History of Texas Music - Hartman

The Texas Observer offers a lengthy review: And the Beats Go On Michael Hoinski | August 22, 2008 | Books & the Culture - It begins: "Music has proved a wand of empowerment for the vast array of Texans who have wielded it. The state's native inhabitants ramped up their tribal music in part to free themselves from the incoming Spanish settlers. Later, Mexicans played conjunto to unburden themselves of the white man, while blacks played the blues as a way to loosen those same chains. Even the whites played music to free themselves—from their history, expectations self-imposed and otherwise, and in some cases their homelands. This between-the-lines conclusion—that music enables transcendence—grows out of Hartman's thesis: that Texas' ethnic diversity has engendered a musical cross-pollination that forms the backbone of American music." Hoinski also refers to "Rick Koster's Texas Music for a more colorful take and The Handbook of Texas Music, compiled by multiple editors" READ MORE  OF THIS OBSERVATION AT http://www.texasobserver.org/article.php?aid=2830