Twentieth Century Drifter: The Life of Marty Robbins is the first biography of this legendary country music artist and NASCAR driver who scored sixteen number-one hits and two Grammy awards. Yet even with fame and fortune, Marty Robbins always yearned for more. Drawing from personal interviews and in-depth research, biographer Diane Diekman explains how Robbins saw himself as a drifter, a man always searching for self-fulfillment and inner peace. Born Martin David Robinson to a hardworking mother and an abusive alcoholic father, he never fully escaped the insecurities burned into him by a poverty-stricken nomadic childhood in the Arizona desert. In 1947 he got his first gig as a singer and guitar player. Too nervous to talk, the shy young man walked onstage singing. Soon he changed his name to Marty Robbins, cultivated his magnetic stage presence, and established himself as an entertainer, songwriter, and successful NASCAR driver. For fans of Robbins, NASCAR, and classic country music, Twentieth Century Drifter: The Life of Marty Robbins is a revealing portrait of this well-loved, restless entertainer, a private man who kept those who loved him at a distance.

Following his bestselling memoir, It's a Long Story,?Willie Nelson now delivers his most intimate thoughts and stories in Willie Nelson's Letters to America. From his opening letter "Dear America" to his "Dear Willie" epilogue, Willie digs deep into his heart and soul--and his music catalog--to lift us up in difficult times, and to remind us of the endless promise and continuous obligations of all Americans--to themselves, to one another, and to their nation. In a series of letters straight from the heart, Willie sends his thanks and his thoughts to: Americans past, present, and future, his closest family members,?andhis parents, sister, and children, his?other family members his guitar "Trigger", his hero Gene Autry, and the US founding fathers. He also pens notes to his personal heroes, from our founding fathers to the leaders of future generations and to young songwriters as well?as leaders of our future generations. Willie's letters are rounded out with the moving lyrics to some of his most famous and insightful songs, including "Let Me Be a Man," "Family Bible," "Summer of Roses," "Me and Paul," "A Horse called Music," "Healing Hands of Time," and "Yesterday's Wine."

"'All I gotta do is act naturally, ' Buck Owens sang, and Pamela Fox knows where the acting comes in. From early hillbilly acts to alt.country, "Natural Acts" lays bare, with wide-ranging scholarship and incisive analysis, the ideologies of authenticity on which country music rests. As engrossing and useful as any book I know on country music."
---Eric Lott, author of "Love and Theft: Blackface Minstrelsy and the American Working Class"

"The first completely mature book of country music historical criticism. It is a deep investigation of country music's power to articulate the displaced pleasures and anxieties of a society wracked by structural change. Historically rigorous, Fox uncovers documents that demonstrate the ongoing power of minstrelsy in barn dance programs across the country past World War II; musically and lyrically astute, she shows how the best honky-tonk music simultaneously critiques the dangers of that setting while seductively luring listeners to those sawdust and alcohol drenched environments; with her ear attuned to the formal complexities of autobiography, Fox directs our attention to the contradictory performance of identity that characterizes the life stories of Reba McEntire, Naomi Judd, Dolly Parton, and others. "Natural Acts" is provocative, stunning, and engagingly written. Country music studies has come of age."
---Barry Shank, The Ohio State University

Whether found in country barn dances, the plaintive twang of Hank Williams, the glitzy glamour of Dolly Parton, or the country-pop sound of Faith Hill, country music has always maintained an allegiance to its own authenticity. Its specific sounds and images have changed over the past century, but country music has consistently been associated with rusticity, a notion connected to the working class and rooted in ideals like unspoiled rural life and values and humble origins. The music suggests not only uncomplicated musical arrangements and old-time instruments such as the banjo and fiddle, but performers who identify with their everyday fans.

"Natural Acts" explores the ways that country musicians---particularly women artists---have established a "natural" country identity. Pamela Fox focuses on five revealing moments in country performance: blackface comedy during country music's "Golden Age" of pre-1945 radio and stage programming; the minstrel's "rube" or hillbilly equivalent in the same period; postwar honky-tonk music and culture; the country star memoir or autobiography of the '80s and '90s; and the recent roots phenomenon known as alt.country.

Pamela Fox is Associate Professor of English and Director of the Women's and Gender Studies Program at Georgetown University. She is the author of "Class Fictions: Shame and Resistance in the British Working-Class Novel, 1890-1945" and coeditor (with Barbara Ching) of "Old Roots, New Routes: The Cultural Politics of Alt.Country Music."

Photo: Lulu Belle Wiseman and Red Foley, 1930s. Courtesy of Country Music Hall of Fame (R) and Museum.

On January 13, 1968, Johnny Cash (1932-2003) took the stage at Folsom Prison in California. The concert and the live album, At Folsom Prison, propelled him to worldwide superstardom. He reached new Audiences, ignited tremendous growth in the country music industry, and connected with fans in a way no other artist has before or since. Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison: The Making of a Masterpiece, Revised and Updated is a riveting account of that day, what led to it, and what followed. Michael Streissguth skillfully places the album and the concert in the larger context of Cash's artistic development, the era's popular music, and California's prison system, uncovering new angles and exploding a few myths along the way. Scrupulously researched, rich with the author's unprecedented archival access to Folsom Prison's and Columbia Records' archives, Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison shows how Cash forever became a champion of the downtrodden, as well as one of the more enduring forces in American music. This revised edition includes new images and updates throughout the volume, including previously unpublished material.

(Instrumental Folio). 15 favorites from this Grammy award-winning singer-songwriter, including: Back to December * Change * Fearless * Fifteen * Love Story * Mine * Our Song * Picture to Burn * Should've Said No * Sparks Fly * Speak Now * Teardrops on My Guitar * Today Was a Fairytale * White Horse * You Belong with Me.

This work traces the development of country music and its institutionalization from Fiddlin' John Carson's pioneering recordings in Atlanta in 1923 to the posthumous success of Hank Williams. Richard Peterson seeks to capture the free-wheeling entrepreneurial spirit of the era and details the activities of the key promoters who sculpted the emerging country music scene. More than just a history of the music and its performers, this book explores what it means to be authentic within popular culture.

A tribute to Big Tom McBride, 'the Johnny Cash of Irish country music'. From labourer to music star, the journey of the singer who brought so much joy to fans at home and to emigrants abroad over five decades. Featuring never-before-published interviews with Big Tom and the country stars who loved him, as well as exclusive family photographs, this book is full of the characteristic wit and warmth of Ireland's greatest country music legend, Big Tom. Big Tom McBride was the original Irish country music star, who paved the way for today's new wave of artists. His unique voice and sincere delivery earned him the title The King of Irish Country. He was held in huge affection by many thousands of devoted fans, and was greatly loved and respected by his fellow musicians. Throughout Big Tom's music career, spanning five decades, he packed ballrooms and marquees the length and breadth of Ireland and Britain, with his band The Mainliners and later with The Travellers. His records sold by the tens of thousands, and he had numerous Top Ten hits. Legions of fans were transported by his beautiful singing, evoking an Ireland of a more innocent age. Many made the pilgrimage to the McBrides' home outside Castleblayney, County Monaghan, where they were greeted with genuine, warm-hearted hospitality. Tom Gilmore has interviewed family, friends and fans, as well as unearthing previously unpublished interviews with Big Tom himself. This book also features tributes to the music legend from luminaries of music, sport and politics.

(Book). One of the most bizarre stories in all of popular music is the history of "Orange Blossom Special," arguably the century's best-known fiddle tune. The man credited with its ownership, Ervin T. Rouse, endured tragedy, alcoholism and mental illness. He spent his last years fiddling for tips in isolated taverns at the edge of the Florida Everglades, and died all but unknown. The man who claimed co-ownership, Chubby Wise, achieved fame as the seminal fiddler of the bluegrass genre, but struggled to overcome personal demons and to heal the scars of childhood abandonment and abuse. This fascinating book uncovers how their legacies are forever linked with the legendary diesel streamliner which inspired the tune six decades ago, as it roared through American history, bringing wonder and hope to every stop. Includes a Collector's CD of rare, unreleased original recordings of "Orange Blossom Special" by Bluegrass Etc., Byron Berline, Dennis Caplinger, Buddy Emmons, John Henry Gates, The Hellcasters, Gary Morse, Benny Martin and Mike Stevens. Also features the original Rouse Brothers recording from 1939, a live performance by Chubby Wise, and six vintage bonus tracks. Randy Noles is a publisher of city/regional magazines in Florida. During his 25-year career, he has won awards for investigative reporting, feature writing and commentary. Born in Tuscaloosa, AL, he has lived in Orlando since 1967. He is married and has two children. "If you go back and listen to Ervin and Gordon Rouse's original 1939 recording, it's easy to hear 'Orange Blossom Special''s beauty, elegance and power. It bonds the romance of rambling around on trains with the mystique of a far-away land known as Florida. It is pure country music; it is pure Americana." from the foreword by Marty Stuart

This is the definitive guide to selecting the finest recordings in country music. Artists such as Garth Brooks and Billy Ray Cyrus outsell established pop and rock giants in the United States, and they are becoming increasingly popular in Europe. Yet this very popularity means that it is now more difficult to define just what 'country music' is. The Guide looks at the key recordings in ten major areas of the music, selecting a main library of 100 discs - the majority of them currently available CDs, but with a few harder-to-find specialist items - that should form the core of any country collection. In addition, over 300 supplementary albums are listed and described, enriching the coverage of each style. Crossover artists are discussed (who adapted their styles to the vast pop audience), as are many of the other musicians who can make this vast and relatively uncharted area of music confusing for the first-time buyer and aficionado alike. The Guide alleviates confusion, and charts a clear course through the mass of releases that form the country catalog, past and present.

(Easy Guitar). Features 32 of his most famous hits arranged for easy guitar. Includes: Cold, Cold Heart * Hey, Good Lookin' * Honky Tonk Blues * Honky Tonkin' * I Saw the Light * I'm a Long Gone Daddy * I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry * Jambalaya (On the Bayou) * A Mansion on the Hill * My Son Calls Another Man Daddy * Ramblin' Man * There's a Tear in My Beer * Your Cheatin' Heart * more.

From cradle to great, the comprehensive real story of Bill Monroe The Father of Bluegrass Music, Bill Monroe was a major star of the Grand Ole Opry for over fifty years; a member of the Country Music, Songwriters, and Rock and Roll Halls of Fame; and a legendary figure in American music. This authoritative biography sets out to examine his life in careful detail--to move beyond hearsay and sensationalism to explain how and why he accomplished so much. Former Blue Grass Boy and longtime music journalist Tom Ewing draws on hundreds of interviews, his personal relationship with Monroe, and an immense personal archive of materials to separate the truth from longstanding myth. Ewing tells the story of the Monroe family's musical household and Bill's early career in the Monroe Brothers duo. He brings to life Monroe's 1940s heyday with the Classic Bluegrass Band, the renewed fervor for his music sparked by the folk revival of the 1960s, and his declining fortunes in the years that followed. Throughout, Ewing deftly captures Monroe's relationships and the personalities of an ever-shifting roster of band members while shedding light on his business dealings and his pioneering work with Bean Blossom and other music festivals. Filled with a wealth of previously unknown details, Bill Monroe offers even the most devoted fan a deeper understanding of Monroe's towering achievements and timeless music.

A new edition as part of the Faber Greatest Hits - books that have taken writing about music in new and exciting directions for the twenty-first century. In his critically acclaimed book, In the Country of Country, Nicholas Dawidoff travels to the origins of country music and talks to the musicians who created this original American art form. Here, amongst others, are indelible portraits of Johnny Cash, behind whose black apparel lies a Faustian dilemma; Merle Haggard, a man as elusive as he is gifted; and Patsy Cline, a lonely figure striding out bravely in a male-dominated world. An exhilarating journey from Maces Springs, Virginia to Bakersfield, California, In the Country of Country conveys the spirit and passion that informs country music and confirms Dawidoff's reputation as one of the most gifted cultural commentators of his generation.

G.B. Grayson and Henry Whitter were two of the most influential artists in the early days of country music. Songs they popularized, like "Tom Dooley," "Little Maggie," "Handsome Molly," and "Nine Pound Hammer," are still staples of traditional music. Although the duo sold tens of thousands of records during the 1920s, the peak of their career, the details of their lives have been largely unknown, until now. Featuring never before published photographs and using interviews from friends and relatives, as well as contemporary scholarship, this book is the first to fully explore the lives and songs of G.B. Grayson and Henry Whitter. It also examines the Southern Appalachian world that shaped their music. What emerges is a fascinating mixture of romantic intrigues, tragic deaths, and world-class music.

(Book). Covering three generations of Hank Williams, Family Tradition is both unique and vast in scope. Beginning in the present day with Hank III who gave the author unprecedented access and time-traveling across the years, this examines just what kind of rebel mojo inspired this crazed family of country music, from Hank Sr. often regarded as one of the most influential of American musicians to Hank Jr., to this year's model, Hank III, who has somehow found a way to reconcile his legacy's deep-rooted twang and high-lonesome sound with particularly searing strains of punk and heavy metal, launching an all-out war with traditional Nashville in the process. (a href="http: //halleonardbooks.com/viewaudio.do?itemId=00332839&fileName=http: //s3.amazonaws.com/halleonard-closerlook/00332839/MasinoPodcast.mp3" target="_blank")Listen to Susan Masino live at Book Expo America on the BEA Podcast.(/a)

Recognising one of the most-honoured performers of all time, A Celebration of Dolly Parton: The Activity Book is 2021's follow-up to A Celebration of David Attenborough: The Activity Book and The Unofficial Michelle Obama Activity Book. Spanning Dolly's long and illustrious career, The Activity Book includes: Illustrations and graphics to colour-in dedicated to Dolly's Greatest Hits Anagrams of our favourite Dolly songs A solution for when the daily 9 to 5 grind is transported to the working-from-home environment A tour of Dollywood: try to spot Dolly among the throngs of visitors and maze your way around to reunite her with her missing guitar Inspirational word clouds, quizzes, puzzles, games, drawings, facts, emotional rollercoaster graphs and much, much more Not just a musician, Dolly has used her vast fame and fortune for good: setting up The Dollywood Foundation, the My People Fund and, perhaps most famously, The Imagination Library which provides free books to children throughout their childhood. Dolly the Philanthropist sections are interspersed throughout the activities - providing information on her charitable endeavours, such as her recent contribution to the funding for research into the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine. But what do we really know about the woman behind the chart-toppers, successful enterprises and charitable foundations? Dolly's Wit & Wisdom punctuates the book, offering an insight into 'the living legend' - what makes her so likeable, why she is considered a queer icon, as well as valuable life advice on love, fashion and femininity to ensure you're as successful as 'Saint Dolly' herself.

"The Starday Story: The House That Country Music Built" is the first book entirely dedicated to one of the most influential music labels of the twentieth century. In addition to creating the largest bluegrass catalogue throughout the 1950s and '60s, Starday was also known for its legendary rockabilly catalog, an extensive Texas honky-tonk outpouring, classic gospel and sacred recordings, and as a Nashville independent powerhouse studio and label. Written with label president and cofounder Don Pierce (1915-2005), this book traces the label's origins in 1953 through the 1968 Starday-King merger. Interviews with artists and their families, employees, and Pierce contribute to the stories behind famous hit songs, including "Y'all Come," "A Satisfied Mind," "Why Baby Why," "Giddy-up Go," "Alabam," and many others. Gibson's research and interviews also shed new light on the musical careers of George Jones, Arlie Duff, Willie Nelson, Roger Miller, the Stanley Brothers, Cowboy Copas, Red Sovine, and countless other Starday artists. Conversations with the children of Pappy Daily and Jack Starns provide a unique perspective on the early days of Starday, and extensive interviews with Pierce offer an insider glance at the country music industry during its golden era. Weathering through the storm of rock and roll and, later, the Nashville Sound, Starday was a home to traditional country musicians and became one of the most successful independent labels in American history. Ultimately, "The Starday Story" is the definitive record of a country music label that played an integral role in preserving our nation's musical heritage.

Country music of late 1960s and early 1970s was a powerful symbol of staunch conservative resistance to the flowering hippie counterculture. But in 1972, the city of Austin, Texas became host to a growing community of musicians, entrepreneurs, journalists, and fans who saw country music as a part of their collective heritage and sought to reclaim it for their own progressive scene. These children of the Cold War, post-World War II suburban migration, and the Baby Boom escaped the socially conservative world their parents had created, to instead create for themselves an idyllic rural Texan utopia. Progressive country music-a hybrid of country music and rock-played out the contradictions at work among the residents of the growing Austin community: at once firmly grounded in the conservative Texan culture in which they had been raised and profoundly affected by the current hippie counterculture. In Cosmic Cowboys and New Hicks: The Countercultural Sounds of Austin's Progressive Country Music Scene, Travis Stimeling connects the local Austin culture and the progressive music that became its trademark. He presents a colorful range of evidence, from behavior and dress, to newspaper articles, to personal interviews of musicians as diverse as Willie Nelson, Jerry Jeff Walker, and Doug Sahm. Along the way, Stimeling uncovers parodies of the cosmic cowboy image that reinforce the longing for a more peaceful way of life, but that also recognize an awareness of the muddled, conflicted nature of this counterculture identity. Cosmic Cowboys and New Hicks brings new insight into the inner workings of Austin's progressive country music scene - by bringing the music and musicians brilliantly to life. This book will appeal to students and scholars of popular music studies, musicology and ethnomusicology, sociology, cultural studies, folklore, American studies, and cultural geography; the lucid prose and interviews will also make the book attractive to fans of the genre and artists discussed within. Austin residents past and present, as well as anyone with an interest in the development of progressive music or today's 'alt.country' movement will find Cosmic Cowboys and New Hicks an informative, engaging resource.

With its rich but underappreciated musical heritage, Washington, D.C. is often overlooked as a cradle for punk, the birthplace of go go, and as the urban center for bluegrass in the Untied States. Capital Bluegrass: Hillbilly Music Meets Washington, D.C. richly documents the history and development of bluegrass in and around the nation's capital since it emerged in the 1950s. In his seventeenth book, American vernacular music scholar Kip Lornell discusses both well-known progressive bluegrass bands including the Country Gentlemen and the Seldom Scene, and lesser known groups like the Happy Melody Boys, Benny and Vallie Cain and the Country Clan, and Foggy Bottom. Lornell focuses on colorful figures such as the brilliant and eccentric mandolin player, Buzz Busby, and Connie B. Gay, who helped found the Country Music Association in Nashville. Moving beyond the musicians to the institutions that were central to the development of the genre, Lornell brings the reader into the nationally recognized Birchmere Music Hall, and tunes in to NPR powerhouse WAMU-FM, which for five decades broadcast as much as 40 hours a week of bluegrass programming. Dozens of images illuminate the story of bluegrass in the D.C. area, photographs and flyers that will be new to even the most veteran bluegrass enthusiast. Bringing to life a music and musical community integral to the history of the city itself, Capital Bluegrass tells an essential tale of bluegrass in the United States.

On a Saturday night in 1948, Hank Williams stepped onto the stage of the Louisiana Hayride and sang "Lovesick Blues." Up to that point, Williams's yodeling style had been pigeon-holed as hillbilly music, cutting him off from the mainstream of popular music. Taking a chance on this untried artist, the Hayride-a radio "barn dance" or country music variety show like the Grand Ole Opry-not only launched Williams's career, but went on to launch the careers of well-known performers such as Jim Reeves, Webb Pierce, Kitty Wells, Johnny Cash, and Slim Whitman. Broadcast from Shreveport, Louisiana, the local station KWKH's 50,000-watt signal reached listeners in over 28 states and lured them to packed performances of the Hayride's road show. By tracing the dynamic history of the Hayride and its sponsoring station, ethnomusicologist Tracey Laird reveals the critical role that this part of northwestern Louisiana played in the development of both country music and rock and roll. Delving into the past of this Red River city, she probes the vibrant historical, cultural, and social backdrop for its dynamic musical scene. Sitting between the Old South and the West, this one-time frontier town provided an ideal setting for the cross-fertilization of musical styles. The scene was shaped by the region's easy mobility, the presence of a legal "red-light" district from 1903-17, and musical interchanges between blacks and whites, who lived in close proximity and in nearly equal numbers. The region nurtured such varied talents as Huddie Ledbetter, the "king of the twelve-string guitar," and Jimmie Davis, the two term "singing governor" of Louisiana who penned "You Are My Sunshine." Against the backdrop of the colorful history of Shreveport, the unique contribution of this radio barn dance is revealed. Radio shaped musical tastes, and the Hayride's frontier-spirit producers took risks with artists whose reputations may have been shaky or whose styles did not neatly fit musical categories (both Hank Williams and Elvis Presley were rejected by the Opry before they came to Shreveport). The Hayride also served as a training ground for a generation of studio sidemen and producers who steered popular music for decades after the Hayride's final broadcast. While only a few years separated the Hayride appearances of Hank Williams and Elvis Presley-who made his national radio debut on the show in 1954-those years encompassed seismic shifts in the tastes, perceptions, and self-consciousness of American youth. Though the Hayride is often overshadowed by the Grand Ole Opry in country music scholarship, Laird balances the record and reveals how this remarkable show both documented and contributed to a powerful transformation in American popular music.

Now in its sixth decade, country music studies is a thriving field of inquiry involving scholars working in the fields of American history, folklore, sociology, anthropology, musicology, ethnomusicology, cultural studies, and geography, among many others. Covering issues of historiography and practice as well as the ways in which the genre interacts with media and social concerns such as class, gender, and sexuality, The Oxford Handbook of Country Music interrogates prevailing narratives, explores significant lacunae in the current literature, and provides guidance for future research. More than simply treating issues that have emerged within this subfield, The Oxford Handbook of Country Music works to connect to broader discourses within the various fields that inform country music studies in an effort to strengthen the area's interdisciplinarity. Drawing upon the expertise of leading and emerging scholars, this Handbook presents an introduction into the historiographical narratives and methodological issues that have emerged in country music studies' first half-century.

A backstage audition led Mark Hembree into a five-year stint (1979-1984) as the bassist for Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys. Hembree's journey included playing at the White House and on the acclaimed album Master of Bluegrass. But it also put him on a collision course with the rigors of touring, the mysteries of Southern culture, and the complex personality of bandleader-legend Bill Monroe. Whether it's figuring out the best time for breakfast (early) or for beating the boss at poker (never), Hembree gives readers an up-close look at the occasionally exalting, often unglamorous life of a touring musician in the sometimes baffling, always colorful company of a bluegrass icon. The amusing story of a Yankee fish out of water, On the Bus with Bill Monroe mixes memoir with storytelling to recount the adventures of a Northerner learning new ways and the Old South.

Relying on facts, opinions and personal testimonies from the artists themselves, this book takes a detailed look at the huge impact that Mexican music and culture has had - and continues to have - on Country music in its various forms. Although this very American cultural expression has changed significantly over the last few years, Mexico - with its border towns, beaches, colonial architecture and ancient ruins conjuring up a range of powerful images - has remained an influential presence in Nashville, Texas, and even places like Australia and South Africa. Featuring contributions from Merle Haggard, Jimmy Buffett, Randy Travis, Dwight Yoakam, Jessi Colter, Johnny Rodriguez and Flaco Jimenez, this book lifts the lid on the unique and largely undocumented relationship between "America's Music" and Mexico.

In the nearly eight decades since his death at age thirty-five, singer-songwriter Jimmie Rodgers has been an inspiration for numerous top performers-from Woody Guthrie, Lead Belly, and Hank Williams to Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, and Beck. How did this Mississippi-born vaudevillian, a former railroad worker who performed so briefly so long ago, come to be the model for how American roots music stars could become popular heroes? In Meeting Jimmie Rodgers, the first book to explore the legacy of "The Singing Brakeman" from a twenty-first century perspective, Barry Mazor offers a lively look at Rodgers' career, tracing his rise from working-class obscurity to the pinnacle of renown that came with such hits as "Blue Yodel" and "In the Jailhouse Now." As Mazor shows, Rodgers brought emotional clarity and a unique sense of narrative drama to every song he performed, whether tough or sentimental, comic or sad. But more than anything else, Mazor suggests, it was Rodgers' shape-shifting ability to assume many public personas that connected him to such a broad public and set the stage for the stars who followed him.