Texas Music was born at the crossroads of America. And it has 
reached out from there to touch the world. Texas has been a 
remarkably fertile seedbed for music coming from every point of 
the compass, and few places on any continent have produced 
musical styles and musicians whose artistic and cultural impact 
have been so profound on a national and international scale. 
Name virtually any style of music and there is a Texas musician 
whose popularity and influence have been enormous and pivotal in 
that genre—from the ragtime of Scott Joplin to the Tejano music 
of Selena, the electrifying blues guitar of T-Bone Walker to the 
distinctive country vocal styling of Willie Nelson, the bluesy wail
of rocker Janis Joplin to the frantic rockabilly drive of Buddy Holly
and the subtle piano jazz of Teddy Wilson.

    The Handbook of Texas Music documents all of these and many 
more. It is a comprehensive, authoritative source on Texas 
music—an encyclopedia and biographical dictionary that covers 
all aspects of Texas music, including over 125 striking illustrations
of performers and musical artifacts.

    For centuries Texas has been a musical and cultural crossroads,
and The Handbook of Texas Music carefully documents the
complex convergence of numerous musical and cultural traditions
in this state where east meets west, southern plantations meet
high plains ranches, and where an ethnically diverse American
culture shares an international border with Mexico. The music of
American Indians, Anglo-Americans, African Americans, Mexican
Americans, and numerous immigrant groups—Germans, Czechs,
and Cajuns, among many others—was brought to Texas from
every direction. These groups crossed paths, and for centuries have
been swapping songs and styles ranging from ancient fiddle tunes to
lively polkas and boogie-woogie piano stomps. The stories of Texas
music are as powerful as the music itself, and The Handbook of
Texas Music tells those stories well. 
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