FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Association For Recorded Sound Collections Announces the Finalists for the ARSC Awards for
Excellence
Eugene, Oregon – June 17, 2024
The Association for Recorded Sound Collections is pleased to announce the finalists for the 2024
ARSC Awards for Excellence in Historical Recorded Sound Research. Additional information
about the ARSC Awards for Excellence can be found at www.arsc-audio.org/awards.
Begun in 1991, the ARSC Awards are given to authors of books, articles or recording liner notes
to recognize those publishing the very best work today in recorded sound research. In giving
these awards, ARSC recognizes the contributions of these individuals and aims to encourage
others to emulate their high standards and to promote readership of their work. Awards are
presented annually in each category for best history and best discography, and others may be
acknowledged with Certificates of Merit. Awards are presented to both the authors and
publishers of winning publications.
Finalists and winners are chosen by a committee consisting of three elected judges representing
specific fields of study, two judges-at-large, the review editor of the ARSC Journal and the
President or past President of ARSC or their designee. The 2024 ARSC Awards Committee
consists of the following:
Rob Bamberger (Jazz Music Judge); Diane Napert (Classical Music Judge); Kyle Barnett
(Popular Music Judge); Melisssa Weber (Judge-At-Large); Richard Spottswood (Judge-at-
Large); James Farrington (Book Review Editor, ARSC Journal); Cece Otto (ARSC President’s
designee); and Roberta Freund Schwartz (Awards Committee Chair).
The 2024 Awards for Excellence honor books published in 2023.
BEST RESEARCH IN RECORDED POPULAR MUSIC
Stephen Bruel, Remastering Music and Cultural Heritage: Case Studies from Iconic Original
Recordings to Modern Remasters (Focal Press)
Laura Flam and Emily Sieu Liebowitz, But Will You Love Me Tomorrow?: An Oral History of
the ’60s Girl Groups (Hachette Books)
Brigette Adair Herron and Scott Creney, The Story of the B-52's: Neon Side of Town (Palgrave
Macmillan)
Allyson McCabe, Why Sinéad O'Connor Matters (University of Texas Press)
Neil O’Connor, Dark Waves: The Synthesizer and the Dystopian Sound of Britain (1977-1980)
(Rowman & Littlefield)
Nate Patrin, The Needle and the Lens: Pop Goes to the Movies from Rock ’n’ Roll to Synthwave
(University of Minnesota Press)
Douglas Reside, Fixing the Musical: How Technologies Shaped the Broadway Repertoire
(Oxford University Press)
Victor Szabo, Turn On, Tune In, Drift Off: Ambient Music's Psychedelic Past (Oxford University
Press)
BEST RESEARCH IN RECORDED ROCK MUSIC
John Brackett, Live Dead: The Grateful Dead, Live Recordings, and the Ideology of Liveness
(Duke University Press)
Will Hermes, Lou Reed: The King of New York (Farrar, Strauss and Giroux)
Rory Hoy, All You Need is HELP! (New Haven Publishing)
Judson L. Jeffries, Shannon M. Cochran, and Molly Reinhoudt, Feel My Big Guitar: Prince and
the Sound He Helped Create (University Press of Mississippi)
Jen B. Larsen, Hit Girls: Women of Punk in the USA, 1975-1983 (Feral House)
Paul Metsa and Rick Shefchik, Blood on the Tracks: The Minnesota Musicians Behind Dylan's
Masterpiece (University of Minnesota Press)
Kevin Mulryne, Yes: The Tormato Story (Five Per Cent Something Publishing)
Philip Norman, George Harrison: The Reluctant Beatle (Scribner)
Alex Pappademus and Joan LeMay, Quantum Criminals: Ramblers, Wild Gamblers, and Other
Sole Survivors from the Songs of Steely Dan (University of Texas Press)
Martin Popoff, The Who & Quadrophenia (Motorbooks)
Martin Popoff, Pink Floyd and The Dark Side of the Moon: 50 Years (Motorbooks)
Romund Ollivier and and Olivier Roubin, Elton John All the Songs: The Story Behind Every
Track (Black Dog & Leventhal)
Nicholas Tochka, Rocking in the Free World: Popular Music and the Politics of Freedom in
Postwar America (Oxford University Press)
Warren Zanes, Deliver Me from Nowhere: The Making of Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska
(Crown)
BEST HISTORICA RESEARCH IN RECORDED CLASSICAL MUSIC
James Hepkoski, ““Listen and Be Amazed!”: Odeon, Künneke, and the First Recordings of
Complete Symphonies” (Journal of the American Musicological Society 76/1): 113-167.
Sophia Lambton, The Callas Imprint: A Centennial Biography (Crepuscular Press)
Richard Masters, Encyclopedia of American Classical Pianists, 1980s to the Present (Rowman
& Littlefield)
Howard Pollack, Samuel Barber: His Life and Legacy (University of Illinois Press)
Harvey Sachs, Schoenberg: Why He Matters (Liveright Press)
Paul Spicer, Sir Arthur Bliss: Standing Out from the Crowd (Crowood Press)
BEST HISTORICAL RESEARCH IN RECORDED JAZZ
Con Chapman, Kansas City Jazz: A Little Evil Will Do You Good (Equinox Publishing Ltd.)
Stephanie Crease, Rhythm Man: Chick Webb and the Beat that Changed America (Oxford
University Press)
Kurt Dietrich, Never Givin' Up: The Life and Music of Al Jarreau (Wisconsin Historical Society
Press)
Carmel Fields, Going Back to T-Town: The Ernie Fields Territory Big Band (University of
Oklahoma Press)
Burgin Mathews, Magic City: How the Birmingham Jazz Tradition Shaped the Sound of America
(University of North Carolina Press)
Brad Mehldau, Formation: Building a Personal Canon, Part 1 (Equinox Publishing Ltd.)
Sean Mills, Eric Fillion and Désirée Rochat, Statesman of the Piano: Jazz, Race, and History in
the Life of Lou Hooper (McGill-Queens University Press)
Matt Phillips, John McLaughlin: From Miles to Mahavishnu to the 4th Dimension (Rowman &
Littlefield)
Judith Tick, Becoming Ella Fitzgerald: The Jazz Singer Who Transformed American Song (W.
W. Norton)
Alyn Shipton, The Gerry Mulligan 1950s Quartets (Oxford University Press)
Sam Stephenson, The Jazz Loft Project: Photographs and Tapes of W. Eugene Smith from 821
Sixth Avenue, 1957–1965 (University of Chicago Press)
Patricia Zarate de Perez, Reimagining Panama's Musical and Cultural Narratives of Jazz:
Panamanian Suite (Lexington Books)
BEST HISTORICAL RESEARCH IN RECORDED COUNTRY, FOLK, WORLD, OR
ROOTS MUSIC
Ya-Hui Cheng, The Evolution of Chinese Popular Music Modernization and Globalization, 1927
to the Present (Ashgate)
Amanda Minks, Indigenous Audibilities: Music, Heritage, and Collections in the Americas
(Oxford University Press)
Paulo Piccio, Laura Escalada Piazzolla, Daniel Villaflor Piazzolla; trans. Sir N. Antonio Peruch,
Astor Piazzolla. The Father of the Nuevo Tango: Chronology, Works, and Annotated
Discography (Edizione Curzi)
Anastasia Gordienko, Outlaw Music in Russia: The Rise of an Unlikely Genre (University of
Wisconsin Press)
Mark Guarino, Country and Midwestern: Chicago in the History of Country Music and the Folk
Revival (University of Chicago Press)
Marysol Quevedo, Cuban Music Counterpoints: Vanguardia Musical in Global Networks
(Oxford University Press
Michael Streissguth, Highways and Heartaches: How Ricky Skaggs, Marty Stuart, and Children
of the New South Saved the Soul of Country Music (Hachette Books)
John Szwed, Cosmic Scholar: The Life and Times of Harry Smith (Farrar, Strauss and Giroux)
Jesse Gerlach Ulmer, The Cohen Brothers and American Roots Music (McFarland & Company)
James Walvin, Amazing Grace: The Cultural History of a Beloved Hymn (University of
California Press)
BEST HISTORICAL RESEARCH IN RECORDED BLUES, R&B, GOSPEL, HIP HOP,
FUNK OR SOUL MUSIC
Daneil Bedrosian, The Authorized P-Funk Song Reference: The Official Canon of Parliament
Funkadelic 1956-2023 (Rowman & Littlefield)
Darryl W Bullok, Queer Blues: The Hidden Figures of Early Blues Music (Omnibus Press)
Amy Coddington, How Hip Hop Became Hit Pop: Radio, Rap, and Race (University of
California Press)
Lynneé Denise, Why Willie Mae Thornton Matters (University of Texas Press)
Juanita Karpf, From Biblical Book to Musical Megahit: William B. Bradbury’s Esther, the
Beautiful Queen (University Press of Mississippi)
Reiland Rabaka, Black Women's Liberation Movement Music Soul Sisters, Black Feminist
Funksters, and Afro-Disco Divas (Routledge)
Guido van Rijn, The Chicago Blues of Jazz Gillum (Agram Books)
Matthew Ruddick, Funkiest Man Alive: Rufus Thomas and Memphis Soul (University Press of
Mississippi)
Sly Stone with Ben Greenman, Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin): A Memoir (AUWA)
BEST HISTORICAL RESEARCH ON RECORD LABELS OR GENERAL RECORDING
TOPICS
Richard Bauman with Patrick Feaster, A Most Valuable Medium: The Remediation of Oral
Performance on Early Commercial Recordings (Indiana University Press)
Stephan Coates, Bone Music: Soviet X-Ray Audio
Mark Cantor, The Soundies: A History and Catalog of Jukebox Film Shorts of the 1940s
(McFarland & Company)
Katherine Rye Jewell, Live from the Underground: A History of College Radio (University of
North Carolina Press)
Marc Masters, High Bias: The Distorted History of the Cassette Tape (University of North
Carolina Press)
David Menconi, Oh, Didn't They Ramble: Rounder Records and the Transformation of American
Roots Music (University of North Carolina Press)
Eva Moreda Rodriguez and Inja Stanović, Early Sound Recordings: Academic Research and
Practice (Routledge)
Elodie A. Roy, Shellac in Visual and Sonic Culture (Amsterdam University Press)
Joel Selvin with Chris Strachwitz, Arhoolie Records Down Home Music: The Stories and
Photographs of Chris Strachwitz (Chronicle Books)
Howie Singer and Bill Rosenblatt, Key Changes: The Ten Times Technology Transformed the
Music Industry (Oxford University Press)
Contact:
Roberta Freund Schwartz
Chair, ARSC Awards Committee
