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This landmark book, chock full of new and fascinating information about the infancy of the recording industry (a topic that has received far too little scholarly attention), deserves a prominent place in the library of anyone interested in what could broadly be characterized as "post-Reconstruction vernacular music in the United States." Lost Sounds will rarely be read straight through from cover to cover because it is a series of discrete essays about individuals or groups whose recordings played a critical role in the early recording industry. Handsomely illustrated by label shots and photographs (many from record catalogs and sheet music covers), its design, indeed the title alone, invites readers to explore these essays steeped in the wealth of important primary and secondary information that Brooks has uncovered and explores in his detailed but not jargon-laden or overly dense prose.
Divided into six chronological sections comprising essays of varying lengths, Lost Sounds begins with its most comprehensive and interesting piece: "George W. Johnson, the First Black Recording Artist." Born around 1846 not far from one of...