Books for Black Music Appreciation Month

By Coll Rowe | May 1 2024 | MusicBlack History

In June, we celebrate Black Music Appreciation month and the influential Black musicians and artists who have brought entertainment to their communities and beyond, and inspired others to make their own art.

Collection of titles for Black Music Appreciation Month

Dirty Bird Blues
Dirty Bird Blues
Clarence Major
9780143136590

A quietly influential force in African American literature and art, Clarence Major makes his Penguin Classics debut with the twenty-fifth-anniversary edition of Dirty Bird Blues.

$18.00 US
Feb 08, 2022
Paperback
384 Pages
Penguin Classics
The Come Up
The Come Up
An Oral History of the Rise of Hip-Hop
Jonathan Abrams
9781984825155
The essential oral history of hip-hop, from its origins on the playgrounds of the Bronx to its reign as the most powerful force in pop culture—from the award-winning journalist behind All the Pieces Matter, the New York Times bestselling oral history of The Wire.
$20.00 US
Oct 03, 2023
Paperback
560 Pages
Crown
Bessie Smith
Bessie Smith
A Poet's Biography of a Blues Legend
Jackie Kay
9780593314272
Bessie Smith is a beautiful genre-bending tribute to the larger-than-life blues singer Bessie Smith. Scotland’s National Poet blends poetry, prose, fiction, and nonfiction to create an entirely unique biography of the Empress of the Blues.
$16.95 US
Sep 28, 2021
Paperback
224 Pages
Vintage
Shout, Sister, Shout!
Shout, Sister, Shout!
The Untold Story of Rock-and-Roll Trailblazer Sister Rosetta Tharpe
Gayle Wald
9780807011843
The essential biography of America's godmother of rock 'n' roll whose exuberant singning and guitar playing captivated audiences and inspired generations of musicians from the 40s to today.
$18.95 US
Jan 31, 2023
Paperback
280 Pages
Beacon Press
Deep Blues
Deep Blues
A Musical and Cultural History of the Mississippi Delta
Robert Palmer
9780140062236

In this extraordinary musical and social history, Robert Palmer traces the odyssey of the blues from its rural beginnings, to the steamy bars of Chicago’s South Side, to international popularity, recognition, and imitation.

$18.00 US
Jul 29, 1982
Paperback
320 Pages
Penguin Books
A Little Devil in America
A Little Devil in America
In Praise of Black Performance
Hanif Abdurraqib
9781984801203
A stirring meditation on Black performance in America from the New York Times bestselling author of Go Ahead in the Rain.
$18.00 US
Mar 08, 2022
Paperback
320 Pages
Random House Trade Paperbacks
The Spirit of Music
The Spirit of Music
The Lesson Continues
Victor L. Wooten
9780593081662
Grammy Award winner Victor Wooten's inspiring parable of the importance of music and the threats that it faces in today's world.
$17.00 US
Feb 02, 2021
Paperback
368 Pages
Vintage
Odetta
Odetta
A Life in Music and Protest
Ian Zack
9780807002896
The first in-depth biography of the legendary singer and "Voice of the Civil Rights Movement," who combatted racism and prejudice through her music.
$19.00 US
Apr 13, 2021
Paperback
288 Pages
Beacon Press
Searching for Robert Johnson
Searching for Robert Johnson
The Life and Legend of the "King of the Delta Blues Singers"
Peter Guralnick
9780452279490
Peter Guralnick's extended essay about the life of the man and the myth, and of the place and time that produced both, illuminates much of the obscurity around Johnson without forfeiting any of the mystery.
$24.00 US
Aug 01, 1998
Paperback
96 Pages
Plume
Shine Bright
Shine Bright
A Very Personal History of Black Women in Pop
Danyel Smith
9780593132739
American pop music is arguably this country’s greatest cultural contribution to the world, and its singular voice and virtuosity were created by a shining thread of Black women geniuses stretching back to the country’s founding. This is their surprising, heartbreaking, soaring story—from “one of the generation’s greatest, most insightful, most nuanced writers in pop culture” (Shea Serrano).
$18.00 US
Feb 14, 2023
Paperback
336 Pages
Roc Lit 101
Easily Slip into Another World
Easily Slip into Another World
A Life in Music
Henry Threadgill, Brent Hayes Edwards
9781524749071
An autobiography of one of the towering figures of contemporary American music and a powerful meditation on history, race, capitalism, and art.
$32.50 US
May 16, 2023
Hardcover
416 Pages
Knopf
Soul Culture
Soul Culture
Black Poets, Books, and Questions that Grew Me Up
Remica Bingham-Risher
9780807012727

Examines firsthand the lives of legendary Black writers who made a way out of no way to illuminate a road map for budding creators desiring to follow in their footsteps.

$19.95 US
Aug 15, 2023
Paperback
256 Pages
Beacon Press
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