Accordion Revolution: The Book!

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Table of Contents (as of Aug 2018)

Accordion Revolution: The Squeezebox Heart of Pop Music in North America

Part I: The Dawn of the Accordion Revolution
Chapter 1: The Accordion Conquers the World
Chapter 2: The Accordion’s Family Tree
Chapter 3: Blackface Minstrelsy

Part II The Golden Age
Chapter 4: Vaudeville and the Dawn of the Golden Age
Chapter 5: Polka and “Ethnic” Music
Chapter 6: Jazzing the Accordion
Chapter 7: The Closing Acts of the Golden Age

Part III Roots Music: An Outsider’s Canon
Chapter 8: Acordeón: Mexican and American Roots
Chapter 9: Creoles, Cajuns, and Zydeco: French Music in the American South
Chapter 10: Irish and Scottish Accordion: Immigration, Transition and Tradition
Chapter 11: Canadian Accordion: Northern Traditions
Chapter 12: Klezmer: a Restoration with Accordion

Part IV: American Wheeze: A Pre-History of Rock
Chapter 13: African Americans Played Accordion Before They Played the Blues
Chapter 14: Country & Western: Cowboys and Squeezeboxes
Chapter 15: The Folk Revival: The Accordion Betrayed

Part V: Accordion Exile: The Rise of Rock
Chapter 16: Rockin’ the Accordion
Chapter 17: The Accordion Exodus

 

About the Author

Bruce with the Chinese hulusi (ancient free-reed cousin of the accordion) he found in a local thrift store.

In 1955, Toni Charuhas’ book The Accordion predicted a bright road ahead for her favourite instrument.  It didn’t quite turn out that way.  Instead the accordion became the Most Uncool Instrument In North America (at least for mainstream white people).  It lost any connection to past legitimacy or glory, and “Stomach Steinways” slept in thrift shops or in dusty grandparents’ closets for the next fifty years.

I got into accordions after growing up with rock and roll.  Inspired by that background I co-host the weekly Accordion Noir show on Co-op Radio in Vancouver, BC, Canada. Now after ten years of talking about it, I look forward to sharing the Accordion Revolution with you!

The fabled Tiger Combo ‘Cordion (1966) with its original tiger-print case! See chapter 17 “The Accordion Exodus” on the rise of rock & roll and why accordions and their story were unheard for so long. (Courtesy of Tempo Trend Accordions, Victoria, BC, Canada.)