Positive Reviews for Prof. Taylor Hagood's Stringbean

Positive reviews are already rolling in for Professor Taylor Hagood's Stringbean: The Life and Murder of a Country Music Legend (available on May 2).

According to Chris Sharp in The Bluegrass Standard:

This scholarly work varies in tone and readability, from a fascinating biography and history to a detective novel. Pulling off such enjoyability in a scholarly work is remarkable. Well done, Taylor Hagood. I could not put the book down once I started.

Sharp suggests that Hagood's book is a reminder of the importance of David “Stringbean” Akeman to folk, bluegrass, and country music, as well as to Akeman's many friends and fans.

Also, check out the preview of Stringbean: The Life and Murder of a Country Music Legend—with commentary from Hagood—at Bluegrass Today. Speaking to Richard Thompson, Hagood explains his early interest in David “Stringbean” Akeman:

I first saw a photo of Stringbean in a library book when I was maybe twelve years old. I thought he was the strangest looking fellow I could imagine. I was already obsessed with old-time music, especially Jimmie Rodgers, and I loved the banjo from seeing Roy Clark play it on Hee Haw (there is at least one photo of Jimmie Rodgers playing the banjo too). Around that time, I managed to pester my parents into buying me a Harmony banjo from Sears, and they were kind enough to take me to the Country Music Hall of Fame. There I saw Stringbean’s Vega #9, and was blown away with what a banjo could be. While I gawked at the instrument, my eyes roving over the engraved inlays and the dark area on the head where Stringbean’s fingers had worn away the coating, my parents got to talking about how Stringbean had been killed.

Read Chris Sharp's review of Stringbean: The Life and Murder of a Country Music Legend in The Bluegrass Standard and check out the book preview at Bluegrass Today.

Stringbean: The Life and Murder of a Country Music Legend will be available on May 2, 2023. You can read more about Hagood's Stringbean: The Life and Murder of a Country Music Legend at the University of Illinois Press, and read more about Prof. Taylor Hagood here and at his website, taylorhagood.com.