Product Description

In this delightful and engaging book, Greene uncovers a wonderful corner of American social history as he traces the popularization of old-time ethnic music from the turn of the century to the 1960s. Not so long ago, songs by the Andrews Sisters and Lawrence Welk blasted from phonographs, lilted over the radio, and dazzled television viewers across the country. Lending star quality to the ethnic music of Poles, Italians, Slovaks, Jews, and Scandinavians, luminaries like Frankie Yankovic, the Polka King, and "Whoopee John" Wilfart became household names to millions of Americans. In this vivid and engaging book, Victor Greene uncovers a wonderful corner of American social history as he traces the popularization of old-time ethnic music from the turn of the century to the 1960s. Drawing on newspaper clippings, private collections, ethnic societies, photographs, recordings, and interviews with musicians and promoters, Greene chronicles the emergence of a new mass culture that drew heavily on the vivid color, music, and dance of ethnic communities. In this story of American ethnic music, with its countless entertainers performing never-forgotten tunes in hundreds of small cities around the country, Greene revises our notion of how many Americans experienced cultural life. In the polka belt, extending from Connecticut to Nebraska and from Texas up to Minnesota and the Dakotas, not only were polkas, laendlers, schottisches, and waltzes a musical passion, but they shone a scintillating new light on the American cultural landscape. Greene follows the fortunes of groups like the Gold Chain Bohemians and national stars like Welk and Yankovic, illuminating the development of an important segment of American popular music that fed the craze for international dance music. And even though old-time music declined in the 1960s, overtaken by rock and roll, a new Grammy for the polka was initiated in 1986. In its ebullience and vitality, the genre endures.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #869347 in Books
• Published on: 1992-11-23
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 355 pages

From Library Journal
Even a short list of songs most Americans know and love would surely contain the "Beer Barrel Polka." Beloved and familiar as it is, the European ethnic music that inspired its composition (in Prague, 1927) and the cultural climate of the United States in the decades following that popularized it in both instrumental (Will Glahe) and vocal (the Andrews Sisters) arrangements are little known to most Americans. Greene (history, Univ. of Wisconsin) ably and affectionately presents a thorough study of the complex interactions among immigrant musicians, urban Americans, and people in the popular music industry from the 1800s. His readers will be reminded that before Elvis, the royal name in American popular music was Frankie Yankovic, "The Polka King." Recommended for academic and large public libraries.
-Bonnie Jo Dopp, Dist . of Columbia
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From the Inside Flap
"Will have much to offer scholars of American folk music, blues, jazz, and other vernacular musics."--William Kenney, Kent State University

"Greene's careful, comparative scholarship opens the door to a great many important studies of American cultural identities expressed in music, dance and ideology."--Charles Keil, author of The TIV Song: The Sociology of Art in a Classless Society

From the Back Cover
"Will have much to offer scholars of American folk music, blues, jazz, and other vernacular musics." (William Kenney, Kent State University)

Customer Reviews

Excellent long overdue source on the American polka movement
Excellent book on ethnic music in America. Of most interest to me is the polka music. The title itself makes you want to read Green's book! Extensive information is given on Frankie Yankovic and the Cleveland-Style, or Slovenian-American-style, polka movement. Other areas and styles are also addressed. This is a MUST READ for anyone interested in polka music!