Petrusich's attention to detail is one of the things that makes it hard to focus in on the important details while reading the book. She goes off on many tangents and by the time she gets back to her main point the reader forgets what the main point was. She said herself, "I would rather discuss what the weather was like in Portland the month the band was recording, if the bassist's sister had her baby, what everyone ate for breakfast, or how hard it was to get off work" (15-16). These points she would rather pursue are going to take away from her main inquiry: how did americana change, where did they start, how do we influence americana music, and how is americana transforming as the people of america change? If she would have had more interest in how the recording went or how a band's style of music has changed over time, her answers for her questions would have been different. Some of the tangents she goes on, such as talking about how she lived in Brooklyn, didn't have much impact on the inquiry itself. Rather it gave a background on the author, but that's not why we're reading the book.
2. Reflect on what you observe
The white mans inability to mimic the sound of the black mans R&B was in fact a good thing and helped bring about rock'n'roll. But the one man that started it all was Elvis Presley. His song "That's All Right (Mama)" was the first successful interpretation of the black mans music by a white guy. Presley single handedly created a new sound. The sound first being called rockabilly and then morphing into what we know as rock'n'roll. Being the first in this new sound made Presley a huge hit and landed him tons of songs that landed on the top 100's chart. But although Presley was in the limelight, Sam Phillips was the man behind the glass in the recording booth that was making all this happen. He should be viewed as the man who started rock'n'roll. Sure Presley was the one singing and coming up with the songs, but none of that would have been possible had Phillips not made all the elaborate setups to make the new sound of rock'n'roll possible.
3.Engage with the ideas of others
Although I think Petrusich's attention to the wrong details takes away from her main inquiry, I do see why she would be more interested in the weather or what they had for breakfast. All these things do effect how the band plays and how their recording is going to go. If it's raining and just ugly weather that all effects the mood of the band and their recording probably will not be as good if it was sunny. If they ate they favorite breakfast then they'll go into the studio with a positive attitude and make better music. Yes it is important to know how the recording went and why the song is or isn't recorded in 3/4, but there are other factors that go into music that are outside the relm of music itself. All those random things that Petrusich is interested in asking questions about do play a roll in the way the music is recorded and how the music is being written.
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