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Podcast: New Books in Popular Culture
Episode: Cary Baker, "Down On The Corner: Adventures in Busking & Street Music" (Jawbone Press, 2025)
Description: This is the story of music performed on the streets, in subways, in parks, in schoolyards, on the back of flatbed trucks, and beyond, from the 1920s to the present day.
Drawing on years of interviews and eyewitness accounts, Down On The Corner (Jawbone Press, 2025) introduces readers to a wide range of locations and a myriad of musical genres, from folk to rock'n'roll, the blues to bluegrass, doo-wop to indie rock. Some of the performers he features--Lucinda Williams, Billy Bragg, The Violent Femmes--went on to become international stars; others settled into the curbs, sidewalks, and Tube stations as...