Bound for Shady Grove is Steven Harvey's best book. It is both broadly lyrical and tight, in craft and thought. The descriptions of the music, building instruments, and playing instruments are wonderful. To my mind this is a remarkably distinguished book, unlike any collection of essays I have read.
Samuel F. Pickering Jr.
author of Living to Prowl
This wonderful volume is a first, a sensitively written personal reflection on the poetics and passions of mountain music. There have been studies, collections, and histories of Appalachian music, but now Steven Harvey, in essays attuned to the seasons of life and musical modes, has turned our attention to the complex ways in which fiddle tunes, ballads, and especially banjo picking can move heart and spirit.
Art Rosenbaum Steve Harvey is a keen, thoughtful observer who can make words sing. With this unique collection of essays, he paints a personalized portrait of mountain people, their music and its roots, and captures their spirit, dignity, and humor in a most infectious way. I liked this book a lot, or as we say in the mountains, 'a bushel and a peck and some in a gourd.'
Zell Miller This collection of essays about the South and its music is well crafted, lyrical, written by a keen observer of humankind. . . . Throughout Bound for Shady Grove Harvey allows us to see that music offers more than a way to express our sorrow—it offers consolation and joy.
Fourth Genre