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The Cambridge Companion to the Singer-Songwriter. Edited by Katherine Williams and Justin A. Williams. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016. [xvi, 366 p. ISBN 9781107063648 (hardback), $89.99; ISBN 9781107680913 (paperback), $29.99; ISBN 9781316496664 (e-book), $24.] Musical examples, tables, illustrations, figures, bibliography, index.
Songwriters have long performed their own works, but the concept of "singersongwriter" music as a genre developed in the second half of the twentieth century. Editors Katherine Williams and Justin A. Williams present an overview of the tradition, starting with its roots through the present day. They discuss its origins and practices in the United States and in a selection of countries around the world.
The Companion is in five parts: "Establishing a Tradition," "Individuals," "Men and Women," "Frameworks and Methods," and "Global Perspectives." The contributors hail from the United States, Britain, Scotland, Wales, New Zealand, and, in one case, Japan. Most are academically affiliated as educators or doctoral candidates (at publication), with interests that encompass English, anthropology, and sociology, and the expected music-related areas such as musicology and theory. Katherine Williams contributes an essay as well; her co-editor Justin Williams does not.
The editors set a formidable task for themselves and their contributors. Although those who love and perform popular music will recognize examples of the genre when they hear it, the term "singersongwriter" is a slippery one to define. Tim Wise describes the singer-songwriter as a person "who composes and performs his or her own songs, typically to acoustic guitar or piano accompaniment" (Continuum Ency clopedia of Popular Music of the Worlds, vol. 8 [London: Bloomsbury, 2012], 430-33). The editors settle on this definition, which is intentionally broad and allows for a wide range of musical styles to be discussed.
Such an expansive definition can lead to questionable subject choices and omissions. Why completely omit people such as Harry Chapin and Tom Paxton, and mention others such as Leonard Cohen, Cyril Tawney, Paul Simon, and Donovan (Leitch) only in passing? Why focus on German lied composers but ignore the songs of John Dowland? No single book can cover every important singer-songwriter or aspect of the genre, especially with a global approach, and the editors could expand the scope of this book in a subsequent edition or as a second volume.
Part I,...