Accordion Revolution: The Book!
Please sign up to hear the latest about pre-orders as we near publication (June 2019).
Accordion Revolution’s cover. The development process for “Rosie” by Michelle Clement
A new book by Bruce Triggs
Paperback, 6 x 9 in, 430 pgs. 58 historical illustrations
Release, June 2019
Cover by Vancouver artist:
Michelle Clement
Arriving in North America in the hands of immigrants, the accordion was heard everywhere from Creole string bands in New Orleans to Inuit square dances above the Arctic Circle. Popular musicians embraced the squeezebox from the earliest jazz to the dawn of rock ’n’ roll. After years of neglect, their stories can finally be told.Arriving in North America in the hands of immigrants, the accordion was heard everywhere from Creole string bands in New Orleans to Inuit square dances above the Arctic Circle. Popular musicians embraced the squeezebox from the earliest jazz to the dawn of rock ’n’ roll. After years of neglect, their stories can finally be told.
Given the general, pretty much universal level of mockery of the accordion, this a book that I never thought I’d see written.
Well done.
– James Fearnley, The Pogues
Accordion Revolution uncovers the hidden history of the squeezebox, with characters like: Vaudeville star Guido Deiro’s secret marriage to a then-unknown Mae West; John Kimmel, star of the Irish accordion, ironically born to a German immigrant family in Brooklyn; and R&B accordionist Julie Gardner, who jammed with Charlie Parker before shipping out to play for the troops in the South Pacific.
When the instrument fell out of fashion, folklorist Alan Lomax amplified a common disdain, calling the accordion a “pestiferous instrument.” Thankfully the squeezebox survived its exile. Louisiana French Zydeco and Cajun musicians have rocked the world. Virtuosic accordionists like Eva Ybarra sustain a line of Tejana accordionists going back to the 1930s. The stories in Accordion Revolutionrestore the squeezebox to its rightful place at the roots of North America’s popular music.
Table of Contents:
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: Roots in RacismPart 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 AgeJosephine & Lena Bergamasco of the vaudeville group the Three Vagrants (1920s)
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 AccordionPart 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 BetrayedPart 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.
Based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Bruce has hosted the Accordion Noir radio program and the annual Accordion Noir Festival for over a dozen years. He plays a Giuliette chromatic button accordion that was built-to-last in the 1960s.
Way back 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!
Among the dozens of illustrations featured in the book (book images are b/w): The fabled Tiger Combo ‘Cordion (1966) with its original tiger-print case! See chapter 17 “The Accordion Exodus” which covers the rise of rock & roll and why accordions and their story were unheard for so long. (Courtesy of Tempo Trend Accordions, Victoria, BC, Canada.
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