Fire in the Water, Earth in the Air: Legends of West Texas Music

by Christopher J. Oglesby

From Buddy Holly and the Crickets to the Flatlanders, Terry Allen, and Natalie Maines, Lubbock, Texas, has produced songwriters, musicians, and artists as prolifically as cotton, conservatives, and windstorms. While nobody questions where the conservatives come from in a city that a recent nonpartisan study ranked as America's second most conservative, many people wonder why Lubbock is such fertile ground for creative spirits who want to expand...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0292714343
• ISBN13: 9780292714342
• Release Date: September 2006
• Publisher: University of Texas Press
• Length: 302 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.1" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

WOW!

If you're curious about how it all started, wonder why this little area of Texas produced some of the greatest artists of our time, you NEED to read this book. Some of the artists covered are geniuses only slightly this side of mad; they are all amazing and one could come to believe, as some do, that aliens may have landed in Lubbock and be among them. Or maybe it's just Buddy Holly's ghost. How else do you explain the wild whimsy of a Bruce Hancock, the incredible breadth of a Terry Allen, the ability of Jo Harvey to shake us by our socks? You'll love every page.

Vortex

If you subscribe to the idea that certain areas of the world are natural conduits to creativity (and they're often the most UNLIKELY places on Earth), this book will definitely reinforce that notion. As a life-long Texan, I had no idea of the breadth of artistry that's emerged from the vast, desolate, seemingly limitless landscape that is Lubbock, Texas. Sure, I'd heard of Buddy Holly, Joe Ely, and the Flatlanders--what serious music lover in Texas or around the world hadn't? But to learn about this fountain of artists who may not be as well known yet have been just as prolific and, more importantly, just as influential--that was an eye-opener. It'll be one for you, too. If you love Texas music, buy this book. If you love music in general, or if you want an insight into the how the creative process is molded by a landscape, an environment, an ideal--buy this book. You'll come away informed, sated, but more importantly, curious. And it will open up a whole new avenue of inquiry for you. It did for me.