I'm pleased to have heard that the American hardback edition of Hand Me My Travelin' Shoes has been nominated as a finalist for this year's Association for Recorded Sound Collections Awards for Excellence in Historical Recorded Sound Research, in the category Best Historical Research in Blues / Gospel / Hip-hop / R&B.Though there are only four other finalists in this category, and it's an honour to be alongside them, I fear I'm unlikely to win, given that three of the others are blues-research heavyweight Steven Calt; associate director of the Center for the Study of the American South, former chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, author and documentary film-maker William Ferris; and the great pioneering blues scholar Paul Oliver.
I see that in the category Best Research in Recorded Rock and Pop Music one of the nominated finalists is our old friend Clinton Heylin. He's up against 12 other contenders.
Winners will be announced in August 2010 and awards presented at a ceremony in May 2011 during ARSC’s annual conference.
Good luck - whatever the competition, I can't believe there is a better book in that category. I really like the US cover.
ReplyDeletehey michael thats great news. congratulations! i really enjoyed the book and im glad that youre getting recognition for your work.
ReplyDeleteAs for Heylin, i recently bought his new book. And although i admire his extensive research, i wish he would put his mind to researching something he enjoys. Like his Van Morrison book, his new book on Dylan is a tough and grim read due to his seeming dislike for the Bob. There are constant jabs at the man, and its quite tedious. Plus his ability to critique music is very lacking. Its mainly focused on session dates and facts, which to me is quite tedious and irrelevant, I mean my appreciation of a song or performance is not in any way affected by whether Bob recorded the song on a tuesday or a friday!! haha
For me there are two truely worthwhile Dylan writers, yourself and Paul Williams.
Paul Williams writes with such tangible enthusiasm and emotion for Bobs work, he has enhanced my appreciation for Bobs art, and has sent me scouring for the performances he has written about.
And you have shined a light onto depths of the music i wouldnt never have been exposed too otherwise.Aswell as opening up whole new worlds of ancient and modern, literary and musical forms.
Heylin seems to be on a trainspotting bender he doesnt enjoy and it renders the reading experience pretty grim
Many thanks for these kind comments.
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