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Sep 19: Joe Boyd Distinguished Lecture at Middle Tennessee State University

  • Middle Tennessee State University 1301 E Main St Murfreesboro, TN 37132 United States (map)

Joe Boyd Distinguished Lecture at Middle Tennessee State University

Sep 19, 5 PM CT • Murfreesboro, TN: Middle Tennessee State University, BAS LOB-E, BAS STATE FARM ROOM (S102) • 1301 E Main St, Murfreesboro, TN 37132

You are invited to a distinguished lecture by Joe Boyd, the legendary music producer who has worked with artists such as Nick Drake, Pink Floyd, REM, Fairport Convention, Toots and the Maytals, and many more. He will be speaking about his forthcoming book, And the Roots of Rhythm Remain: a Journey through Global Music. Copies of the book will be available for purchase and signing.

For more information, please contact Dr. Mark Doyle: mdoyle@mtsu.edu

About the Book

“You haven’t heard this before!" the accordion flourish seemed to proclaim. Paul Simon told Joe Boyd that he immediately knew it would open Graceland, the multi-platinum album that helped usher in the 1980s “world music” boom. Yet that movement had roots extending back through the decades and across continents: tango on the eve of World War I, Latin dance across the ’30s, ’40s and ’50s, reggae in the ’70s, pre-War samba and pre-Beatles bossa nova, Eastern European ensembles filling capitalist concert halls during the Cold War, Indian ragas changing rock and roll in the 1960s, the folk music–inspired classical composers of the 19th and 20th centuries.

In this sweeping history compiled from more than a decade of travel, research, interviews, and deep listening, Boyd sets out to explore centuries of fascinating backstories to these sounds. He shows how personalities, events, and politics in places such as Havana, Lagos, Budapest, Kingston, and Rio are as colorful and momentous as anything that took place in New Orleans, Harlem, Laurel Canyon, or Liverpool. And, moreover, how jazz, rhythm and blues, and rock ‘n’ roll would never have happened if it weren’t for the notes and rhythms emanating from over the horizon. The one-of-a-kind result is And the Roots of Rhythm Remain: a glorious, symphonic celebration of the music that shapes our world.

About the Author

Joe Boyd is a record producer and writer, known for his acclaimed memoir, White Bicycles. Artists he has produced include Nick Drake, R.E.M., Toots and the Maytals, Richard Thompson, Pink Floyd, Kate and Anna McGarrigle, and ¡Cubanismo! among many others over the course of a nearly sixty-year career. 

After graduating from Harvard in 1964, he tour-managed Muddy Waters, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Sonny Rollins, Stan Getz and Astrud Gilberto, and others before serving as production manager for the historic 1965 Newport Folk and Jazz Festivals. He then moved to London to open Elektra Records’ office and started the famous UFO club, which became the center of London’s psychedelic revolution. In 1979 he launched his own label, Hannibal Records, which was at the forefront of bringing global artists to western audiences. As a film producer, his credits include Amazing Grace, Scandal,and Jimi Hendrix. A gifted raconteur, he appears frequently on radio, podcasts and documentaries.

About the Venue

https://www.mtsu.edu/campuslife/events/?trumbaEmbed=view%3Devent%26eventid%3D1191597406

For more information on And The Roots Of Rhythm Remain, please reachout to Matt Hanks (mhanks@shorefire.com), Chris Taillie (ctaillie@shorefire.com), and Henry Thomas (hthomas@shorefire.com) at Shore Fire Media.

And the Roots of Rhythm Remain: A Journey through Global Music

From the legendary producer of Nick Drake, R.E.M., Toots and the Maytals, and Pink Floyd and author of White Bicycles: Making Music in the 1960s comes a riveting, world-spanning tour de force illuminating the artists, histories, controversies, and collaborations that shaped global music.

Release: Sep 24, 2024
Hardcover ISBN: 9798988670025 • 960 pages • two 16-page full-color photo inserts