Music in the Westward Expansion: Songs of Heart and Place on the American Frontier - Paperback

by Laura Dean (Author)

Over 400,000 people moved their families in search of a better life in the American West during the Westward Expansion. The pioneers made room for musical instruments with their guns, food, and tools, while taking only the minimal necessities that would fit into modest wagons. During what seemed like an interminable dusty journey, music was often the sole source of light and happiness for these exhausted travelers.

This book examines the roles of music in the Westward Expansion and the diverse cultural landscape of the Old West, including northern Cheyenne courtship flute makers, fiddle-playing explorers, dancing fur trappers, hymn-singing missionaries, frontier flutists, girls with guitars, wagon-driving balladeers, poetic cowboys, singing farmers, musical miners, and preaching songsters.

Author Biography

Laura Dean's music career spans 25+ years and includes audiences in the United States, Europe, and Mexico. She lives in Seattle, Washington, where she performs, teaches, writes, records, creates music curricula, and offers private and public concerts along with school/community residencies and music education workshops.