Ralph Peer and the Making of Popular Roots Music

November 1, 2014
Ralph Peer may not be a household name, but he is one of the most important figures in popular music history. In his own way, he was ahead of his timehe thought that what we now call roots music or Americana could appeal to a broad audience, and he was right. As Mazor, Peer's first biographer, notes, Peer was not a musicologist, a performer, or a composer; he was simply a businessman and a music publisher. But because of his work, the music of Jimmie Rodgers, the Carter Family, Louis Armstrong, Fats Waller, and Blind Willie McTell, among others, lives on. Mazor traces the career of the popular-music prophet through the years, including the recording of Mamie Smith's seminal Crazy Blues, which spawned the blues craze; the first country recordings (Peer's pioneering Bristol sessions in 192627 marked the birth of country music); the popularizing of Latin American music during WWII; and the arrival of R&B and rock and roll. No less than Harry Smith, of Anthology of American Folk Music (1952) fame, maintained that the modern era of folk music recordings began with Ralph Peer. Now Peer finally receives his due in this excellent biography.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)