Step It Up and Go
The Story of North Carolina Popular Music, from Blind Boy Fuller and Doc Watson to Nina Simone and Superchunk
by David Menconi
This title was previously available on NetGalley and is now archived.
Send NetGalley books directly to your Kindle or Kindle app
1
To read on a Kindle or Kindle app, please add kindle@netgalley.com as an approved email address to receive files in your Amazon account. Click here for step-by-step instructions.
2
Also find your Kindle email address within your Amazon account, and enter it here.
Pub Date Oct 19 2020 | Archive Date Oct 01 2020
Talking about this book? Use #StepItUpandGo #NetGalley. More hashtag tips!
Description
This book is a love letter to the artists, scenes, and sounds defining North Carolina’s extraordinary contributions to American popular music. David Menconi spent three decades immersed in the state’s music, where traditions run deep but the energy expands in countless directions. Menconi shows how working-class roots and rebellion tie North Carolina’s Piedmont blues, jazz, and bluegrass to beach music, rock, hip-hop, and more. From mill towns and mountain coves to college-town clubs and the stage of American Idol, Blind Boy Fuller and Doc Watson to Nina Simone and Superchunk, Step It Up and Go celebrates homegrown music just as essential to the state as barbecue and basketball.
Spanning a century of history from the dawn of recorded music to the present, and with sidebars and photos that help reveal the many-splendored glory of North Carolina’s sonic landscape, this is a must-read for every music lover.
Music critic and journalist David Menconi spent twenty-eight years as staff writer at the Raleigh News and Observer. His most recent book (with Ray Benson) is Comin’ Right at Ya: How a Jewish Yankee Hippie Went Country, or the Often Outrageous History of Asleep at the Wheel.
A Note From the Publisher
* Author is the leading authority on North Carolina's pop music—a journalist and music critic with a national reputation.
* Shows evolution of popular music over time and how diverse styles influenced each other.
* Lively chapter-length profiles of artists and genres from blues, jazz, folk, and country to beach music, rock, and hip-hop.
* Well illustrated with historical and contemporary photographs and sidebar profiles of additional artists.
Advance Praise
“Step It Up and Go stands alone as a comprehensive, thought-provoking narrative detailing a century’s worth of the entire North Carolina music scene, from the bravado of Charlie Poole and his banjo-driven string music to the wildly creative 9th Wonder and his shepherding of a vital N.C. hip-hop scene. Menconi’s writing gifts, years of journalism, and direct contact with many of the state’s music figures make the stories sing from inside and out. North Carolina has needed this book, and all its music lovers should celebrate its arrival.”--Thomas Goldsmith, author of Earl Scruggs and Foggy Mountain Breakdown: The Making of an American Classic
"David Menconi has written a history of North Carolina music that is as lilting as a Piedmont ballad, as pleasurable as a Libba Cotten pick-and-strum, and with all the forward drive of a Fulton Allen solo. That is to say: you should read this book."--Osha Gray Davidson, author of The Best of Enemies: Race and Redemption in the New South
"Step It Up and Go is a landmark publication that tracks the state’s rich musical history. David Menconi eloquently introduces early musicians like Shirley Caesar, Elizabeth Cotten, Blind Boy Fuller, Clyde McPhatter, Thelonious Monk, Charlie Poole, Earl Scruggs, Nina Simone, and Doc Watson, as well as contemporary performers like the Avett Brothers, Phonte Coleman, Rhiannon Giddens, Thomas “Rapper Big Pooh” Jones, Mandolin Orange, Megafaun, Tift Merritt, the Red Clay Ramblers, Southern Culture on the Skids, Superchunk, and Mike “M.C.” Taylor. Menconi delivers a long-overdue salute to North Carolina as an unending source of musical talent that has defined the fields of old-time country, bluegrass, gospel, blues, jazz, rock and roll, and hip-hop."--William Ferris, author of Give My Poor Heart Ease: Voices of the Mississippi Blues
"North Carolina music is an ambassador for the state that is unequaled. And, David Menconi is an unmatched ambassador for the music of the Tar Heel State. Step It Up and Go highlights the artists who create the fabric of the songs that we all wear. From blues to bluegrass, to beach music, to hip-hop, to pop, and more, Menconi showcases a keen ear for a story and a journalist’s sense of history."--Joe Newberry, North Carolina musician
Marketing Plan
• Promotional book trailer
• Local radio and television coverage
• Online publicity campaign
• North Carolina author tour/events
• Promotional book trailer
• Local radio and television coverage
• Online publicity campaign
• North Carolina author tour/events
Available Editions
| EDITION | Hardcover |
| ISBN | 9781469659350 |
| PRICE | $30.00 (USD) |
Featured Reviews
Earl M, Reviewer
Step It Up and Go: The Story of North Carolina Popular Music, from Blind Boy Fuller and Doc Watson to Nina Simone and Superchunk by David Menconi was a truly enjoyable book. Between the stories of the people and the ways in which these people and their state influenced each other made this both an entertaining and an educational read.
I love music and while I have my favorite genres I don't dismiss any style out-of-hand. My least favorite is opera, mainly because I generally don't understand the words and it is a story, but even opera is appealing when in person and the story plays out for you. So this book is ideal for me since I like knowing about more types of music and more artists. There will be plenty of names you're familiar with here as well as many you might not know. Because even the shortest entries are still narrative at heart you get a feel for the artists as well as their music and the fertile ground in which it was nourished.
Having moved a round a lot I have been fortunate to experience a lot of what many local and regional scenes have to offer. Though somewhat aware of North Carolina's rich past I didn't fully appreciate just what they have given the world, and what they have kept for themselves. In addition to learning about (and if you're smart you'll find music online as you read) these musicians, both known and unknown to you, you will also be rewarded with nostalgic moments. The short section about Squirrel Nut Zippers took me back to the late 90s and a period when I just could not get enough of them. Whalen's voice just swept me off my feet and the band was tight. For you, it might be James Taylor, Nina Simone, or any of the many stars (and near stars).
In addition to the chapters there are short insets that highlight a person, song, event, whatever. These are fun and offer a little break from the general arc of the chapter in which they are located.
I highly recommend this to readers who love music. Not necessarily just a particular style but those who love music, who will take any opportunity to catch a live show even when the genre isn't their favorite. I also suggest that you use whatever online resources you like to catch some of the tunes and/or videos, that will really bring the book to life.
Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.
