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Category: Rhythm & Blues (R&B)

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New BARD Additions – January 2019

Posted by: Gilbert Busch

This post is an overview of the braille music books added to BARD (Braille and Audio Reading Download) over the past month.

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American Composers and Musicians from A to Z: H (Part 2 – Hibbler, Albert George “Al”)

Posted by: Gilbert Busch

A brief glimpse at the life of Al Hibbler and some materials relating to him in the NLS Music Collection.

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American Composers and Musicians from A to Z: D (Part 2 – Davis, “Blind” John and Dranes, Arizona)

Posted by: Katie Rodda

Blind John Davis Blind John Davis was born in Mississippi in 1913, but moved to Chicago with his family at a young age.  He lost his sight shortly thereafter at age 9. He began to learn the piano as a teen, and later became a regular session musician for famous blues record producer Lester Melrose …

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Remembering the Father of the Blues

Posted by: Gilbert Busch

Today’s blog celebrates the career of W.C. Handy. Born in Florence, Alabama on November 16, 1873, William Christopher Handy became interested in music at an early age. His father, a minister, felt that music was an unwise career choice for him and, indeed, the young Handy experienced years of poverty and homelessness at first. But …

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American Composers and Musicians from A to Z: A (Part 2 – Atkins, Charles)

Posted by: Juliette Appold

This blog is about filling the alphabet with names of American composers, and American composers and musicians who are visually impaired or blind. At this point the idea is to have two composers listed for each letter of the alphabet, knowing that some letters will have more options than others, or that for some letters …

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There’s No Song Like an Old Song

Posted by: Mary Dell Jenkins

I’m always reminding myself how fortunate I am to live in an area that offers not only great classical music, theater and dance performances, but many popular music performers make a stop, especially during the summer. Being a child of the sixties, rock and roll concerts usually meant performances in smoky nightclubs (missed out on …

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It’s Summertime!

Posted by: Katie Rodda

Now that the hockey season is officially over, there is only one major sport that is capturing the nation’s attention: baseball! I find that baseball is synonymous with summer, as it’s been played in the summer months for generations. I’m sure I’m not alone recalling warm summer evenings spent gathered around the radio listening to …

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New Titles from Bill Brown

Posted by: Katie Rodda

For this week’s blog, the staff of the Music Section decided it would be a good idea to update our readers on some of our newly added titles from Bill Brown. These books are not on BARD. However, they are all available on digital cartridge. If you see something that interests you, please get in touch …