America's Songs II - Songs from the 1890s to the Post-War Years by Michael Lasser PLUS 2 tickets to You Oughta Be in Pictures Featuring Michael Lasser on Sunday, May 18, 2014 at The Harley School, 1981 Clover Street, Rochester, NY Doors Open at 1:00 PM. Concert Begins at 2:00 PM with Cindy Miller and Alan Jones. America's Songs II - Songs from the 1890s to the Post-War Years tells more stories behind the most beloved popular songs of the last century, revealing the many ways in which the creative collaborations between composer and lyricist led to songs that combined rich melodies, sophisticated harmonies, and smart rhythms with lyrics that reflected the slangy vitality of American speech, creating music both timeless and emotionally resonant. This companion to the best selling America's Songs reveals how intention and intuition, hard work and good luck, and beneath it all, an implicit sense of mastery, helped craft some of these golden standards of American musical history, and uncovers a rich trove of anecdotes that explore the intricacies of these dynamic relationships between some of the 20th century's best-known composers and lyricists. Beginning with the transformation of Tin Pan Alley in the 1890s and ending with the birth of rock 'n' roll and emergence of youth culture in the 1950s, the book also traces how ragtime, jazz, and the blues spread across the country to reshape American music in the century's first decades, and how that music played a major role in changing American attitudes and behavior. America's Songs II is a must-read for anyone interested in the history of the songs that America loves. Michael Lasser is a lecturer, writer, broadcaster, critic, and teacher. Since 1980, he has been the host of the nationally syndicated public radio show, Fascinatin' Rhythm, winner of a 1994 Peabody Award.