, Jack White, and more.

360 Sound includes 300 rare and intimate photographs from the Columbia archives and sidebar discussions of crucial developments and performers written by eminent music historians Dave Marsh and Colin Escott. The book offers a virtual history of the music industry from its infancy, tracing Columbia’s pivotal technological as well as business innovations, not least its invention of the LP. It also reflects on the connection between Columbia’s artists and music and sweeping cultural and political changes, from the emergence of mass commercial culture to the rise of the civil rights movement and beyond.

The release of 360 Sound: The Columbia Records Story will be celebrated with a launch event in New York on Oct. 30 ^th. Additionally there will be a retrospective exhibit at the GRAMMY Museum in Los Angeles. An event is set for November 7 ^th at the Museum on opening day.

360 Sound author Sean Wilentz is one of the nation’s most prominent historians. His books and commentary on music, politics, and the arts have received numerous awards, including a Pulitzer Prize nomination, and his writing on music has been nominated for a Grammy Award. He is currently the George Henry Davis 1886 Professor of American History at Princeton University.

Dave Marsh has written more than 20 books on rock and popular music. He has written extensively for publications including Rolling Stone and Playboy. Since 2004, he has hosted a two hour weekly show on XM/Sirius Radio.

SOURCE Columbia Records

This company’s web site http://www.columbiarecords.com/

See larger image 360 Sound: The Columbia Records Story (Hardcover) By (author): Sean Wilentz For 125 years, Columbia Records has remained one of the most vibrant and storied names in prerecorded sound, nurturing the careers of legends such as Bessie Smith, Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Miles Davis, Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Bruce Springsteen, Beyoncé, and many more. Written by distinguished historian Sean Wilentz, 360 Sound tells the story of the label's rich history as it interweaves threads of technical and social change with the creation of some of the greatest albums ever made. Featuring over 300 rare and revealing images from the Columbia archives, this lavishly illustrated celebration is a must-have for any serious music fan. List Price: $50.00 USD New From: $29.55 USD In Stock Used from: $21.47 USD In Stock