Accordion Revolution: A People's History
ACCORDION REVOLUTION:
A People’s History of the Accordion
From the Industrial Revolution to Rock and Roll
by Bruce Triggs
About the Book:
Accordion Revolution is the squeezebox remix of music history. Discover how the “Beer Barrel Polka” saved the record industry during the Great Depression; the highest paid instrumentalist in show-biz was an accordionist who secretly married sex-symbol Mae West. And a psychedelic accordion band almost played Woodstock.
With an eye for colorful characters and a sharp sense of humor, accordion historian Bruce Triggs explores pop music with the squeezebox as tour guide. Musicians by the millions played accordions before the rise of rock and roll. Arriving in the arms of immigrants, they were heard in Mexican border cantinas and Inuit square dances above the Arctic Circle. Black Americans called them “wind jammers” before the rise of blues guitar, and the Accordiana Dance Band was there at the birth of jazz. Later, squeezeboxes saddled-up in hundreds of hit-making country and western bands.
Always more than foolish stereotypes of bubbles and lederhosen. New generations have picked up the instrument, but with few connections to its back-story. For readers today Accordion Revolution is a living, breathing restoration of the squeezebox to its rightful place at the roots of popular music in North America.
List Price: $20 US, $25 CAN
Paperback, 6 x 9 in, 430 pgs.
58 historical illustrations / In English
Publication Date: June 2019
Demian & Sons Publications
Vancouver, BC, Canada
ISBN: 978-1-9990677-0-0
eBook ISBN: 978-1-9990677-1-7
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To the author: thank you for writing this book. I enjoyed it. I am playing accordion for 40 years now. I started when I was 32 years old. People thought I was mad. My Idols were/are Clifton Chenier and Flaco Jimenez. I am mainly focussed on conjunto/texmex music. I am living in the Netherlands and a retired psychology-professor. Again: you made a great book. It was taken from my heart.
Glad you enjoyed the book Peter. So happy to hear from readers all over the world! You’re not the only Flaco Jimenez fan in Europe. That seems so far away, but it’s amazing how the music travels.
(Everyone feel free to leave reviews like this wherever you see the book online. That really helps books reach people these days. 😜)