Videos

University of Wisconsin-Madison African American studies professor Langston Wilkins spoke about hip hop culture and its relationship to place, identity, and heritage.

Music critic Holly Gleason looked at songwriter John Prine’s career evolution and how his lyrics captured the human condition and social issues of today.

Historian Michael Stewart Foley argued that Johnny Cash was the most important political artist of his time. The author relayed that the musician didn’t fit into one political party and inst…

Musician Tim McGraw and Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer Jon Meacham provided a history of American history through song.

Ohio University American history professor Kevin Mattson looked at the Reagan administration through the critical lens of the punk rock movement of the 1980s. This was a virtual event hosted…

Haverford College English professor Gustavus Stadler looked at the life of activist and folk singer Woody Guthrie. This was a virtual event hosted by Left Bank Books in St. Louis.

In his book, The Political World of Bob Dylan, Chad Israelson addressed some of the misconceptions about Bob Dylan’s political views and how the singer has dealt with them over the years. …

Michael Lang talked about his memoir The Road to Woodstock: From the Man Behind the Legendary Festival (Ecco; June 30, 2009). A co-founder of the Woodstock Music Festival, he recounts the cr…

Gerald Horne talked about the United States' involvement in Southern Africa and the roots and politics of jazz music, the topics of his two most recent books.

Mary Wilson, formerly the Motown musical group the Supremes, talked about her book, Supreme Glamour, in which she discussed her career and weighed in on federal copyright protection for reco…

Bo Crane talked about Palo Alto’s connections to rock and roll in the 1960's, and how a meeting between Grateful Dead musician Jerry Garcia and counterculture figure Ken Kesey lead to the ps…

Authors Jesse Jarnow (Wasn’t That a Time: The Weavers, the Blacklist, and the Battle for the Soul of America), Tim Mohr (Burning Down the Haus: Punk Rock, Revolution, and the Fall of the Ber…

Memphis has a rich musical history tied to blues, rock and roll, and soul music. In his book, Country Soul: Making Music and Making Race in the American South, author Charles Hughes talked a…

Singer-songwriter Dolly Parton talked about her Imagination Library book gifting program and read from her book, Coat of Many Colors, which she donated to the Library of Congress.

Radio personality Paul Porter talked about his book Blackout: My 40 Years in the Music Business, in which he looks at the inner workings of the music industry.

Thomas Dolby talked about his book, The Speed of Sound: Breaking the Barriers Between Music and Technology. He spoke at the 15th annual Annapolis Book Festival. This program contains lang…

Panelists talked about hip-hop and literature. Panelists included MK Asante, author of Buck: A Memoir; Michael Eric Dyson, author of Know What I Mean?: Reflections on Hip Hop; James B. Pater…

Oliver Wang talked about his book Legions of Boom: Filipino American Mobile DJ Crews in the San Francisco Area, in which he discusses the sizable Filipino population of northern California a…

Luther Campbell talked about his book The Book of Luke: My Fight for Truth, Justice, and Liberty City, in which he talks about his involvement in the hip-hop group 2 Live Crew and the obscen…

Scott Gac talked about his book, Singing for Freedom: The Hutchinson Family Singers and the Nineteenth Century Culture of Antebellum Reform, about one of the most famous American family sing…