Part travelogue, part musical history, Amanda Petrusich's It Still Moves outlines the sounds of the new, weird America--honoring the rich traditions of gospel, blues, country, folk, and rock that feed it while simultaneously exploring the American character as personified by its songs and landscapes. Through interviews, road stories, and rich music criticism, Petrusich traces the rise of Americana music from its early origins to its new and compelling incarnations--from Elvis to Iron and Wine, the Carter Family to Animal Collective, Charley Patton to Wilco. Ultimately, It Still Moves is a fervent attempt to reconcile the American past with the American present, using only dusty records and highway maps as guides. Amanda Petrusich is a staff writer at Pitchforkmedia.com and a senior contributing editor at Paste. She is the author of Pink Moon, a short book about Nick Drake's 1972 album for Continuum's 33 1/3 series. Part travelogue, part cultural criticism, part musical history, It Still Moves does for today's avant folk scene what Greil Marcus did for Dylan and The Basement Tapes. Amanda Petrusich outlines the sounds of the new, weird America--honoring the rich tradition of gospel, bluegrass, country, folk, and rock that feeds it, while simultaneously exploring the American character as personified in all of these genres historically.

Through interviews, road stories, geographical and sociological interpretations, and detailed music criticism, Petrusich traces the rise of Americana music from its gospel origins through its new and compelling incarnations (as evidenced in bands and artists from Elvis to Iron and Wine, the Carter Family to Animal Collective, Johnny Cash to Will Oldham) and explores how the genre is adapting to the twenty-first century. Ultimately the book is an examination of all things American: guitars, cars, kids, motion, passion, enterprise, and change, in a fervent attempt to reconcile the American past with the American present, using only dusty records and highway maps as guides. Like a smart, genial Persephone, Amanda Petrusich wanders the underworld of American roots music and reports back her insights with an open mind and an open heart. She has a respect for history and an even greater respect for the passion that keeps history alive and meaningful.--Anthony DeCurtis, Contributing Editor, Rolling Stone Petrusich, a contributing editor at Paste magazine, spent months looping through rural America, searching for 'the songs I love--Americana music, craggy, tottering, uncontrollable country, blues, and folk--to see where they started, and what they've since inspired.' The hunt began in Nashville, ground zero for Cash and Jennings, and expanded outward, in concentric circles across the country. It Still Moves is an act of synthesis. Part travelogue, part history lesson on the rise of Americana music--'infused with the vitality of the landscapes from which it has sprung'--it's heavily reliant on texts by Peter Guralnick, among others.

Not much is new here, and that's the point; Petrusich, a twentysomething Brooklynite, is excavating a musical mosaic completed before she was born . The results are thrilling. At her best, Petrusich is both awe-struck and erudite, injecting the knotty history of Americana with a personable warmth. Her heroes become our own.--Matthew Shaer, Los Angeles Times In It Still Moves, Amanda Petrusich enthuses about music, describes it skillfully, and travels through the South and part of the Northeast in her ambitious quest to find the 'Next American Music, ' putting miles on her car and food in her mouth and visiting relevant places and people while drawing on solid research on American music history.--David Maloof, The Boston Globe Petrusich, a pop music critic for the New York Times, takes readers along on this 'search for the next American music.' The title is a whole-hearted yes to the question of whether American music still matters, still moves people. But she takes.