Songs of America (Meacham & McGraw)

Songs of America: Patriotism, Protest, and the Music That Made a Nation, Jon Meacham and Tim McGraw (2019)

Not really a review, just reminding myself about some of the details of what I read ...

A couple months back, I got to see Tim McGraw and Jon Meacham at The Beacon Theater. I put the names in that order because, frankly, I had no clue who Meacham was, and I was going to see and hear Tim McGraw. Yeah, it wasn't that kind of show. Not that it was bad. It was basically an evening of talk and song that promoted their new book, which was conveniently on sale in the lobby. I got my copy from the library. Twice -- there was such a demand that I couldn't renew it without waiting again.

The book analyzes how music has influenced and been influenced by events in American history, going back as far as "The Liberty Song" written by John Dickenson in the years before the first Continental Congress.

Meacham is a presidential biographer, and that experience is on display here, but as he acknowledges in the closing pages, people want to hear Tim sing more than Meacham type. During the show, I didn't think Tim sung enough, and he deferred quite a bit to Meacham during their discussions. So much so that when the two of them appeared on The Late Show, Meacham did most of the talking, and Tim didn't even get to sing.

So Meacham wrote the narrative, which is offset by boxed text where McGraw writes his thoughts and memories concerning specific songs and people who were discussed in the main text. There wasn't enough of that for my taste, but what are you going to do.

I guess it's a case of enjoying the book I got even if it wasn't quite the one I wanted.

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