Greetings and blessings to all as we near another weekend. Just a quick update about my upcoming book, Lifelong Companion: My Journey Through 100 Dylan Songs, which blends personal memoir, in-depth critical scrutiny of the music of Bob Dylan, and a survey of the salient events of the past 65 years of American history. My hope is that this book will appeal not only to the myriad fans of Bob Dylan who never tire of digging ever deeper into his oeuvre, but also to those who will resonate with the universal elements of my own twisting on the road journey of never-ending personal and spiritual discovery. Everything is on hold, at the moment, as I am waiting to obtain permission to include Mr. Dylan’s lyrics in my text. Hopefully I will get that permission soon so that I can move toward publication, once again through BookBaby who helped me publish my first book, Music Titans: 250 Greatest Recording Artists of the Past 100 Years, which remains available on most online book selling sites. Thanks.
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It was 1963 and I was finishing seventh grade when I heard my first Bob Dylan song, “Blowin’ in the Wind”, released as a Peter, Paul and Mary cover. Their version shot to #2 on The Billboard Hot 100. Two summers later I heard, for the first time, that inimitable Dylan voice on “like a Rolling Stone”, the single that has been called by numerous publications and commentators the most ground breaking and important recorded song in history. 60 years later and I haven’t looked back as Dylan has gone on to have one of the most storied careers in music history, even winning the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2016. I’ve recently completed my second book, Lifelong Companion: My Journey through 100 Dylan Songs, which looks at how Dylan’s seminal work intersected with both the nation’s history and culture and with my own twisting on the road journey of never-ending personal and spiritual growth and discovery. Not sure when the new book will be published (I’m working on that now), but I’m hoping that you will read it when it is available and will enjoy it even half as much as I did in writing it. My first book, Music Titans: 250 Greatest Recording Artists of the Past 100 Years, continues to sell (mostly on Amazon) and I am grateful to all of you for your support. Thank you.
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Ever since I was a little boy in the mid-’50s, I’ve been listening to music—religiously, fanatically, constantly. In countless ways, music has colored, even defined and given meaning to my life. I bought my first 45s at age seven, made weekly lists of my favorite songs when I was 11 or 12, sang in choirs and choruses and informal doo-wop gatherings with friends as I grew into adolescence. When I bought my first $8 guitar from Woolworth’s, I learned to play (badly) and in no time I was singing and strumming in a teenage band, then later in parks, on beaches, and street corners, caring not for the coins or occasional bills that came my way but only for the love of singing and sharing song. Never parlaying the occasional coffee house, recording session, or church gig into a career, I grew instead into an award-winning classroom history teacher but never left the world of music behind. My first book, MUSIC TITANS – 250 GREATEST RECORDING ARTISTS OF THE PAST 100 YEARS, brings together these three lifelong loves– music, history, and education.
This, my blog, recordingartistsblog.com, will give you, the reader, a small taste of what I have tried to do as a writer and historian. Thanks for reading. Steve Williams
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For the past two+ years I have been listening, researching, and writing to produce a music history book unlike any other I have seen. The result, Music Titans-250 Greatest Recording Artists of the Past 100 Years, is an exploration of the most consequential musical recording artists of the past century, spanning the 1920s through today. You’ll find musicians of all genres depicted, from rock to hip-hop, jazz to pop.
Here is what one reviewer had to say,
“Music Titans is an absolute masterpiece! This book isn’t just educational—it’s a captivating journey. Williams has a profound understanding of the musicians, the fans, and the industry, and he presents their stories in an incredibly innovative and perceptive manner. However, what truly distinguishes this book is its capacity to place popular music within the societal framework that has granted it its distinct form. Williams meticulously explains how business dynamics, mass migration, urban culture, and consumerism have all intricately contributed to the origins and development of our cherished music.
From Sinatra’s melodious tunes to Taylor Swift’s cultural influence, from the timeless classics of Tin Pan Alley to Tupac Shakur’s poetic prowess, Williams seamlessly blends empathy and intellectual insight in his penetrating analysis.
Get ready to be entranced by the symphony of perspectives, rhythms, and narratives that have shaped the very core of the music we hold in such high esteem.”
– Peter S. Burke, music publisher of hit songs recorded by Whitney Houston, Ringo Starr, Johnny Mathis, Peggy Lee, and more
In the next couple of days Music Titans will be available in eBook form and shortly thereafter, it will be available for preorder as a paperback. I am grateful for your support of this blog, and I would be honored and grateful if you choose, also, to read my book. Thank you. I will post again when the book releases.
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In light of Robbie Robertson’s recent passing, it seems fitting to focus today on one of the most overlooked, yet best, musical outfits of the rock era, The Band. Originally a journeymen backing outfit in the late ’50s and early ’60s for rockabilly vocalist Ronnie Hawkins, they first made a name for themselves in the baptism by fire 1965- ’66 tours as Bob Dylan’s backing band. They were booed mercilessly everywhere they went as Dylan was deemed a sell-out for “going electric”. Ironically, less than eight years later, Dylan and the same Band were hailed as conquering heroes as they toured North America in what was up to that time the most in-demand concert ticket in history.
The Band were five extraordinary musicians- Arkansas drummer Levon Helm, pianist Richard Manuel, bass player Rick Danko, lead guitarist and chief songwriter Robertson, and Garth Hudson, organist and multi-instrumentalist. In late 1966, early ’67 as Dylan, following a motorcycle accident, took a hiatus from the public eye, the group gathered with Bob near Woodstock, in upper New York state, at a large, rented pink house and began to sing, jam, and record a collection of traditional and original material that would eventually be known as “The Basement Tapes”. Now calling themselves The Band, as everyone else referred to them, out of these sessions also emerged the music for their first release, Music from Big Pink. Released in 1968 and featuring such classic tracks as “Tears of Rage” (Dylan/ Manuel composition), “This Wheel’s on Fire” (Dylan/Danko composition), “I Shall Be Released”, Manuel’s stunning falsetto on a Dylan song, and the Robbie Robertson composed “The Weight”, unquestionably their most iconic song with its cryptic allusions, both spiritual and challenging.
The brown follow-up LP, the eponymous The Band, was, if anything, even more celebrated, especially for the sound and texture of the music, which, building on the first release, hearkens back to some mythic era, perhaps 19th century America, unusual considering that Robertson, Manuel, Danko, and Helms hailed from Canada, and when most of the other music of the day was veering into heavy, dark, or psychedelic directions- here was The Band, sounding like some backwoods, mountain clan, with their aching, ragged vocal leads and harmonies (Helms, Manuel, Danko) and their adept country/rock/ r&b/Dixieland mash-up, a sound like no other, with old-timey songs such as “Rag Mama Rag”, “Up on Cripple Creek”, “King Harvest”, and the southern Civil War lament, “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down”.
More great music would follow- especially, “Stage Fright” and “The Shape I’m In” from Stage Fright; and “Ophelia” and “It Makes No Difference” (brilliant Danko vocal) from Northern Lights-Southern Cross. And then Robertson had had enough, coaxing The Band into retirement. Their farewell 1976 Thanksgiving Day concert, filmed by Martin Scorsese, became The Last Waltz, arguably the greatest concert film of them all, featuring such guests as Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Neil Diamond, and Muddy Waters. Robertson went on to a celebrated career writing film scores for Scorsese while the four remaining members of The Band reconstituted in the 1980s to much less acclaim. The rest is sadness and bitterness- Manuel died in ’86, a suicide; Danko died at age 55, after years of struggling with drugs and drink; best friends Helm and Robertson had a bitter falling out over songwriting credits and royalties; Hudson is the lone surviving member and still, occasionally, plays publicly. But, for a time, The Band made mythic, timeless music.
-Steve Williams (8/14/23) Greatest Recording Artists Blog Post #36
