---
product_id: 18683381
title: "On Highway 61: Music, Race, and the Evolution of Cultural Freedom"
brand: "dennis mcnally"
price: "€ 44.99"
currency: EUR
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 11
url: https://www.desertcart.com.cy/products/18683381-on-highway-61-music-race-and-the-evolution-of-cultural
store_origin: CY
region: Cyprus
---

# On Highway 61: Music, Race, and the Evolution of Cultural Freedom

**Brand:** dennis mcnally
**Price:** € 44.99
**Availability:** ✅ In Stock

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- **What is this?** On Highway 61: Music, Race, and the Evolution of Cultural Freedom by dennis mcnally
- **How much does it cost?** € 44.99 with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship
- **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.com.cy](https://www.desertcart.com.cy/products/18683381-on-highway-61-music-race-and-the-evolution-of-cultural)

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## Description

On Highway 61: Music, Race, and the Evolution of Cultural Freedom

## Images

![On Highway 61: Music, Race, and the Evolution of Cultural Freedom - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81eysEvC50L.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5.0 out of 5 stars







  
  
    Take this Highway...and be enlightened.
  

*by J***N on Reviewed in the United States on October 31, 2015*

Dennis McNally, who has written excellent tomes about Jack Kerouac, as well as the Grateful Dead, paints his prose across an even grander canvass with On Highway 61.Indeed he traces an alternative, and more accurate history of America, vis a vis the development of music and popular culture over the last 150 years. This is a path that is examined with marvelous scholarship, research, and a clear eye on the social structure and consciousness that reveals all the strengths and all the horrors that are woven into the tapestry of this country.Primarily though, it is a tale of the rich evolution of music in America, and its unique gifts to the world: Blues, Jazz, and hence, R&B, Gospel, Soul, and Rock & Roll.Tracing the movement and yearning for freedom, both individual and collective, of both blacks and whites in the United States, the constant melting, melding, and unfolding of creative musical forms and the associated social implications are conveyed in a highly entertaining, engaging and readable style by Mr. McNally.This is a comprehensive tale of the intertwining threads that make up our common story, and will appeal to all who appreciate music, musical biography, history, and the story of the indomitable human spirit.Highest recommendation.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4.0 out of 5 stars







  
  
    Great Premise That Stops Short
  

*by J***L on Reviewed in the United States on March 9, 2015*

On Highway 61, author Dennis McNally presents a roadmap from Henry Thoreau down the Mississippi River through the blues and jazz to Bob Dylan.  Mr. McNally, as in his previous works, does an impeccable job researching the lives of such characters as: Mark Twain, John Handy, Louis Armstrong, and many of the major Mississippi  blues masters.  I found On Highway 61 to be a good read, but hardly as essential as, say, Robert Palmer's Deep Blues which covers much of the same blues music  territory in much better detail and other books detailing the other subjects and civil rights years much more compelling. McNally does his best to weave a story that begins with Thoreau and moves through the civil rights era.  That said, the last third of the book rushes to the end way too quickly to reach to the ending that Mr. McNally had probably envisioned when contemplating the project ending the book as if just taking off the needle of good groove record before the ending.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5.0 out of 5 stars







  
  
    Enthralling, magnificent
  

*by A***Y on Reviewed in the United States on December 17, 2016*

This scope of this book is broader than its title suggests.  It is among the best histories, perhaps the very finest I have read, of traditional and early commercial black music.  The author asserts that its focus is "idiosyncratic" though I believe he is being too self-deprecating.  Mr. McNally is a superb writer and story-teller and has a very interesting perspective, that freedom has a broader cultural and spiritual dimension and that this dimension has come to permeate the entire American experience.  And that though this cultural and spiritual dimension may parallel the obvious aspect of freedom-from-slavery, that it is distinct unto itself, and that it has become a precious inheritance from the American black experience for us all.  Having loved this music for over 50 years, I think his book is a great blessing.  Read it!  Give it as a gift!  Introduce yourself and others to the richness that has become our common heritage as Americans, regardless of race or creed or ethnicity.

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*Product available on Desertcart Cyprus*
*Store origin: CY*
*Last updated: 2026-03-14*