The Music Shelf

Keep It Old-Time
Howard Wight Marshall
University of Missouri Press
113 Heinkel Bldg., 201 S. 7th Street, Columbia, MO 65211 https://upress.missouri.edu
9780826222695, $39.95, HC, 504pp

https://www.amazon.com/Keep-Old-Time-Missouri-Revival-Present/dp/0826222692

Synopsis: Together with "Play Me Something Quick and Devilish" (2013) and "= Fiddler's Dream" (2017), "Keep It Old-Time: Fiddle Music in Missouri from t=
he 1960s Folk Music Revival to the Present" by Professor Howard Wight Marsh= all is the third volume on Missouri fiddling and represents a lifelong fasc= ination with the world of music.

As in the previous two volumes, Professor Marshall seeks out the people, st= ories, and communities that make informal, traditional music for their own = enjoyment, particularly folk-singing, bluegrass, old-time fiddling, and jaz=
z.

While "Play Me Something Quick and Devilish" addressed what we know of fidd=
le and dance music from the early French settlements in the mid-1700s colon= ial period into the World War I era and the Jazz Age, "Fiddler's Dream" rec= ounted the 1920s and moved through the Great Depression and World War II ye= ars and stopped in the 1960s. Keep It Old-Time picks up the saga in the com= plicated 1960s and winds down in the early twenty-first century.

Along the way, Professor Marshall presents historical and documentary discu= ssions of music interwoven with ample quotes from musicians and, at certain=
points, his own personal reflections and experiences in the music scene. S= ome of the topics featured in this volume are the folk music revival of the=
1960s, the emergence of folk and bluegrass festivals, the continuation of = fiddle contests, the evolving education of musicians, and many profiles of = musicians, famous both locally and nationally.

Of special note is the inclusion of oral history, archival photographs, and=
transcriptions of selected fiddle tunes complementing the text -- as does = the companion CD of selected songs.

Critique: A seminal work of exhaustive, detailed, and documents scholarship=
that includes fifty-eight pages of Notes, a twenty-six page Selected Bibli= ography, a fourteen page Selected Discography, and a twenty-page Index, "Ke=
ep It Old-Time: Fiddle Music in Missouri from the 1960s Folk Music Revival =
to the Present" is exceptionally well organized and presented, making it an=
essential acquisition for personal, professional, community, and academic = library American Music History collections and supplemental curriculum stud= ies lists.

Editorial Note: Howard Wight Marshall is Professor Emeritus and former chai= rman of Art History and Archaeology, and former director of the Missouri Cu= ltural Heritage Center at the University of Missouri-Columbia. After workin=
g as a museum curator in Indiana and at the American Folklife Center in the=
Library of Congress, Marshall returned to Columbia to establish the Missou=
ri Cultural Heritage Center. While at Mizzou, he also taught material cultu= re, vernacular architecture, and historic preservation in the Department of=
Art History and Archaeology. He has written several books on art and music=
, including Play Me Something Quick and Devilish: Old-Time Fiddlers in Miss= ouri and Fiddler's Dream: Old-Time, Swing, and Bluegrass Fiddling in Twenti= eth-Century Missouri, which won the Missouri Conference on History's Best B= ook Award for 2018. Also in 2018, Marshall won the Missouri Humanities Coun= cil's 2018 Distinguished Literary Award.

The Inner Ear of Don Zientara
Antonia Tricarico, editor
Akashic Books
232 Third Street, #A115, Brooklyn, NY 11215
www.akashicbooks.com
9781636140926, $35.00, HC, 164pp

https://www.amazon.com/Inner-Ear-Don-Zientara-Innovative/dp/1636140920

Synopsis: In the late 1970s, Don Zientara (a conscientious objector to the = Vietnam War) founded Inner Ear Studio in the basement of his home in Arling= ton, VA, using the electronics training he received from the army. Inner Ea=
r remained in Don's basement until its 1990 relocation to a larger space on=
South Oakland Street. Along the way, Inner Ear became best known for recor= ding iconic DC punk musicians including Bad Brains, Minor Threat, Bikini Ki= ll, Rites of Spring, Mary Timony, and Fugazi.

Compiled and edited by Antonia Tricarico, "The Inner Ear of Don Zientara: A=
Half Century of Recording in One of America's Most Innovative Studios, thr= ough the Voices of Musicians" is an oral history of not just Inner Ear's re= cordings, but the role that Don played in creating one of the most welcomin=
g and nurturing recording studios the world over.

Alongside 250 photographs, the impressive volume includes testimonials from=
members of Fugazi, Scream, Fire Party, Shudder to Think, Jawbox, the Red H=
ot Chili Peppers, and Dismemberment Plan, as well as musicians like Kathlee=
n Hanna, Henry Rollins, among other notables.

In addition to DC punk bands, Don also recorded many other styles and genre=
s, including Celtic folk tunes, harp music, Russian balalaika groups, polit= ical advertisers, and choral singers. The studio was also featured on Dave = Grohl's Sonic Highways television mini-series. The Inner Ear of Don Zientar=
a pays tribute to this iconic studio, celebrating the man at the heart of t= his remarkable space.

Critique: A unique and very special compendium of photos and commentaries, = "The Inner Ear of Don Zientara: A Half Century of Recording in One of Ameri= ca's Most Innovative Studios, through the Voices of Musicians" is a coffee-= table style (11.2 x 0.8 x 10.1 inches, 2.75 pounds) volume that will be a h= ighly valued and enduringly appreciated contribution to personal, professio= nal, community, and academic library American Music History and American Ph= otography collections. It should be noted for the personal reading lists of=
anyone with an interest in music recording in general, and Punk Music Hist= ory in particular, that "The Inner Ear of Don Zientara" is also available i=
n a digital book format (Kindle, $26.49).

Editorial Note: Antonia Tricarico (http://www.antoniatricarico.com) has bee=
n taking photos since 1997. She worked as a photo archivist for Lucian Perk= ins (a Washington Post Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer) and has collabo= rated with Tolotta Records, Dischord Records, Kill Rock Stars, and Youth Ac= tion Research Group. Her work can be found in private collections, in the S= mithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History, and in the pe= rmanent punk and go-go music exhibit and archive of the Special Collections=
Division of the District of Columbia, Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Libr= ary. Her photos have appeared in Photo Review, Guitar World, Kerrang!, Razo= rcake, and Fretboard Journal. She is the creator of two books, both publish=
ed by Akashic Books: Frame of Mind: Punk Photos and Essay from Washington, = DC, and Beyond, 1997-2017.

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Midwest Book Review
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