Reverting to the original topic, I think it would be safe to say that (after a lot of trying), I have not run across a resource book that really sets out, in the American context, the serious musical elements of, let us say, the Carter Family and other very influential players and their styles -- how they actually played -- through to recent times, in a way that would help a listener to situate the myriad of records now available, historically and in an evolutionary perspective. There are a number of such things available in Jazz. There are liner notes and bits of books here and there -- but one useful primer to all the main folk/country playing styles and their evolution? I think it would be an amazing resource.

Each chapter could discuss/diagram the elements of the style (e.g. why is Travis picking innovative?), influences, etc., and the attached CD could play slow/fast versions for learners or interested listeners. There are videos and CDS all over the place of historic figures, but to put them together in a family tree is very hard work. It could be easier. It was only through picking through a myriad of things, books, records, and bugging Encyclopaedia/Guitar Man Rick that I have begun to get a sense of the playing lineages (e.g. Piedmont style sounds like this, and it differs from another style elsewhere in these ways, and these people did it this way). I bet this could all be bottled better.

yours, Peter T.