I just found "The Phantom Banjo" the first in Elisabeth Scarborough's Songkiller Series in a used book store today. I read the back cover and just had to have it! It is almost too prophetic, given the attacks on Mudcat and the oral tradition in general by ASCAP, Harry Fox and the music industry overall.

From the Cover:

"The Mankind Project was going pretty well, thought the devils. Raila strife: up. Poverty and homelessness: up. Moreal decay: way up. Mistrust of government: off the scale. But despite their best efforts, those ornery humans still managed to avoid destroying themselves. The devils had been waiting for the Big One for years, but every time it seem to be just round the corner, phht: nothing.

Ehsy in Hell was the problem? After much research, it became clear that only one thing was keeping mankind's fingers clinging to the precipice - music ! And not just any music - the devils quite liked some of the popular stuff= but FOLK MUSIC: the songs people sang when they were stranded in dust bowls, chained in slavery, working in dank and dangerous mines; the songs that gave oeople the strength to carry on.

The answer was clear: Folk music had to go. The devils didn't think it would be too hard. A few bureaucrates, a few licensing laws, a few well-timed accidents, and folk music would be musical history. One by one the performers, and worse, the songs would disappear. But the devils hadn't counted on the power of the music, the strength of the human spirit- or the magic that lay inside one enchanted banjo..."

Just my type of book!!!!

JAB

p.s. Kat: thanks for the reviews above!