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Rating: 
Summary: From Arlo to Zeke... good readin'!!
Review: A really fab book which fills a big void in the world of music guides. Very comprehensive -- covers earnest Sixties folk, acoustic blues, acoustic guitarists, bluegrass, modern Americana, some gospel, some Hawaiian music, and more. Especially strong on its many Celtic/British folk revival entries and historical overviews. A little too dismissive of some of the early '70s songwriters, and skips many children's music artists (Ella Jenkins, sure -- but shame on you for omitting Barry Polisar!) I'm a little puzzled as to why there are so many country artists in here, especially when MusicHound already has a separate volume devoted to twangsters -- if they're going to include honkytonkers like Ernest Tubb or Johnny & Jack in this book, why not everyone else? But overall this is an outstanding reference work. The resource appendices are particularly nice, including guides to other publications, artist websites and a short-list set of album recommendations. Companion CD provided by Rounder/Philo has only seven tracks, which seems a bit stingy, and only includes contemporary artists.
Rating:
Summary: Finally, an album guide for Folk!
Review: All you Folkies out there better get this book. Finest music book I've seen in a long time. Will definitely help you decide what CDs you should buy the next time you get "brain lock" at your local Sam Goody. More than 1,000 pages of pure delight.:-)
Rating:
Summary: Best value for money a folk fan could find
Review: Fans of a genre usually fear that a guide will either be too simplistic for them, or too opinionated. Here we have a guide that exhibits neither flaw. The editors and their team of writers have done as nearly perfect a job of summarizing the hazily-defined world of folk music as could be hoped for. This book is intriguingly inclusive without reaching, and does a terrific job of putting the importance and particular merits of each artist in perspective. I have wandered through this absorbing overview for many hours, learned vastly, and still not exhausted it. The fascinating material has sent me on many a treasure hunt and I'm still finding new delights every week. If even Neal Walters can learn something from the material included here, as he indicates in the foreword material, it's got to have something to teach anyone.
Rating: 
Summary: Incomplete - "Essential" is off the mark.
Review: Great bedside reading, but this massive compendium should have been more focused. Malvina Reynolds is not included. No Weavers. Surely the writer of "If I Had A Hammer", Lee Hays, should have been included. The omissions are all the more glaring with the inclusion of so many borderline "folk" artists - I like B.B. King, but I would hardly classify him as a "folk" singer. I'm looking forward to a revised edition.
Rating:
Summary: Incomplete - "Essential" is off the mark.
Review: Great bedside reading, but this massive compendium should have been more focused. Malvina Reynolds is not included. No Weavers. Surely the writer of "If I Had A Hammer", Lee Hays, should have been included. The omissions are all the more glaring with the inclusion of so many borderline "folk" artists - I like B.B. King, but I would hardly classify him as a "folk" singer. I'm looking forward to a revised edition.
Rating:
Summary: A nice overview of a wide range of music.
Review: I have purchased a number of the Musichound books, and this one has helped me more than any other. I'm just starting to get into Folk Music and I'm looking to go further than the Kingson Trio and the more popular Folk artist. Musichound has helped me wade through the chaffe and get the start I needed to build my collection of Folk Music. There are in depth biographies and the standard listing of what is essential and what you need to stay clear of. As with any book that expresses an opnion, you may not agree with the reviews of albums. But, I have found them to be accurate. Also, a reviewer mentioned that there was an error in describing an album by Bill Morrissey and the CD that is included. Look real close and you will see that they credited Rolling Stone with saying that the album was essential, not the folks at Musichound. Whether you have been collecting Folk Music for years or just starting like myself, you will find this book to be a valuable addition to your library.
Rating:
Summary: A nice overview of a wide range of music.
Review: I really enjoyed (and am still enjoying) this book. As a relative newcomer to folk music, the links from one artist to another are very helpful in identifying new music that I might like to hear. But--why are The Weavers not included?
Rating:
Summary: An Invaluable Resource
Review: I've been a folk music fan for years, but only recently have I become fully aware of the incredible range of artists and music that's out there. I have found this guide incredibly helpful in choosing new albums to purchase, or in deciding which new artists to try (I have it to thank for my love of the music of Nanci Griffith and Tish Hinojosa).While the title indicates a focus on folk music, the guide's definition of "folk" turns out to be quite broad--it includes folk-rock, country, bluegrass, some blues, and Celtic music. For each artists profiled, the authors identify the best albums ("what to buy" and "what to buy next"). They also include a fairly complete discography for each artist--the albums included seem to be those that were in print at the time of publication. Instead of Amazon's stars, the authors rate albums at one to five "bones." In a work of this nature there are always possible quibbles one can have, either about the critical judgements of the authors (not one Joan Baez album rates five bones?) or their selection of who to include or exclude (Willie Nelson makes it in, but Waylon Jennings doesn't?). The one inexcusable omission, especially since Pete Seeger's picture is on the cover, is that of the Weavers. But even that error, grievous though it is, does not detract from this book's value.
Rating: 
Summary: Great effort, but beware
Review: This is a great book, a worthy addition to any folk music lover's library. The vast majority of reviews for performers whose work I know well were on point, with complete discographies and insightful comments. The review for Bill Morrissey was so awful, however, it made me wonder about some of the other contributions. The Morrissey entry misquotes song lyrics, doesn't bother to mention that he also writes novels, omits an entire cd from his discography, and the actual reviews make me wonder if the author listened to the cds or wrote his review from liner notes. Luckily the reviews are signed, so readers can discriminate a bit. (In a wonderful bit of irony, a song of Morrissey's is included on the enclosed sampler cd, together with a description identifying the album the song appears on as a masterpiece and mentioning its stellar reviews. The same album is rated 2.5 bones by the MusicHound reviewer, identifying it as one of the worst albums Morrissey recorded. Oops.)
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