With a title like How The Hippies Ruin’t Hillbilly Music, how can you resist?
This self-published book by Stephen T. Wishnevsky was released in late 2006, but had escaped our attention until now. It is described as “a concise compendium of recollections delineating and memorializing the Old Time String Band Revival 1960-2000.”
Wishnevsky, who also goes by “Wish,” is known for building interesting and unique stringed instruments, primarily guitars and basses. In his blog at Amazon.com, he indicates why the book was written.
This book, “How The Hippies…” documents a little part of history I was involved in. At the tail end of the Folk Scare, a lot of hippies moved to the country. There they learned local customs and music, and all unaware, saved a slice of Americana that was in immediate danger of vanishing. It was odd, and a lot of fun. So I interviewed a bunch of old friends and role models and tapped out this book.
One wonders whether the locals who welcomed these folks into their communities might tell the story a bit differently?
In any event, the book looks like a hoot and should be a fun read for anyone who took part in the old time revival which he describes. Interviews are included with Mike Seeger and Roger Sprung among many others.
How the Hippies Ruin’t Hillbilly Music can be ordered from Wishnevsky.com, or from Amazon and other online booksellers.
