Something to read?

It's remarkable what can be found in the catalogue of just one publisher - albeit the biggest university press in the world. A glance at the music section of the Oxford University Press catalogue reveals that one of the OUP's best-sellers has been Tony Russell's Country music originals: the legends and the lost. First published in hard covers in 2008, it came out in paperback two months ago. Russell's Old Time Music magazine from the 1970s and '80s was a standard-setter, with some of the best research and writing we've ever seen on bluegrass and old-time music, especially in the quality of its reviews; and a book from him is very welcome.

Jimmie Rodgers is one of the 'legends' of Russell's subtitle, and another OUP publication is Barry Mazor's Meeting Jimmie Rodgers: how America's original roots music hero changed the pop sounds of a century. Oxford has also honoured another legendary figure of American music by publishing Scott Reynolds Nelson's Steel drivin' man - John Henry: the untold story of an American legend, which reveals the real events behind the legend and the song it produced. The song remains part of the bluegrass heritage - listeners at the Longford concert last Saturday night will have heard Barry Abernathy quote it in one of his banjo breaks.