The Official Website of Gene Autry, America's Favorite Singing Cowboy

News Archive: 2008

Holly George-Warren Winner of 2008 ARSC
Book Award for Public Cowboy No. 1:
The Life and Times of Gene Autry

Posted September 8, 2008

Congratulations to Holly George-Warren who is the winner of a 2008 Association of Recorded Sound Collections Award for Excellence in Historical Recorded Sound Research for her book Public Cowboy No. 1: The Life and Times of Gene Autry.

ANNAPOLIS, MD – September 3, 2008 – The Association for Recorded Sound Collections (ARSC) is pleased to announce the winners of the 2008 ARSC Awards for Excellence in Historical Recorded Sound Research. Begun in 1991, the awards are presented to authors and publishers of books, articles, liner notes, and monographs, to recognize outstanding published research in the field of recorded sound. In giving these awards, ARSC recognizes outstanding contributions, encourages high standards, and promotes awareness of superior works. A maximum of two awards is presented annually in each category—one for best history and one for best discography. Certificates of Merit are presented to runners-up of exceptionally high quality. The 2008 Awards for Excellence honor works published in 2007. Additionally, a Lifetime Achievement Award and Award for Distinguished Service to Historical Recordings are also presented annually. The 2008 winners are:

Best Research in Recorded Blues, Rhythm & Blues, or Soul Music

Best Discography:
The Gospel Discography: A Discography of Post-war African-American Gospel Records from 1943 to 1970, by Cedric Hayes (Eyeball Productions)

Best History:
How Britain Got the Blues: The Transmission and Reception of American Blues Style in the United Kingdom, by Roberta Freund Schwartz (Ashgate)

Certificate of Merit:
Cross the Water Blues: African American Music in Europe, ed. by Neil A. Wynn (University of Mississippi Press)

Best Research in Recorded Classical Music

Best Discography:
Joan Tower: The Comprehensive Bio-Bibliography, by Ellen K. Grolman (Scarecrow)

Best History:
Moondog: The Viking of 6th Avenue: The Authorized Biography, by Robert Scotto (Process)

Certificate of Merit:
Sigmund Romberg, by William A. Everett (Yale University Press)

Best Research in Recorded Country Music

Country Music Originals: The Legends and the Lost, by Tony Russell (Oxford University Press)

Certificates of Merit:
Charlie Monroe: I'm Old Kentucky Bound: His Recordings, 1938-1956, liner notes by Richard K. Spottswood (Bear Family)

Public Cowboy No. 1: The Life and Times of Gene Autry, by Holly George-Warren (Oxford University Press)

Whiskey River (Take My Mind): The True Story of Texas Honky-Tonk, by Johnny Bush with Rick Mitchell (University of Texas Press)

The Selling Sound: The Rise of the Country Music Industry, by Diane Pecknold (Duke University Press)

Best Research in Recorded Folk, Ethnic, or World Music

Best Discography:
Hawaiian & Hawaiian Guitar Records, 1891-1960, by T. Malcolm Rockwell (Mahina Piha Press)

Best History:
Dub: Soundscapes and Shattered Songs in Jamaican Reggae, by Michael E. Veal (Wesleyan University Press)

Best Research in General History of Recorded Sound

The Complete Guide to Vintage Children's Records: Identification & Value Guide, by Peter Muldavin (Collector's Books)

Best Research in Record Labels

Best Discography:
Beltona: A Label Listing and History, by William Dean-Myatt (City of London Phonogram Society)

Best History:
Horizons Touched: The Music of ECM, ed. by Steve Lake and Paul Griffiths (Granta)

Best Research in Recorded Jazz Music

Lennie Tristano: His Life in Music, by Eunmi Shim (University of Michigan Press)

Certificates of Merit:
Subversive Sounds: Race and the Birth of Jazz in New Orleans, by Charles Hersch (University of Chicago Press)

The Original Hot Five Recordings of Louis Armstrong, by Gene H. Anderson (Pendragon)

Ragtime: An Encyclopedia, Discography, and Sheetography, by David A. Jasen (Routledge)

Best Research in Recorded Popular Music

Best Discography:
The Complete New Zealand Music Charts, 1966-2006: Singles, Albums, DVDs, Compilations, by Dean Scapolo (Maurienne House)

Best History:
Lonely Avenue: The Unlikely Life and Times of Doc Pomus, by Alex Halberstadt (Da Capo)

Certificate of Merit:
Tearing Down the Wall of Sound: The Rise and Fall of Phil Spector, by Mick Brown (Knopf)

Best Research in Recorded Rock Music

Best Discography:
The Beatles Swan Song: "She Loves You" & Other Records, by Bruce Spizer (498 Productions)

Best History:
Inside the Music of Brian Wilson: The Songs, Sounds, and Influences of the Beach Boys' Founding Genius, by Philip Lambert (Continuum)

Certificate of Merit:
Jimmy Page: Magus, Musician, Man: An Unauthorized Biography, by George Case (Hal Leonard)

2008 Lifetime Achievement Award
presented to Jerry Weber

The Lifetime Achievement Award is presented annually to an individual in recognition of his or her life's work in published recorded sound research. Jerome F. Weber (better known to his ARSC colleagues as Jerry), is recognized for the depth and breadth of his discographical research. Weber has spent much of his lifetime surveying many kinds of music. His religious vocation gave him a logical entrée for the examination of the considerable body of recorded Gregorian Chant, culminating in 1990 with the publication of a definitive two volume discography of this music. Weber has also researched, compiled and published a large series of discographies of music by various composers—Schubert Lieder (1970), Brahms Lieder (1970), Schumann Lieder (1971), Mahler (1971), Hugo Wolf (1975), and Schubert's Great C Major Symphony, D.944 (2000), to name but a few. In addition to his published discographies, Weber has also written articles on Medieval music, and has been a reviewer of recordings for Fanfare for many years. His pioneering studies on the ‘science' of discography—a scholarly approach to organizing data about recordings—have appeared in the ARSC Journal.

2008 Award for Distinguished Service to Historical Recordings presented to Sam Brylawski

The Award for Distinguished Service to Historical Recordings is presented annually to an individual who has made contributions of outstanding significance to the field of historical recordings in forms other than published works or discographic research. Sam Brylawski has worked in nearly every aspect of recorded sound archiving, has been involved in many of the most significant initiatives over the past thirty years, and has served as a national leader in the field. Brylawski began his career as a transfer engineer at the Library of Congress in the early 1970s. He was promoted to Curator of Recorded Sound in the early 1990s, and in 1996, he became head of the re-formed Recorded Sound Section of the Motion Picture, Broadcasting, and Recorded Sound Division, a position he held until his retirement in 2004. Under his leadership the Library acquired many significant collections of commercial and non-commercial recordings, significant broadcast recording collections, and, for the first time in recorded sound at LC, major manuscript collections. He worked on the passage of the National Recording Preservation Act of 2000, resulting in the establishment of the National Recording Preservation Board (NRPB), where he continues to serve as advisor to the Library for the Board. In addition, he served on the executive team that planned the National Audio-Visual Conservation Center in Culpeper, Virginia.

Brylawski has also authored articles and liner notes and produced CDs and websites. He is the founding curator of the Bob Hope Gallery of American Entertainment at the Library and the Library of Congress Ira Gershwin Gallery in the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. After his retirement from LC in 2004, he was appointed as Editor and Project Manager of the Encyclopedic Discography of Victor Recordings by the University of California, Santa Barbara. As editor he has brought this long-awaited project to fruition as a web database and continues working on the goal of a comprehensive database of all standard groove discs. Brylawski has served ARSC as Program Chair and as President and is a member of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. He continues to work on national policy initiatives and lead the profession through his vast experience, wisdom, and humor.

2008 ARSC Awards Committee

Winners are chosen by the ARSC Awards Committee which consists of five elected judges representing specific fields of study, the ARSC President, and the Book Review Editor of the ARSC Journal. The members of the 2008 ARSC Awards Committee are:

Robert Iannapollo (Awards Committee Co-Chair)
Roberta Freund-Schwartz (Awards Committee Co-Chair)
Sam Brylawski (ARSC President)
Brenda Nelson-Strauss (ARSC Past-President)
Jim Farrington (Book Review Editor, ARSC Journal)
David Hamilton (Classical Music Judge)
Kip Lornell (Judge-At-Large)
Dan Morgenstern (Jazz Music Judge)
William L. Schurk (Popular Music Judge)
Dick Spottswood (Judge-at-Large)

The Association for Recorded Sound Collections (ARSC) is a non-profit organization devoted to the preservation and study of historical recordings. Its members include both private collectors and representatives of some of the world's largest public archives. ARSC's principal activities include publication of a scholarly journal and newsletter, an annual conference, and support of scholarship and audio preservation through grants and Association projects. Additional information about ARSC, including lists of past ARSC Award Winners and Finalists, may be found at www.arsc-audio.org.




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