Description: The history of early country music, in vivid portraits and an unfolding narrative. Recording pioneers like Jimmie Rodgers and The Carter Family are studied alongside lesser-known but fascinating artists and groups, some of their stories told for the first time. Accompanied by over 200 photographs and playlists of recommended recordings.
Review Quotes: "Published as a hardback on excellent quality paper and superbly illustrated, CMO is a treasure chest of info and images. For fans of country music this is an essential purchase."- CharlieGillett.com
"Tony Russell has been on of the most insightful and knowledgeable writers on pre-World-War-II country music for some forty years.... This is a wonderful addition to the country music bibliography, as well as just being a lot of fun to read."--Elijah Wald, Sing Out!"Russell brings performers like Blind Alfred Reed to colorful life with a mixture of chatty, opinionated writing, interview extracts and contemporary reviews.... The perfect introduction to what is now truly another world."--Doulgas McPherson, Country Music People"Tony Russell has been authoring history making contributions to our knowledge and understanding of American roots music since the 1970s. Country Music Originals delivers a substantial body of new biographical information--and a host of good stories--about many of the relative obscurities from the era of his Discography."--Barry Mazor, No Depression"Country Music Originals combines Tony Russell's encyclopedic knowledge of country music with a lively and matchless prose style. Russell brings to life the work of both major artists and obscure figures whose important contributions might well have been lost were it not for his voluminous research and penetrating insights. It's a stunning achievement, perhaps the best book yet written on the subject."--Nolan Porterfield, author of Jimmie Rodgers: The Life and Times of America's Blue Yodeler"This is quite unlike any other equivalent documentation of the genre that I have seen.... If you have any interest in the genre at all this is certainly an essential buy."--Keith Chandler, Musical Traditions"Few people alive know as much about the early history of country music as Tony Russell does. Even fewer can write as engagingly about it. In these concise portraits of country music's pioneers, he brings America's musical past to life, revealing such dimly remembered figures as Uncle Jimmy Thompson and Charlie Poole as the living, breathing, creative, and complicated characters they once were. Thoroughly entertaining and indispensable for fans of early country and roots music."--Paul Kingsbury, editor of Will the Circle Be Unbroken: Country Music in America and The Encyclopedia of Country Music"Russell has accomplished a spectacular feat in that he has written a thorough reference book that is as pleasing to read as the best of narrative nonfiction." IPublishers Weekly (Starred Review)"Tony Russell is today's pre-eminent country music historian. His exhaustive research and congenially articulate writings have bequeathed much of what we know about the music and those who made it. Reading Country Music Originals has been lots of fun, and I know a lot more now than I did before I opened it."--Dick Spottswood"Russell brings performers like Blind Alfred Reed to colorful life with a mixture of chatty, opinionated writing, interview extracts and contemporary reviews.... The perfect introduction to what is now truly another world."--Doulgas McPherson, Country Music People