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2020 Winners: ARSC Awards for Excellence

The Association for Recorded Sound Collections is pleased to announce the winners of the 2020 ARSC Awards for Excellence in Historical Recorded Sound Research. The awards will be presented at a virtual ceremony at ARSC’s annual conference, which will be hosted online May 13-15, 2021. Additional information about the ARSC Conference and the ARSC Awards for Excellence may be found on the association's website.

Begun in 1991, the ARSC Awards for Excellence are awarded to authors of books, articles, or recording liner notes to recognize those publishing the very best work today in recorded sound research. In giving these awards, ARSC recognizes the contributions of these individuals, aims to encourage others to emulate their high standards, and hopes to promote readership of their work. Two awards are presented annually in each category, for best history and best discography, and others are acknowledged with Certificates of Merit. Awards are presented to both the authors and publishers of winning publications.

The 2020 Awards for Excellence honor books published in 2019.

Read the full press release here.


Select titles below for links to:    

and other independent publishing sites.

   

 

[ Best Historical Research in Recorded Rock and Popular Music ]

Best History

Status Quo: Mighty Innovators of 70s Rock
Status Quo: Mighty Innovators of 70s Rock
by Andrew L. Cope
(Ashgate)

Best Discography

The Complete Misfits Discography
The Complete Misfits Discography: Authorized Releases and Bootlegs, Including Recordings by Danzig, Samhain and the Undead
by Robert Michael "Bobb" Cotter
(McFarland)

Certificate of Merit

Get Tusked: The Inside Story of Fleetwood Mac's Most Anticipated Album
Get Tusked: The Inside Story of Fleetwood Mac's Most Anticipated Album
by Ken Caillat and Hernan Rojas
(Backbeat)

Certificate of Merit

Classic Keys: Keyboard Sounds That Launched Rock Music
Classic Keys: Keyboard Sounds That Launched Rock Music
by Alan Lenhoff and David Robertson
(University of North Texas Press)

Certificate of Merit

Henry Cow: The World is a Problem
Henry Cow: The World is a Problem
by Benjamin Piekut
(Duke University Press)

Certificate of Merit

Solid State: The Story of Abbey Road and the End of the Beatles
Solid State: The Story of “Abbey Road” and the End of the Beatles
by Kenneth Womack
(Cornell University Press)

[ Best Historical Research in Recorded Jazz ]

Best History

Adrian Rollini: The Life and Music of a Jazz Rambler
Adrian Rollini: The Life and Music of a Jazz Rambler
by Ate van Delden
(University Press of Mississippi)

Best Discography

The Recordings of Andy Kirk and his Clouds of Joy
The Recordings of Andy Kirk and his Clouds of Joy
by George Burrows
(Oxford University Press)

Certificate of Merit

Rabbit's Blues: The Life and Music of Johnny Hodges
Rabbit's Blues: The Life and Music of Johnny Hodges
by Con Chapman
(Oxford University Press)

Certificate of Merit

Jazz Diaspora: Music and Globalization
Jazz Diaspora: Music and Globalization
by Bruce Johnson
(Routledge)

Certificate of Merit

Jazz from Detroit
Jazz from Detroit
by Mark Stryker
(University of Michigan Press)

[ Best Historical Research in Recorded Country, Folk, or Roots Music ]

Best History

South to Louisiana: The Music of the Cajun Bayous
South to Louisiana: The Music of the Cajun Bayous, 2nd ed
by John Broven
(Pelican Publishing)

Certificate of Merit

The Bakersfield Sound
The Bakersfield Sound
by Scott B. Bomar
(Bear Family Records)

Certificate of Merit

Country Music: An Illustrated History
Country Music: An Illustrated History
by Dayton Duncan and Ken Burns
(Knopf)

[ Best Historical Research in Recorded Blues, Soul, Gospel, or R&B ]

Best History

Mahalia Jackson and the Black Gospel Field
Mahalia Jackson and the Black Gospel Field
by Mark Burford
(Oxford University Press)

Best Discography

The Flamingos: A Complete History of the Doo-Wop Legends
The Flamingos: A Complete History of the Doo-Wop Legends
by Todd R. Baptista
(McFarland)

Certificate of Merit

Up Jumped the Devil: The Real Life of Robert Johnson
Up Jumped the Devil: The Real Life of Robert Johnson
by Bruce Conforth and Gayle Dean Wardlow
(Chicago Review Press)

Certificate of Merit

The Blues Come to Texas: Paul Oliver and Mack McCormack's Unfinished Book
The Blues Come to Texas: Paul Oliver and Mack McCormack's Unfinished Book
by Alan B. Govenar and Kip Lornell
(Texas A&M University Press)

[ Best Historical Research in Recorded Classical Music ]

Best History

Stravinsky in the Americas: Transatlantic Tours and Domestic Excursions from Wartime Los Angeles (1925-1945)
Stravinsky in the Americas: Transatlantic Tours and Domestic Excursions from Wartime Los Angeles (1925-1945)
by H. Colin Slim
(University of California Press)

Certificate of Merit

England Resounding: Elgar, Vaughan Williams, Britten and the English Musical Renaissance
England Resounding: Elgar, Vaughan Williams, Britten and the English Musical Renaissance
by Keith Alldritt
(Crowood Press)

Certificate of Merit

The Other Toscanini: The Life and Works of Héctor Panizza
The Other Toscanini: The Life and Works of Héctor Panizza
by Sebastiano De Filippi and Daniel Varacalli Costas
(University of North Texas Press)

[ Best Historical Research on Record Labels and General Recording Topics ]

Best History

The Blackface Minstrel Show in Mass Media: 20th Century Performances in Radio, Records, Movies and Television
The Blackface Minstrel Show in Mass Media: 20th Century Performances in Radio, Records, Movies and Television
by Tim Brooks
(McFarland)

Best Discography

The Gramophone Company’s Persian Recordings, 1899-1934
The Gramophone Company’s Persian Recordings, 1899-1934
by Michael Kinnear
(Bajakhana)

Certificate of Merit

Das Bilderlexikon der Deutschen Schellack-Schallplatten: Geschichte der Historischen Tonträger in Deutschland
Das Bilderlexikon der Deutschen Schellack-Schallplatten: Geschichte der Historischen Tonträger in Deutschland
by Rainer Lotz, Michael Gunrem and Stephan Puille
(Bear Family Records)

Certificate of Merit

Wobbly Sounds: A Collection of British Flexi Discs
Wobbly Sounds: A Collection of British Flexi Discs
by Johnny Trunk
(Four Corners Books)

 

For more information, please contact Roberta Freund Schwartz (University of Kansas).

Winners are chosen by a committee consisting of three elected judges representing specific fields of study, two judges-at-large, the review editor of the ARSC Journal and the President or past President of ARSC. The 2020 ARSC Awards Committee consists of the following:

Rob Bamberger (Jazz Music Judge); John Haley (Classical Music Judge); Matthew Barton (Popular Music Judge and ARSC President); Cary Ginell (Judge-At-Large); Richard Spottswood (Judge-at-Large); James Farrington (Book Review Editor, ARSC Journal); Patrick Feaster (ARSC Past President); and Roberta Freund Schwartz (Awards Committee Chair).

 

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