Four Parts No Waiting

Four Parts No Waiting investigates the role that vernacular barbershop-style close harmony has played in American musical history in American life and in the American imagination. Starting with a discussion of the first craze for Austrian four-part close harmony in the 1830s Averill traces the popularity of this musical form in minstrel shows black recreational singing vaudeville early recordings and in the barbershop revival of the 1930s. In his exploration of barbershop Averill uncovers a rich musical tradition--a hybrid of black and white cultural forms practiced by amateurs and part of a mythologized vision of small-town American life. This engagingly-written often funny book critiques the nostalgic myths (especially racial myths) that have surrounded the barbershop revival but also celebrates the civic-minded participatory spirit of barbershop harmony. The text is accompanied by an audio CD.