Product Description

The impulse to do AMERICAN MUSIC, writes famed photographer Annie Leibovitz, “came from a desire to return to my original subject and look at it with a mature eye. Bring my experience to it…make it a real American tapestry.” Her ambitious idea became AMERICAN MUSIC, a stunning collection of photographs of the musicians, places and people that enrich the landscape of American music.

As Rolling Stone’s chief photographer for over thirteen years, Leibovitz created a legendary body of work. Her portraits of some of the world’s most talented musicians capture more than the performer, they convey the art of making music. For AMERICAN MUSIC, Leibovitz traveled across the country to juke joints in the Mississippi Delta, honkytonks in Texas, and jazz clubs in New Orleans “to take pictures in places that mean something.” In her signature style, she shares stunning portraits of American greats -- B.B. King, Willie Nelson, Bonnie Raitt, Bruce Springsteen, Beck, Bob Dylan, Mary J. Blige, Jon Bon Jovi, Steve Earle, Ryan Adams, Miles Davis, Etta James, Pete Seeger, Emmylou Harris, Tom Waits, The Dixie Chicks, Dr. Dre, The Roots and many more.

AMERICAN MUSIC includes a commentary about the American Music project by Leibovitz, short essays by musicians Patti Smith, Rosanne Cash, Steve Earle, Mos Def, Ryan Adams, and Beck as well as biographical sketches of all the musicians.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #135737 in Books
• Published on: 2003-10-28
• Released on: 2003-10-28
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 264 pages

From Amazon.com
It looks like a gorgeous nostalgia trip to judge by the cover image alone. The photo is of an old school record player that lies unplugged, a white label test-pressing waiting on the turntable, while a band of paper wrapped around the cover announces the title in ye olde woodblock-looking type, American Music. A reading of the small type on the back cover reveals the image to be the very record and turntable left in Elvis Presley’s bedroom the day he died, and the mind reels, thinking about whether the King listened to this record on that day or not, and who are the Stamps, anyway? An excellent selection of musician portraits interspersed with crumbly wooden jook joints and wide open fields in the South, American Music covers a wide gamut of jazz, blues, punk, country, hip-hop, rock and roll, folk and gospel musicians. And while most of the pictures were shot between 1999 and 2002, some go back to the early 1970s, when Leibovitz first became Rolling Stone magazine's chief photographer. Some of the artists are very well-known (Michael Stipe, Dolly Parton, Bob Dylan) and some of them are not (Jessie Mae Hemphill, Other Turner, Carlos Coy). Leibovitz really has a way of relaxing her performers, and this is a great part of her gift. Even when the pictures are so posed as to be ridiculous (like, what's Michael Stipe doing on that bedbug-ridden mattress—-the guy's a billionaire?), she catches her subjects at their most "real." They are lost in their music, or just doing some "real person" thing (look, there is Beck in his car—does Beck really drive his own car?). The presentation may be a little hokey, but this book is sure to please most any music fan. --Mike McGonigal

Review
Praise for American Music

“[Leibovitz] explores more deeply than ever the landscape of America’s sound, from a New Orleans funeral to a Baptist church to an empty juke joint.”
–Vanity Fair

“Leibovitz’s approach to both celebrity and non-celebrity musicians is remarkably consistent . . . [Her] conception of glamour is anything but aloof. She situates her subjects right there in front of you.”
–The New York Times


From the Trade Paperback edition.

From the Back Cover
Praise for American Music

“[Leibovitz] explores more deeply than ever the landscape of America’s sound, from a New Orleans funeral to a Baptist church to an empty juke joint.”
–Vanity Fair

“Leibovitz’s approach to both celebrity and non-celebrity musicians is remarkably consistent . . . [Her] conception of glamour is anything but aloof. She situates her subjects right there in front of you.”
–The New York Times


From the Trade Paperback edition.

Customer Reviews

Annie Leibovitz's Images of and Notes about American Popular Musicians

The title of this volume can mislead people who don't remember that Annie Leibovitz started out as the lead photographer for Rolling Stone. The result of her life's photographic work with these subjects is portrayed here along with some very fine notes at the end that explain who the subjects are for those you don't know. I liked the notes as much as the photographs. You will, too, unless you have an encyclopedic knowledge of American popular musicians. Those offerings are boosted in value by the essays authored by Patti Smith, Steve Earle, Rosanne Cash, Mos Def, Beck, Ryan Adams, and Annie Leibovitz.

The work cries for a companion CD tucked into the back of the book so you could match the music to the images and words. Perhaps it was just too much work to put the permissions together for such a project . . . or the publishers just assumed that we know all the music (I certainly don't).

The photography is often breathtaking in capturing musicians who have had a lasting effect on tens of millions of lives. In many cases, you are treated to large, two-page spreads where the center line doesn't interrupt your ability to focus on the image. The printing is very fine in the copy I read, and I hope it is also on yours.

Here are a few of my many favorites:

Pete Seeger, Clearwater Revival, Croton-on-Hudson, New York, 2001 (color)
Fisk Jubilee Singers, New York City, 2003
Eddie Cotton, Jr. with Jan Hobson, Jackson, Mississippi, 2000
Po' Monkey's Lounge, Merigold, Mississippi, 2000
B.B. King, New York City, 2000

Emmylou Harris, Franklin, Tennessee, 2001
Johnny Cash with his grandchildren and daughter, Rosanne Cash, Hiltons, Virginia, 2001
Dolly Parton, Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, 2002
Ramblin' Jack Elliott and Odetta, New York City, 2000
Willie Nelson, Spicewood, Texas, 2001

Jungle Room, Graceland, Memphis, Tennessee, 2001
Duane Eddy and Les Paul, Mahwah, New Jersey, 2000
Aretha Franklin, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, 1993
John Lee Hooker, Los Altos, California, 2000
Willie Foster, Greenville, Mississippi, 2000

Rakim, Eminem, and Dr. Dre, Los Angeles, 2002
Sean "P. Diddy" Combs with sons, Bridgehampton, New York, 1998
Nelly, New York City, 2002
Mary J. Blige, New York City, 1999
Bonnie Raitt, New York City, 2003

Jon Bon Jovi, Rumson, New Jersey, 2000
The White Stripes, New York City, 2003
Iggy Pop, Miami, Florida, 2000
Mike Ness and family, Santa Ana, California, 2003
Ardoin Family, Breaux Bridge, Louisiana, 2002

Preservation Hall, New Orleans, 2002
Neville Family, New Orleans, 2002
New Birth Brass Band, New Orleans, 2003
Jazz Funeral for Placide Adams, New Orleans, 2003
Miles Davis, New York City, 1989

Dave Brubeck, Wilton, Connecticut, 2002
Etta James, Riverside, California, 2003
Tony Bennett and Ralph Sharon, San Francisco, 2001
Anita O'Day, Los Angeles, 2001
Louis Armstrong, Queens, New York, 1971

Joan Baez, Big Sur, California, 1971
Bob Dylan, Los Angeles, 1977
Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley, San Francisco, 1972
Tina Turner, San Francisco, 1971
Ray Charles, Los Angeles, 1972

James Taylor, Lenox, Massachusetts, 2002
Joni Mitchell, Bel Air, California, 1999
Bruce Springsteen, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1999
Patti Smith, St. Clair Shores, Michigan, 1996

May these marvelous images strum your heart strings for lovely moments of old!

Classical?
OK, think for a minute what it means deep down to chronical AMERICAN music.
That would be music that comes from the Delta and from Chicago and spread from there as essential Blues, Jazz, Rock and Roll and later forms of Pop. Classical came to us from Europe, what these artists represent are the outcome of truly American born music. I'm staggered that anyone would not make that connection..
And yes, we know that some may find Iggy Pop "ugly", but American Music isn't all about chicks that look like Britney Spears..

Don't know what these other folks are talking about.
Gee. I've never heard that poor aesthetic quality is an essential element of art. I'm not even sure what "poor aesthetic quality" means. But if it describes the heartbreaking, iconic portrait of Johnny Cash and June Carter, then I surely want more of it. These are beautiful, sometimes funny and often emotionally moving pictures in which the subjects collaborate with the artist to present a certain face to the world. Maybe not all the faces are completely honest ones, but they're interesting and beautifully photographed.