As my colleague Carol Hinz noted last week, this is always an exciting time of year for us at Lerner as we watch the fruits of our labor show up in bound form. One of the TFCB projects I’m most excited about for the Fall 2012 season is the American Music Milestones series. It’s a concise, colorful overview of major American musical genres, with a look at how each genre developed and the stars that populate and influence each musical world. In working on this amazingly fun series, a few good things happened:

1. I got to listen to a lot of music on YouTube. At work. Legitimately.

2. I learned a lot about rap and hip-hop and became a big fan. Especially of Latin hip-hop.

3. I worked with some wonderfully talented music writers.

4. I impressed my colleague Andrew Karre with my musical eclecticism. He thought I was only into opera. (His office is right next to mine so we hear each other’s music each and every day. Happily, he’s as adventurous musically as I am.)

Here’s a peak at the covers of the music books:

 

        

American Latin by Matt Doeden American Pop by Arie Kaplan American Hip-Hop by Nathan Sacks American R&B by Aaron Mendelson American Rock by Erik Farseth Check in for more from TFCB in two weeks!