Rick Koster,
Texas Music

Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Released: 1998 (hardcover), 2000 (softcover)

(2 out of 5)

Musician and journalist Rick Koster takes on a substantial challenge with Texas Music, the self-described "definitive history of Texas music from the 1920s to the present." Most writers who set out to document Texas music history limit their focus to one genre or several interrelated styles. Koster throws caution to the wind and tackles everything "from country and blues to rock and soul, jazz and folk to funk and rap." This is an ambitious work, but its lack of focus and frequently sophomoric prose limits its usefulness to anyone seeking more than a cursory introduction to Texas music.

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January 27, 2005