The Hank Garland story is rife with wild Nashville rides of the 1950s and early 60s. Follow his working years that ranged from Cowboy Copas and Hank Williams Sr. to Elvis Presley and the greatest Jazz players of their time. The star guitar on "I Fall to Pieces," "Little Sister," and "Jingle Bell Rock," Hank Garland is also on almost every pop song you know from the time. Hank's car accident at the age of 30 kept him from playing professionally, but his life did not end there.

In 1985, Mark Bryan heard Darius Rucker singing in a dorm shower at the University of South Carolina and asked him to form a band. For the next eight years, Hootie & the Blowfish—completed by bassist Dean Felber and drummer Soni Sonefeld—played every frat house, roadhouse, and rock club in the mid-Atlantic and Southeast, becoming one of the biggest independent acts in the region.

In Only Wanna Be with You, Tim Sommer, the ultimate insider who signed Hootie to Atlantic Records, pulls back the curtain on a band that defied record-industry odds to break into the mainstream by playing hacky sack music in the age of grunge.

For a time, there was no bigger band in the world than Hootie & the Blowfish—rock & roll’s unexpected foil to the grunge music that dominated the early ’90s airwaves. In Swimming with the Blowfish, Jim Sonefeld, drummer and one of the band’s principal songwriters, reveals the inside story of the band’s humble beginnings, meteoric rise, sudden fall, and ultimate rebirth—and in the telling he opens his heart to readers about addiction, recovery, and faith.
Hootie became ubiquitous in the ’90s—their debut album Cracked Rear View was one of the best-selling in the history of rock music; they won two Grammy Awards; their live performances were played alongside the Dave Matthews Band, R.E.M., and even Willie Nelson and Neil Young; and they appeared at the biggest venues in the world. Though Jim enjoyed the perks that came with fame—the parties, the relationships, the money, the drugs and alcohol—eventually it all became a camouflage that hid a deeper spiritual malady. As his life was careening toward disaster, he reached out his hands to seek relief in twelve-step recovery, eventually settling into a loving, but by no means uncomplicated, home life.
 

This book is a personal history of one of the most famous beach-music bands of the southeast. They were also a national hit with their song "Double Shot of My Baby's Love" in 1966. They released an album and several other single recordings. They are still performing today, over fifty years later. The book includes numerous photographs and stories of the band and how they have evolved over the years. These memories include those of members of the band as well as a collection of memories of fans they have touched along the way. It covers the thirty-four state tour in 1966 from Maine to California. It highlights some of the encounters with some of the biggest names in show business. It is an inside view down memory lane for the group and hopefully for the readers. They are still one of the most popular bands in the southeast.

While rock groups such as the Beach Boys and Jan and Dean defined the beach music of Southern California during the 1960s, a different, R&B influenced sound could be heard along South Carolina's Grand Strand. Drawing on extensive research and exclusive interviews, this richly illustrated reference work covers the music, songwriters and performers who contributed to the genre of classic Carolina beach music from 1940 to 1980. Detailed entries tell the stories behind nearly 500 classic recordings, with release dates, label information, chart performance and biographical background on more than 200 artists.

What drives a man to spend 26 years performing night after night? To persevere through a stifling tour bus, bad food, strange women, flared tempers, a plane nearly blown from the sky? Just how did that troubled military brat with a dream claw his way from dirt-floor dive-bar shows to the world's biggest stages? Aviator, author, and Country Music Hall of Fame drummer Mark Herndon lived that dream with one of the most popular and celebrated bands of all time. He learned some hard lessons about people and life, the music industry, the accolades and awards, how easy it is to lose it all . . . and how hard it is to survive, to embrace sobriety, to live even one more day. Herndon's poignant memoir offers a tale at once cautionary and inspirational, delightful and heartbreaking, funny yet deeply personal. From innocence to rebellion to acceptance, can a man still flourish when the spotlight dims? Are true forgiveness, redemption, and serenity even possible when the powerful say everything you achieved somehow doesn't even count? That you're not who you and everyone who matters thought you were? Mark Herndon refuses to slow down. So look back, look ahead, and join him on the trip. He's taking The High Road.

This informative book documents the careers of South Carolina jazz and blues musicians from the nineteenth century to the present. The musicians range from the renowned (James Brown, Dizzy Gillespie), to the notable (Freddie Green, Josh White), the largely forgotten (Fud Livingston, Josie Miles), the obscure (Lottie Frost Hightower, Horace “Spoons” Williams), and the unknown (Vince Arnold, Johnny Wilson).
Though the term “jazz” is commonly understood, if difficult to define, “blues” has evolved over time to include R&B, doo-wop, and soul. Performers in these genres are also represented, as are members of the Jenkins Orphanage bands of Charleston. Also covered are nineteenth-century musicians who performed what might be called proto-jazz or proto-blues in string bands, medicine shows, vaudeville, and the like.

The history of South Carolina blues is a long, deep—and sometimes painful—story. However, it is a narrative with aspects as compelling as the music itself. Geographical differences in America led to variations in the styles of music that developed from African rhythms. The wet, marshy landscape and hot, muggy weather of the Carolina Lowcountry combined to cultivate not only rice, but a Gullah-based style of South Carolina blues. In drier climates, toward the Midlands and the Upstate, the combination of European influences led to the emergence of Piedmont blues, which in turn spawned country music as well as bluegrass. Those same Gullah roots resulted in four major dance crazes, starting with the Charleston.


In this book, music history professor and blues radio host Clair DeLune dusts off neglected nuggets of history, drawing on archival photographs and rarely seen memorabilia from a generation of musicians’ personal collections. Readers will learn not only new information about some famous players who left their musical mark on history, but even more about the not-so-famous ones, as well as modern masters who carry on the rhythms of their predecessors and are truly keeping South Carolina blues alive.

For fans of the blues, Drink Small is synonymous with South Carolina. Drink rose from the cotton fields of Bishopville to become a music legend in the Palmetto State and beyond. The self-taught guitarist has written hundreds of songs and recorded dozens of albums spanning the genres of country, blues, folk, gospel and shag. The success of that music allowed him countless honors, such as playing the stages of the Apollo and Howard Theaters, touring with legendary R&B singer Sam Cooke and playing the best blues festivals in the world. He even developed his own philosophy: Drinkism. Author Gail Wilson-Giarratano details the dream, the music and the life that created the Blues Doctor.

Carolina Beach Music from the '60s to the '80s" "The New Wave" picks up where "Carolina Beach Music" " The Classic Years" left off, covering more of those classic beach music tunes as well as the newer self-aware songs that were the beginning of a new wave of beach music in the late 1970s and early 1980s. This book looks at eighty recordings from the years 1966 through 1982, featuring interviews and insights from the artists who sang them, including Archie Bell, William Bell, Jerry Butler, Clyde Brown of the Drifters, Harry Elston of the Friends of Distinction, Bobbie Smith of the Spinners, Emilio Castillo of Tower of Power, Rob Parissi of Wild Cherry, Billy Scott and many, many others."

Ambassador Bill Pinkney, D.F.A.H., the longest surviving original member of the immortal singing group The Drifters, shares an historical overview of the United States in the 1930s through the 1960s, including a detailed World War II chapter.
Focusing on the evolution of American music from the 1940s through the turn of the century and beyond, he tells personal stories about the American Treasures who captured the soundtrack and landscape of the Baby Boomers' experiences.
The encouraging message of hope, through steadfast faith in one's ability to achieve, has international, multi-cultural, and multi-generational appeal.
Pinkney blazed one of the deepest and most unique trails in music history, as a trailblazing artist and for his career long quest for artist rights and fair business practices. Having lived many lives, his testimony of endurance and moving forward is a 'must read' for historians, educators, and music lovers everywhere.

"Everything I Know About The Music Business I Learned From My Cousin Rick" helps musicians navigate the complicated path to success in the industry. Author Dave Rose's lifelong experience in all facets of the music business offers unique insight into the obstacles, complexities, and triumphs that are crucial to a musician's ability to thrive. Rose teaches practical and relevant tactics on how to properly gauge and monitor success, and wisdom on how to avoid and quickly correct common - yet often detrimental - mistakes. This book is entertaining and informative, not filled with difficult legal jargon or complex royalty algorithms, but instead it teaches through first-hand accounts and stories from some of the greatest artists in the business.

Just as the dances of Beach Music have their twists and turns, so too do the stories behind the hits made popular in shag haunts from Atlantic Beach to Ocean Drive and the Myrtle Beach Pavilion. In Carolina Beach Music, local author and Beach Music enthusiast Rick Simmons draws on first-hand accounts from the legendary performers and people behind the music. Simmons reveals the true meaning behind "Oogum Boogum," uncovers just what sparked a fistfight between Ernie K. Doe and Benny Spellman at the recording session of "Te-Ta-Te-Te-Ta-Ta," and examines hundreds of other true events that shaped the sounds of Beach Music.

From Jabbo Smith, Dizzy Gillespie, and Drink Small to Johnny Helms, Dick Goodwin, and Chris Potter, South Carolina has been home to an impressive number of regionally, nationally, and internationally known jazz and blues musicians. Through richly detailed interviews with nineteen South Carolina musicians, jazz historian and radio host Benjamin Franklin V presents an oral history of the tradition and influence of jazz and the blues in the Palmetto State.

Franklin takes as his subjects a range of musicians born between 1905 and 1971, representing every decade in between, to trace the progression of these musical genres from Tommy Benford's and Jabbo Smith's first recording sessions in the summer of 1926 to the present day. Diverse not only in age but also in race, gender, instruments, and style, these musicians exemplify the breadth of South Carolina's jazz and blues performers. In their own colorful words, the musicians recall love affairs with the distinctive sounds of jazz and blues, indoctrinations into the musical world, early gigs, fans, drugs, military service, amateur night at the Apollo Theater, and influential friendships with other well-known musicians. As the story of the South Carolina musical scene is tightly interwoven with that of the nation.

Charleston Jazz sets out to reveal the rich, untold story of the evolution of American jazz in one of its major cradles: Charleston, South Carolina. The text and images show that what happened on the Gullah coast of South Carolina in terms of history, culture, and entertainment had a huge impact on jazz as we know it today. By all accounts, jazz is America's classical music. It now stands at the dawn of its second century and is poised to take its place as one of the more meaningful cultural phenomena ever to come along. Since Charleston was the gateway for enslaved Africans into the United States, it is no wonder that this uniquely beautiful place produced key creators of what many believe to be this country's most important influence on world culture. An international Charleston diaspora of jazz musicians attests to the fact that the likes of Freddie Green, William "Cat" Anderson, and Edmund Thornton Jenkins spread the Charleston style everywhere. Charleston jazz is one of the last great unknown stories in American history.

Cool Moths Never Come to the Light offers up an off-kilter view of the world that is simultaneously poignant and raunchy- each line charged with melancholic humor, complex observation and fatalistic charm.

Gianni cuts a gritty slice of life and his Everyman characters slash to the heart of our condition: we are ultimately alone in a world full of people. Scruffy and dogmatic, Gianni's characters traverse a stark yet vivid landscape littered intermittently with disappointment, joy, and an ironic recognition of the joke of life.

The Upstate of South Carolina spawned a vast array of musical talent over the years, from the flamboyant Esquerita of the 1950's, whom Little Richard credits as his main influence, to the superior jazz guitarist Hank "Sugarfoot" Garland. They are all celebrated here, including country stars like Aaron Tippin, Marshall Chapman and David Ball, Southern rock drummer Artimus Pyle (Lynyrd Skynyrd) and many others. But the bulk of the book is dedicated to the 1970's hit makers The Marshall Tucker Band, their past, present and future. Rare photos help to illustrate the journey of this iconic band.