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Posted by: Neely Tucker
The 2020 class of the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress incudes hits from Janet Jackson, Nas, Jackson Browne, Flaco Jimenez, Jimmy Cliff, newscast recordings and one of the first recordings of an American voice, by Thomas Edison, in 1878,
Posted in: Music, National Recording Registry, Performing Arts
Posted by: Neely Tucker
The Library's original manuscript copy of George Gershwin's iconic "Rhapsody in Blue," with handwritten notations, is now on line.
Posted in: Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, Manuscripts, Music, New Online
Posted by: Neely Tucker
After the Union victory at Gettysburg in the Civil War in 1863, President Abraham Lincoln asked the nation set aside the fourth Thursday of November as a national holiday of thanksgiving. Congress made it official in 1870.
Posted in: Abraham Lincoln, Civil War, Music, Rare Book and Special Collections, Thanksgiving, U.S. Presidents
Posted by: Neely Tucker
Theater historian Jennifer Ashley Tepper writes about how she used the Library's collections to research the musicals of Johnathan Larson, author of "Rent" and others.
Posted in: Music, Researcher Stories, Theater
Posted by: Neely Tucker
Legendary jazz trumpeter and vocalist Chesney Henry Baker -- better known as Chet -- died 32 years ago this month in Amsterdam. The Library acquired the Chet Baker Materials from the Papers of Diane Vavra in 2015, an intimate cache of 108 items.
Posted in: Music
Posted by: Neely Tucker
John Prine died on April 7, 2020, at the age of 73, from complications of COVID-19. One of America's great songwriters, he was in conversation with U.S. Poet Laureate Ted Kooser at the Library in 2005. That conversation is presented here.
Posted by: Neely Tucker
Garth Brooks' music fits into the Library's long history of documenting and preserving American traditional music.
Posted in: Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, Music, Performing Arts
Posted by: Neely Tucker
Garth Brooks, winner of the 2020 Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, will be in conversation with his wife, fellow country-music star Trisha Yearwood, and Librarian Carla Hayden at the Library's Coolidge Auditorium on March 2, 2020.
Posted in: Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, Music, News
Posted by: Neely Tucker
Jessye Norman, the legendary opera star, died Monday at the age of 74. Her papers are preserved at the Library of Congress.
Posted in: Music, Women's History