Laborfest: Book reading: Workin' Man Blues, Country Music In California

Book reading by Gerald Haslam
Gerald Haslam’s book looks at the social conditions that country music expressed in California. Many of these singers migrated to California to escape the poverty and economic collapse of the dustbowl and their songs reflected their lives and struggles for survival, love and the beauty of life. This rich history is developed in the context of these individual stories that are woven together as a song.
Awards to Gerald Haslam:
2006 -- Josephine Miles National Literary Award for Haslam's Valley
2005 -- Delbert and Edith Wylder Award (“for Exceptional Service”) Western Literature Association
2004 -- Certificate of Commendation, California Arts Council
2003 -- Sequoia -- Giant of the Valley Award, The Great Valley Center
2001 -- Western States Book Award for Straight White Male
2001 -- Silver Medal, ForeWord magazine fiction book of the year for Straight White Male
2001 -- Carey McWilliams Award, California Studies Association
2001 -- Certificate of Commendation, American Association for State and Local History for Workin' Man Blues
2000 -- Ralph J. Gleason Award from Rolling Stone, BMI, NYU for Workin' Man Blues
1999 -- Distinguished Achievement Award, Western Literature Association
1999 -- Coming of Age in California selected as one of the 20th Century's top 100 non-fiction books from the West in a San Francisco Chronicle poll.
1998 -- Bakersfield Centennial Literature Award
1998 -- Laureate, San Francisco Library Foundation
1994 -- Commonwealth Club Medal for Californiana for The Great Central Valley
1994 -- Award of Merit from the Association of State and Local History for The Great Central Valley
1994 -- Honorable Mention (finalist) PEN USA West Nonfiction Award for The Great Central Valley
1993 -- Bay Area Book Reviewers’ Association Award for Nonfiction for The Great Central Valley
1993 -- Benjamin Franklin Award from Publishers’ Marketing Association for Many Californias: Literature from the Golden State
1993 -- Outstanding Literary Artist from Arts Council of Kern
1990 -- Josephine Miles National Literary Award from PEN Oakland for That Constant Coyote
1989 -- Creative Writing Fellowship from California Arts Council
1988 -- Honorable Mention, Spur Best Short Fiction Award from Western Writers of America for "The Estero"
1985 -- Bernard Ashton Raborg Award for "William Saroyan and the Critics"
See also:
http://www.geraldhaslam.com/
and
http://www.laborfest.net/2008schedule.htm