Following the Drums

John M. Shaw is a musicologist, musician, writer, and blogger, currently pursuing a doctorate at the University of Memphis. He contributed an essay to Shreveport Sounds in Black and White, published by University Press of Mississippi.

An ethnomusicologist in training, Shaw uncovers a history and tradition of musical activity, but attaches to that music a political importance that has been forgotten. Benevolent societies, civil rights groups, and political parties all saw the worth of music in setting and achieving their agenda. Shaw has illuminated the historical, political, and cultural importance of Black fife and drum music. His book will benefit a wide array of academics, including folklorists, anthropologists, political scientists, historians, and musicologists.--Michael T. Bertrand "Journal of East Tennessee History" John M. Shaw's book fills a hole not only by studying this music in Tennessee but also by providing a full historical account rather than just considering it as a vanished practice still maintained in some remote rural southern areas. . . . [The] book is an important addition to the study of the relationship of Black music-making to Black political aspirations.--Gerald Early "Journal of Southern History" This is a remarkable book, and its impressive documentation of newspaper accounts through imagery and expansive citations will be of interest to students of vernacular music and Southern history more generally.--Scott Barretta "Living Blues" John M. Shaw digs deep into primary materials from centuries past to excavate a history never assembled. His work on the Tennessee fife and drum tradition takes us to the political and social occasions that beckoned the musicians, illuminating not only Tennessee but the entire tradition as well--Mississippi, Georgia and other American pockets, and also the international roots as the sounds traveled from Africa. He'll get you hollerin' goat!--Robert Gordon, author of Can't Be Satisfied: The Life and Times of Muddy Waters and It Came From Memphis There is no other book even remotely like John M. Shaw's. Bolstered by illustrations and musical transcriptions, this book presents significant primary research and exceptionally detailed historical accounts of Black fife and drum bands.--Kip Lornell, author of Exploring American Folk Music: Ethnic, Grassroots, and Regional Traditions in the United States and coeditor of The Music of Multicultural America: Performance, Identity, and Community in the United States I've been searching for a book such as this for years. Following the Drums: African American Fife and Drum Music in Tennessee is valuable reading for those interested in southern and Tennessee history, musicology, and folklore. John M. Shaw offers the most comprehensive treatment solely on the African American fife and drum tradition, outside of Mississippi.--Jerrilyn McGregory, author of One Grand Noise: Boxing Day in the Anglicized Caribbean World and Downhome Gospel: African American Spiritual Activism in Wiregrass Country