Born dirt-poor (his family had the dirt floor to prove it), Waylon Jennings took all the grit of his hometown of Littlefield, Texas, into his soul and his sound. From childhood, this son of a farm laborer considered nothing else but playing music. Stubborn enough never to lose sight of his goal, dumb enough not to realize how long and hard the road, he started as a country disc jockey in Lubbock, then signed on as a protege of fellow Texan Buddy Holly, missing the plane crash that claimed Holly's life by an accident of fate. Cut in the mode of Hank Williams and Carl Smith, yet determined to infuse conservative country music traditions with the energy of rock and roll, Waylon broke the closed society of Nashville sessions in the sixties. Under the tutelage of legends like Porter Wagoner and Ernest Tubb, he shared living quarters with Johnny Cash, took songwriting tips from Roger Miller and encouragement (often unsolicited) from Willie Nelson, and hung out after hours with Kris Kristofferson and George Jones. In the wake of country's own distinctive counterculture, when southern-fried acid freaks met - and partied with - diehard good ol' boys, Waylon helped give America something genuinely new. His 1976 anthology album, Wanted: The Outlaws, was a stunning platinum success, heralding a sound and a mood that evoked the country's pioneer spirit, a restlessness always pushing at the horizon and looking toward the next ridge. But while the artist and performer devoured life and rewrote the rules of the nation's popular music, the star binged on an endless stream of cocaine and pills and staggered through three failed marriages. Ultimately - and inspiringly - Waylon triumphed over his drughabit, proving he would fight for the right to sing his song. At the same time, he ended his long search for the right woman and married Jessi Colter, a country-singing great in her own right and now Waylon's wife for more than a quarter of a century. Today, two-time Grammy winner and sixteen-time chart-topper Waylon Jennings keeps the country fires raging, joining fellow superstars Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, and Kris Kristofferson on their sold-out international tours as the Highwaymen.

On New Year's Day 1953, Hank Williams-numbed by a deadly combination of whiskey and narcotics-died in the back seat of his Cadillac en route to a performance in Canton, Ohio. He was only twenty nine years old at the time of his death and his passing appeared to bring his rags-to-riches success and destructive lifestyle to an abrupt end. Few figures before or since have cast as long or as broad a shadow over American popular music. Today, Hank Williams is considered by many to be the greatest singer and songwriter in the history of country music, and it is the combination of his remarkable musical achievements, his tumultuous personal life, and his tragic and still-mysterious demise that make him such a compelling historical figure. As volume demonstrates, Williams's death was the beginning of an equally gripping second act: for more than sixty years, an ever-lengthening parade of journalists, family and friends, musical contemporaries, biographers, historians and scholars, fans, and novelists have attempted to capture in words the man, the artist, and the legend. The Hank Williams Reader, the first book of its kind devoted to this giant of American music, collects more than sixty of the most compelling, insightful, and historically significant of these writings. The selections cover a broad assortment of themes and perspectives, ranging from heartfelt reminiscences and shocking tabloid exposes to thoughtful meditations and critical essays. Featured authors include Hank Williams, Jr., Bob Dylan, Steve Earle, David Halberstam, Greil Marcus, Rick Bragg, and Lee Smith, to name but a few. The Hank Williams Reader also features a lengthy interpretive introduction and the most extensive bibliography of Williams-related writings ever published. Over time, writers have sought to explain Williams in a variety of ways, and in tracing these shifting interpretations, this anthology chronicles his cultural transfiguration from star-crossed hillbilly singer to enduring American icon.

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.

The Complete Country Music Discography, 1922-1942 compiles details of all country music recording sessions through 1942 in a single volume. Based on record-company files and session logs as well as the recording archives of the Country Music Foundation, this discography documents every commercial country music recording, including unreleased sides. Each entry lists the musicians playing at every session, instrumentation, dates and locations, songwriting credits, and recording master numbers and release numbers. An introduction explains how to use the book, research methodology, and editorial policy; summary histories of each key record company are also provided, along with a bibliography. The discography will include alphabetical indexes to all song titles and to musicians listed.

This book explores the formation and continuance of Nashville, Tennessee as a music place, the importance of the fans (tourists) in creating Nashville's multifaceted musical identity, and the music and city's influence on the formation and performance of the individual and collective identities of the country-music fan. More importantly, the author discusses the larger issue of country music as a signifier of tradition suggesting that for many visitors, the music serves as a soundtrack, while Nashville serves as a performative space that permits the creation, performance, and remembrance of not only the country-music tradition, but also various individual and collective traditions and an idealized American identity. Through the theatrics of tourism, Nashville and its connection to country music are performed daily, reinforced through the sound and landscape of country music. Performing Nashville will be of interest to students and scholars across a range of disciplines, including tourism studies, leisure studies, ethnomusicology, sociology, folklore and anthropology.

(Easy Guitar). A jam-packed collection of 100 country classics arranged for beginning-level guitarists. Includes: Achy Breaky Heart (Don't Tell My Heart) * All the Gold in California * Could I Have This Dance * Coward of the County * Down at the Twist and Shout * Folsom Prison Blues * He Stopped Loving Her Today * Jambalaya * Lucille * On the Road Again * Rocky Top * Walkin' After Midnight * Wichita Lineman * and more.

Reissued for the 40th Anniversary of the Oscar-winning, Sissy Spacek-starring film of the same name, COAL MINER'S DAUGHTER recounts Loretta Lynn's astonishing journey to become one of the original queens of country music. Loretta grew up dirt poor in the mountains of Kentucky, she was married at fifteen years old, and became a mother soon after. At the age of twenty-four, her husband, Doo, gave her a guitar as an anniversary present. Soon, she began penning songs and singing in front of honky-tonk audiences, and, through years of hard work, talent, and true grit, eventually made her way to Nashville, the Grand Ole Opry, eventually securing her place in country music history. Loretta's prolific and influential songwriting made her the first woman to receive a gold record in country music, and got her named the first female Entertainer of the Year by the Country Music Association. This riveting memoir introduces readers to all the highs and lows on her road to success and the tough, smart, funny, and fascinating woman behind the legend.

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.

Earthy, sexy, and vivacious, the life of beloved country singer, Patsy Cline, who soared from obscurity to international fame to tragic death in just thirty short years, is explored in colorful and poignant detail. An innovator--and even a hell-raiser--Cline broke all the boys' club barriers of Nashville's music business in the 1950s and brought a new Nashville sound to the nation with her pop hits and torch ballads like "Walking After Midnight," "I Fall to Pieces" and "Crazy." She is the subject of a major Hollywood movie and countless articles, and her albums are still selling 45 years after her death. Ellis Nassour was the very first to write about Cline and did so with the cooperation of the stars who knew and loved her--including Jimmy Dean, Jan Howard, Brenda Lee, Loretta Lynn, Roger Miller, Dottie West, and Faron Young. He was the only writer to interview Cline's mother and husbands. This updated edition features not only a complete discography and a host of never-before-published photographs, but includes an afterword that details controversial claims about her birth, the battle between Cline's siblings for her possessions, the amazing influence Cline had on a new generation of singers and, in Cline's own words from letters to a devoted friend, her excitement as her career soared to new heights and her marriage descended to new depths.

Essays that overthrow stereotypes and demonstrate the genre's power and mystique. Contributions by Georgia Christgau, Alexander S. Dent, Leigh H. Edwards, Caroline Gnagy, Kate Heidemann, Nadine Hubbs, Jocelyn Neal, Ase Ottosson, Travis Stimeling, Matthew D. Sutton, and Chris Wilson Country music boasts a long tradition of rich, contradictory gender dynamics, creating a world where Kitty Wells could play the demure housewife and the honky-tonk angel simultaneously, Dolly Parton could move from traditionalist ""girl singer"" to outspoken trans rights advocate, and current radio playlists can alternate between the reckless masculinity of bro-country and the adolescent girlishness of Taylor Swift. In this follow-up volume to A Boy Named Sue, some of the leading authors in the field of country music studies reexamine the place of gender in country music, considering the ways country artists and listeners have negotiated gender and sexuality through their music and how gender has shaped the way that music is made and heard. In addition to shedding new light on such legends as Wells, Parton, Loretta Lynn, and Charley Pride, it traces more recent shifts in gender politics through the performances of such contemporary luminaries as Swift, Gretchen Wilson, and Blake Shelton. The book also explores the intersections of gender, race, class, and nationality in a host of less expected contexts, including the prisons of WWII-era Texas, where the members of the Goree All-Girl String Band became the unlikeliest of radio stars; the studios and offices of Plantation Records, where Jeannie C. Riley and Linda Martell challenged the social hierarchies of a changing South in the 1960s; and the burgeoning cities of present-day Brazil, where ""college country"" has become one way of negotiating masculinity in an age of economic and social instability.

This insightful biography provides a closer look at one of the entertainment world's biggest stars, with a focus on what got her to the top-and what has kept her there. Dolly Parton has an enviable record of accomplishment as a performer, songwriter, recording artist, businesswoman, and philanthropist. She has triumphed on Broadway, in the movies, and even with her own theme park. The Words and Music of Dolly Parton probes its subject's unique singing voice and prolific abilities as a songwriter, as well as her impressive business savvy, fearless attitude, and an imagination as towering as the Smoky Mountains among which she grew up. This book focuses on Parton's most important albums and songwriting style, examining her career from her early days in the east Tennessee mountains through her national television exposure on the Porter Wagoner Show, her crossover success in pop music, and her return to her acoustic/bluegrass roots. In addition, it explores Parton's story songs and characters, the spirituality reflected in her music, and her important collaborations with other artists. Rare photographs of Parton's early career from legendary photographer Les Leverett, retired staff photographer for the Grand Ole Opry Interviews with many of Parton's collaborators over the years, including producers, engineers, and other artists A discography of Dolly Parton's albums and hit songs and a list of her awards

Women have been pivotal in the country music scene since its inception, as Charles K. Wolfe and James E. Akenson make clear in The Women of Country Music. Their groundbreaking volume presents the best current scholarship and writing on female country musicians. Beginning with the 1920s career of teenage guitar picker Roba Stanley, the contributors go on to discuss Polly Jenkins and Her Musical Plowboys, 50s honky-tonker Rose Lee Maphis, superstar Faith Hill, the relationship between Emmylou Harris and poet Bronwen Wallace, the Louisiana Hayride's Margaret Lewis Warwick, and more.

When the story of banjo superstar Earl Scruggs is told, the rich musical environment that produced him is often ignored. During his lifetime Scruggs spun a creation myth around his playing, convincing many that he was the sole originator of a three-finger, up-picking, banjo style. For the first time, this book tells the full story of the music and musicians of the western Carolinas that influenced Earl Scruggs. Based on more than 15 years of in-depth research, this book includes the story of country music recording pioneers Parker and Woolbright, Fisher Hendley and Martin Melody Boys; rare images of area music makers; and the history and development of fiddlers' conventions and radio barn dances. Together, these stories are woven into the biographies of Earl's mentors to reveal the musical atmosphere in which they developed the "three-finger picking" style that so enchanted a young Earl Scruggs.

North Carolina fiddler and banjo player Jim Scancarelli's extensive career as a string band musician began in the early 1960s. A founding member of the Kilocycle Kowboys, one of Charlotte's longest-lived bluegrass bands, he played banjo with the Mole Hill Highlanders, and in the 1980s formed Sanitary Cafe with fiddler Tommy Malboeuf. Through the 1970s, his annual recordings at the Union Grove Fiddlers Convention captured superlative music and performer interviews. Scancarelli also had a successful career as a freelance magazine artist and collaborated on the syndicated comic strips "Mutt and Jeff" and "Gasoline Alley," eventually taking over authorship of the latter in 1986. This biography traces his creative trajectory in music, art, radio and television, and the cartooning industry.

Sure to elicit an "aw shucks" from fans of old country legends and new tabloid faves, this whimsical book moseys through a variety of classic activities, such as connect-the-dots, coloring, and simple puzzles. Cowboys and girls with a loaded six-shooter of crayons can help Willie Nelson escape the taxman's maze, outline Billy Ray Cyrus's mullet, insert a hat on Dwight Yoakam's head, and draw Dolly Parton's notorious curves.

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."

Glen Campbell began his musical career as a songwriter to many of the 1960's biggest stars. He transitioned to film with John Wayne in 1969's True Grit, which earned him a Golden Globe nomination. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2005, and was awarded a Grammy for Lifetime Achievement in 2012. During his 50 years in show business, Campbell has released more than 70 albums selling more than 50 million copies. His hits include Galveston, and Rhinestone Cowboy. For the last twenty-four years, Debby has been by her father's side, as a part of his concert touring act, as well as a supportive part of his family. She has been with her dad through his four wives, through drug and alcohol addiction, and now through the shattering beginnings of Alzheimer's disease. Debby Campbell writes her story of a father and his devoted daughter from her heart, and from her diary. She has shared some of the most rewarding years in her father's life. And now, for the first time, she blows the lid off of all of Glen Campbell's family secrets. It is about a family bound together by Glen's talent. Debby discusses the marriages, the drink and the drugs, the illness and her sacking, as well as Glen Campbell's many successes. In her frank family memoir Debby Campbell sets the record straight on a daughter's love for her talented father, with the full knowledge that she is about to start burning some bridges of her own.

The official memoir of Margo O'Donnell, legendary Irish Country Music singer For fifty years now the name 'Margo' has been synonymous with everything that is positive and enriching in Country and Irish music. Blessed with an instantly recognisable voice, a voice unlike any other in the music business, the Donegal-born singer, despite the ever changing musical trends, has remained a star attraction, much loved by her fans, not only in Ireland and Britain, but also in the USA, Canada, Australia and other far destinations. She still possesses an infectious enthusiasm for performing and recording that she had in those very early days with The Keynotes. This is the story of her life, the successes and difficult times, in her own words.

During the 1940s, country music was rapidly evolving from traditional songs and string band styles to honky-tonk, western swing, and bluegrass, via radio, records, and film. The Blue Sky Boys, brothers Bill (1917-2008) and Earl (1919-1998) Bolick, resisted the trend, preferring to perform folk and parlor songs, southern hymns, and new compositions that enhanced their trademark intimacy and warmth. They were still in their teens when they became professional musicians to avoid laboring in Depression-era North Carolina cotton mills. Their instantly recognizable style was fully formed by 1936, when even their first records captured soulful harmonies accented with spare guitar and mandolin accompaniments. They inspired imitators, but none could duplicate the Blue Sky Boys' emotional appeal or their distinctive Catawba County accents. Even their last records in the 1970sretained their unique magical sound decades after other country brother duets had come and gone. In this absorbing account, Dick Spottswood combines excerpts from Bill Bolick's numerous spoken interviews and written accounts of his music, life, and career into a single narrative that presents much of the story in Bill's own voice. Spottswood reveals fascinating nuggets about broadcasting, recording, and surviving in the 1930s world of country music. He describes how the growing industry both aided and thwarted the Bolick brothers' career, and how World War II nearly finished it. The book features a complete, extensively annotated list of Blue Sky Boys songs, an updated discography that includes surviving unpublished records, and dozens of vintage photos and sheet music covers.

Dwight Hamilton Diller is a musician from West Virginia devoted to traditional Appalachian fiddle and banjo music, and a seminary-trained minister steeped in local Christian traditions. For the past 40 years, he has worked to preserve archaic fiddle and banjo tunes, teaching his percussive, primitively rhythmic style to small groups in marathon banjo workshops. This book tells of Diller's life and music, his personal challenges and his decades of teaching an elusive musical form.

The Music of the Statler Brothers: An Anthoology is an in-depth look at the musical career of The Statler Brothers's forty-year reign as country music's premier group. Lead singer, Don Reid, writes about each song ever recorded by the Grammy Award-winning foursome and gives backstage insight to the writings and the selections of each composition. A songwriter with two-hundred-fifty recordings of music by his own hand and a member of both the Country Music and Gospel Music Halls of Fame, Reid gives meaningful and often humorous insight into the day-to-day workings and trials of the music industry. There has been no other book by someone in the recording business that compares with this song-by-song chronicle. Unique in its content and style, this anthology offers anyone with an interest in the entertainment business more than a glimpse behind the curtain. Covering forty-five albums of original music, this is a must-read for all Statler Brothers fans and lovers of country and gospel music alike.

For more than half a century, Kenny Rogers has been recording some of the most revered and beloved music in America and around the world. In that time, he has become a living legend by combining everything from R and B to country and gospel to folk in his unique voice to create a sound that's both wholly original and instantly recognizable. Now, in his first-ever memoir, Kenny details his lifelong journey to becoming one of American music's elder statesmen-a rare talent who's created hit records for decades while staying true to his values as a performer and a person. Exploring the struggles of his long road, his story begins simply: growing up in Depression-era Texas, living in the projects, surviving in poverty, and listening to his mother, who always had just the right piece of wisdom. Recounting his early years, first as a jazz bassist and later as a member of the pioneering folk group the New Christy Minstrels, Kenny charts how he came into his own as an artist with the First Edition, only to have the band's breakup in the 1970s raise questions about his musical future. Yet, as Kenny explains, it was precisely this soul-searching that led him to a new direction on his own in Nashville. Telling the stories that have become legends in a town that's seen many of them, he recalls the making of his career in country music and his most memorable songs, including Lucille, The Gambler, Lady, and Islands in the Stream. Along the way, he shares the friendships, both big and small, that have meant the most to him, describing the good times he's had with Dottie West, Lionel Richie, and, of course, Dolly Parton, and how through it all he continues to make music with the passion that has defined him from the start. Staring across the decades, Kenny writes a story seemingly straight from one of his songs. The end result is a rollicking ride through fifty years of music history, which offers a heartwarming testament to a time when country music wasn't just a brand but a way of life.