In the vein of the classic Johnny Cash: The Life, this groundbreaking work explores the wild life and extraordinary musical career of "the definitive country singer of the last half century" (New York Times), who influenced, among others, Bob Dylan, Buck Owens, Emmylou Harris, John Fogerty, George Strait, Alan Jackson, and Garth Brooks. In a masterful biography laden with new revelations, veteran country music journalist/historian Rich Kienzle offers a definitive, full-bodied portrait of legendary country singer George Jones and the music that remains his legacy. Kienzle meticulously sifted through archival material, government records, recollections by colleagues and admirers, interviewing many involved in Jones's life and career. The result: an evocative portrait of this enormously gifted, tragically tormented icon called "the Keith Richards of country." Kienzle chronicles Jones's impoverished East Texas childhood as the youngest son of a deeply religious mother and alcoholic, often-abusive father. He examines his three troubled marriages including his union with superstar Tammy Wynette and looks unsparingly at Jones's demons. Alcohol and later cocaine nearly killed him until fourth wife Nancy helped him learn to love himself. Kienzle also details Jones's remarkable musical journey from singing in violent Texas honky tonks to Grand Ole Opry star, hitmaker and master vocalist whose raw, emotionally powerful delivery remains the Gold Standard for country singers. The George Jones of this heartfelt biography lived hard before finding contentment until he died at eighty-one-a story filled with whiskey, women and drugs but always the saving grace of music. Illustrated with eight pages of photos.

Johnny Cash cuts an iconic figure in music history. With his humble demeanour, sombre outfits and that distinctive deep voice, he crossed multiple genres with great success - gospel, rock and roll and of course country. Known for legendary songs about regret and redemption, such as 'I Walk the Line' and 'Ring of Fire', his life was a whirlwind of music, passion, addiction and absolution. This book takes an in depth look at the enthralling life of one of America's most influential artists.

Country music, an original American artform, has been around since before the recording industry began and long before a singer even had the opportunity to sing into a microphone. From the early beginnings in the hills of Appalachia, to the rise of Hank Williams, Patsy Cline, and the more recent megastars, including Garth Brooks and Carrie Underwood, country music has proven to have staying power. It is one of the most popular styles of music in the world today, garnering more sales and downloads currently than any other genre. Many talented individuals are aspiring to sing country music and are determined to turn it into a successful career. Because of this growing popularity, there is a need to educate interested singers with information and methods that will give them the best possible chance at either having a career as a artist, working in the industry as a background vocalist or session singer, or simply realizing their potential in country music. Kelly K. Garner's So You Want To Sing Country is a book devoted to briefly reviewing the rich heritage of country singing and thoroughly examining the techniques and methods of singing in a country style. Additional topics of discussion will include country song types and structure, instrumentation, performing on stage and in the studio, and career options in country music. Additional chapters by Scott McCoy and Wendy LeBorgne, and Matthew Edwards address universal questions of voice science and pedagogy, vocal health, and audio enhancement technology. The So You Want to Sing series is produced in partnership with the National Association of Teachers of Singing. Like all books in the series, So You Want to Sing Country features online supplemental material on the NATS website. Please visit www.nats.org to access style-specific exercises, audio and video files, and additional resources.

"Will You Miss Me When I'm Gone?" is the first major biography of the Carter Family, the musical pioneers who almost single-handedly created the sounds and traditions that grew into modern folk, country, and bluegrass music. Meticulously researched and lovingly written, it is a look at a world and a culture that, rather than passing, has continued to exist in the music that is the legacy of the Carters -- songs that have shaped and influenced generations of artists who have followed them.
Brilliant in insight and execution, "Will You Miss Me When I'm Gone?" is also an in-depth study of A.P., Sara, and Maybelle Carter, and their bittersweet story of love and fulfillment, sadness and loss. The result is more than just a biography of a family; it is also a journey into another time, almost another world, and theirs is a story that resonates today and lives on in the timeless music they created.

Part biographies of these three legendary musicians and part exploration of the changing Nashville music scene in the late '60s, Outlaw is a fascinating in-depth look at a major turning point in country music, and the formidable forces behind that change. Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, and Kris Kristofferson found themselves in Nashville, writing songs, riffing with fellow songwriters and musicians, and vying for recording contracts. All three picked up on the unrest the late 60's and early 70's - the protests, the feminists, the reactions to the Vietnam War, racial tensions, changing political factions - and began inserting those notions into their music. All three resisted the country music industry's unwritten rules, which prescribed the length, meter, and content of songs as well as how they were recorded, thus cementing themselves as the leaders of the outlaw movement. All three worked to establish a new genre of country music - one that ultimately changed the recording industry. Acclaimed author Michael Streissguth tracks the paths of Waylon, Willie and Kris, and offers a broad portrait of the outlaw movement in Nashville, making room for a diverse secondary cast including Johnny Cash, Rodney Crowell, Kinky Friedman, and Billy Joe Shaver, among others. Nashville also serves as an important - and lively - character in this exploration of outlaw country. The city was rife with political activism and musical experimentation, and its West End became Nashville's very own Greenwich Village. Outlaw is a comprehensive and thoughtful examination of a fascinating shift in country music, and the three unbelievably talented musicians who forged the way.

As told by the musicians who made it happen, Desperados: The Roots of Country Rock revisits country rock's rise to the top of the charts. Music scholar John Einarson delves into the years from 1963, when Buck Owens and his Buckaroos brought an electric edge to their Texas honky-tonk tunes, to 1973, when The Eagles released their album "Desperado" on David Geffen's label. Einarson examines how folk, rockabilly, blues, Nashville country, Tejano, bluegrass, and other musical idioms influenced a generation of journeyman musicians. He traces the paths taken by the songsmiths, the bands in which they served their apprenticeships, and the songs they wrote together, as they steadily shaped the country rock sound. The protagonists of this story include talented but troubled Gram Parsons, a virtuoso determined to burn out before he faded away; the versatile and appealing Linda Ronstadt; Mike Nesmith, the Monkee from Texas who returned to his musical roots with a trilogy of country-rock albums; TV heartthrob turned country rocker Rick Nelson; folkie songbird Emmylou Harris before she made it in Nashville; and many others.

Charlie Louvin was a good, god-fearing, church-going Christian gospel singer. His brother Ira was not. A hard drinker, Ira was known for frequently smashing his mandolin onstage; he was banned from performing at the Grand Ole Opry for several weeks after a scandal in which his wife shot him five times when he tried to choke her with a telephone cord; and he got into an altercation with Presley while they were on tour together after calling the young rock-and-roller's music trash. Ira lived fast and died young, and his brother Charlie recalls visiting his grave, hearing his brother's voice, and singing one last duet with him. "Satan Is Real" is the incredible tale of the sixty-plus-year career of Charlie Louvin, the timeless murder ballads of the Louvin Brothers, and an epic tale of two brothers bound together by love, hate, alcohol, blood, and music.

A remarkable story of a boy who couldn't stop singing, and a man who knew how to hold 'em

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&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.

As the daughter of country music's "First Couple," George Jones and Tammy Wynette, Georgette Jones is one of country music's princesses. Just The Three of Us will contain never before told stories about George and Tammy's parenting, friendships, competition, and career decisions. It will recount Tammy's descent into prescription pill addiction due to constant medical problems, her dependence on her fifth husband, George Richey, and her untimely death at the age of 55. George Jones will also open up about his intense desire to repair the broken relationship with his child, about his insecurity as a father, and getting to know his twin grandsons. Lastly, Georgette will tell about her own failed marriage, illness, arrest, and the reconciliation she has reached with her former husband.

The songs of country music pioneer Jimmie Rodgers have been appropriated by dozens of musicians and radically transformed since he first recorded them nearly 90 years ago. His songs have often resurfaced at critical moments when country music has been forced to confront issues of style, gender, race, and tradition. In this cultural and historical study, Jocelyn R. Neal discusses three of Rodgers' most influential songs "Muleskinner Blues," "In the Jailhouse Now," and "T for Texas." She offers a radically new perspective on the role of Rodgers and his music in the making of country music, and on the ways in which individual songs take on special significance in American cultural life."

We all know the anthem, 'Stand By Your Man', that Tammy took to the top of the charts but few know the staggering story of the woman behind the song. Virginia Wynette Pugh was born into a poor family in Mississippi but was blessed with an astonishing singing voice. She always believed in her talent so, when her first marriage was breaking down, she bundled her three children into her car and roared off to make her name in the capital of Country music, Nashville. An overnight success, Wynette took the persona of the tortured housewife and turned it into hit records. Yet Tammy never found the idealized love she desperately yearned for, and her soap opera life included five husbands (one marriage lasting only forty-four days); four kids; thirty-plus operations; a monstrous addiction to painkillers; and even a bizarre unsolved kidnapping attempt that some insiders suggest Tammy might have staged herself. Her tragic death at age 55 shocked her fans but not those who knew of her health and addiction problems. Then the final indignity: her family had Wynette's body exhumed a year after her passing to ascertain the cause of her demise, yet the death has never been fully explained. Jimmy McDonough has been a true fan of Tammy all his life and has spent years researching the singer's story. TRAGIC COUNTRY QUEEN is the definitive biography of this complex and often contradictory artist. The author interviewed musicians, producers, fellow Country music superstars, ex-husbands, and family members (many who speak publicly for the first time). He reveals Tammy's mysterious and often desperate pre-Nashville days and her chaotic private life which included vast wealth, affairs, fires, overdoses, controlling husbands, pills, gunshots and fine music. 'The more I unearthed, the more haunting her music became,' writes McDonough. Funny, heartbreaking and remarkably researched, Tragic Country Queen is the book on the queen of country music.

From Taylor Swift's Pennsylvanian roots to Nashville and Hollywood, this little biography tells her story and presents dozens of photos of this superstar.

Like the rest of us, country music stars frequently experience mortifying, humiliating moments they would just as soon forget. Unlike the rest of us, however, when something embarrassing happens to an entertainer, it usually occurs in the bright glare of spotlights. Now, in Country Music's Most Embarrassing Moments, music journalist James Dickerson shares inside stories of some of those moments for twenty-four country entertainers, including legendary stars Garth Brooks, Vince Gill, Shania Twain, Chet Atkins, Janie Fricke, Terri Clark, Marty Stuart, and T. G. Sheppard. These painfully true stories from country music's elite are about moments that, for the first time, they have decided to share with their friends. Included are stories of forgetting the words to the national anthem, pants splitting open during concerts, being signalled by fans that one's fly is unzipped, tripping over electrical cords and destroying an entire percussion section and being arrested on stage as a prank set up by the band. Country music fans will enjoy this inside look at one of the occupational hazards of being an entertainer. Includes photographs and biographies of 25 country music stars.

The definitive biography of country legend Merle Haggard by the New York Times bestselling biographer of Clint Eastwood, Cary Grant, The Eagles, and more.Merle Haggard was one of the most important country music musicians who ever lived. His astonishing musical career stretched across the second half of the 20th Century and into the first two decades of the next, during which he released an extraordinary 63 albums, 38 that made it on to Billboard's Country Top Ten, 13 that went to #1, and 37 #1 hit singles. With his ample songbook, unique singing voice and brilliant phrasing that illuminated his uncompromising commitment to individual freedom, cut with the monkey of personal despair on his back and a chip the size of Monument Valley on his shoulder, Merle's music and his extraordinary charisma helped change the look, the sound, and the fury of American music.The Hag tells, without compromise, the extraordinary life of Merle Haggard, augmented by deep secondary research, sharp detail and ample anecdotal material that biographer Marc Eliot is known for, and enriched and deepened by over 100 new and far-ranging interviews. It explores the uniquely American life of an angry rebellious boy from the wrong side of the tracks bound for a life of crime and a permanent home in a penitentiary, who found redemption through the music of "the common man."Merle Haggard's story is a great American saga of a man who lifted himself out of poverty, oppression, loss and wanderlust, to catapult himself into the pantheon of American artists admired around the world. Eliot has interviewed more than 100 people who knew Haggard, worked with him, were influenced by him, loved him or hated him. The book celebrates the accomplishments and explore the singer's infamous dark side: the self-created turmoil that expressed itself through drugs, women, booze, and betrayal. The Hag offers a richly anecdotal narrative that will elevate the life and work of Merle Haggard to where both properly belong, in the pantheon of American music and letters.The Hag is the definitive account of this unique American original, and will speak to readers of country music and rock biographies alike.

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.

In October 2001, an unlikely gathering of musicians calling itself the MuzikMafia took place at the Pub of Love in Nashville, Tennessee. "We had all been beat up pretty good by the 'industry' and we told ourselves, if nothing else, we might as well be playing muzik," explains Big Kenny of Big and Rich. For the next year and a half, the MuzikMafia performed each week and garnered an ever-growing, dedicated fan base.

Five years, several national tours, six Grammy nominations, and eleven million sold albums later, the MuzikMafia now includes a family of artists including founding members Big and Rich, Jon Nicholson, and Cory Gierman along with Gretchen Wilson, Cowboy Troy, James Otto, Shannon Lawson, Damien Horne (Mista D), Two-Foot Fred, Rachel Kice, and several more in development.

This book explores how a set of shared beliefs created a bond that transformed the MuzikMafia into a popular music phenomenon. David B. Pruett examines the artists' coalition from the inside perspective he gained in five years of working with them. Looking at all aspects of the collective, "MuzikMafia" documents the problems encountered along the ascent, including business difficulties, tensions among members, disagreements with record labels, and miscalculations artists inevitably made before the MuzikMafia unofficially dissolved in 2008. A final section examines hope for the future: the birth of Mafia Nation in 2009.

This true account of the rise of country music is told by a 1940s' band musician, Don Davis, who became a music business executive and worked with all the Grand Ole Opry stars. Johnny Cash, the Carter family, Waylon Jennings, Minnie Pearl, Roy Acuff, and many others were his friends and appear throughout the book. They played from Mobile to Nashville and back again to his beloved Alabama. This masterful storyteller recalls colorful songwriters, record personalities, and fans with real incidents over his sixty-year career, that will move readers from laughter to tears. View 100 photographs showing real people, places, and instruments that have become country music legends. The stories will inform the fans and inspire current musicians to keep to their roots and enjoy the music.

"Voices of the Country" presents interviews with innovative musicians, producers, and songwriters who shaped the last 50 years of country music. From Eddy Arnold's new, smoother approach to song delivery to Loretta Lynn's take-no-prisoners feminism, these people opened new vistas in country music and American culture. Each has a unique, individual voice, including Chet Atkins's self-effacing modesty, Lynn's audacious storytelling, Charley Pride's proud knowledge of his landmark status as among the only African-Americans to break through country's racial barrier, and Sheb Wooley's optimism that "dreams will come true" - if you only choose the right goals. "Voices of the Country" will appeal to all fans of country music and the American scene that nurtured it.

Southwest Shuffle documents an important period in country music history. During the '30s and early '40s, hundreds of thousands of "Okies," "Arkies," and other rural folks from around the Southwest resettled in California, in search of work. A country music scene quickly blossomed there, with performers playing Western Swing, Cowboy, and Honky Tonk country. After World War II, these styles rocked country music, leading to the innovations of '60s performers like Buck Owens and Merle Haggard in creating the so-called "Bakersfield Sound." These stories are based on original interviews and archival research by one of the most respected writers on this period of country history. Kienzle writes in a vibrant style, reflecting his long-time love for these musical styles.

Southwest Shuffle documents an important period in country music. During the '30s and early '40s, hundreds of thousands of 'Okies', "Arkies", and other rural peoples from around the Southwest resettled in California, in search of work. A country music scene quickly blossomed there, with performers playing Western Swing, Cowboy, and Honky Tonk country. After World War II, these styles rocked country music, leading to the innovations of '60s performers like Buck Owens and Merle Haggard in creating the so-called 'Bakersfield Sound'. These stories are based on original interviews and archival research by one of the most respected writers on this period of country history. Kienzle writes vibrantly, reflecting his long-time love for these musical styles.

There's a little bistro in a small strip mall in Nashville, Tennessee. Twenty years ago owner Amy Kurland flung open its doors, and Music City's greatest unsung singer-songwriters ambled in. It was there that Garth Brooks performed his earliest gigs -- and landed a recording contract with Capitol Records. Since its opening in June 1982, the club has inspired a television series, a feature film, and more webcasts than a person can count. And it has perhaps become the premier legend in a town that's known for legends -- one of the hippest hangouts and best listening rooms in country-music country!

In celebration of the Bluebird's twentieth anniversary, owner Kurland -- with able help from collaborators Mark Benner and Neil Fagan -- has compiled a treasure trove of mementoes and memories from the cafe's first two decades. It is chock-full of candid photographs, history and fascinating trivia, unique memorabilia, and fond personal remembrances from the likes of Pam Tillis, Henry Gross, Rusty Young, Garth himself, and many, many more of the country royalty who, before they could fill great arenas, filled the Bluebird Cafe with song. Here, too, are mouthwatering recipes straight from the Bluebird's incomparable kitchen and from musicians, including Faith Hill and the Dixie Chicks -- everything from Shrimp Gumbo to Chocolate Chunk Cheesecake!

There is no other place in the world quite like the Bluebird -- and there is no other book more indispensable to the true country-music lover's collection than The Bluebird Cafe Scrapbook. It's fun, funky, absorbing, intriguing, and always heartfelt -- a one-of-a-kind keepsake that gloriously celebrates a unique Nashville monument and the talent that made it so.

The story behind the story of American country music goes back to Appalachian roots and the people who sang for local audiences and early radios in the early 20th century. No matter what you call the songs now--country, folk, traditional, old-time, hillbilly, and bluegrass--it is the music of a special breed of talented people who were part of one of the most interesting musical and entertainment stories in America's history. In their own words and those of family members, these tales relate the hard work, luck, and do-it-yourself independence of the pioneers of this music. Some became household names while others were important but remained almost totally unknown to the general public. Here you meet the Carter family, Jack Jackson, Bob Douglas, Grandpa Jones, Bashful Brother Oswald, Mac Wiseman, Earl Scruggs, Raymond Fairchild, and other greats of the field. Their touching personal stories and 190 photographs showing the artists with their instruments, families, and audiences, bring this musical heritage to life for modern listeners.

From humble beginnings in a dirt-poor mining town in Northern Canada, Shania Twain has become one of the most successful female solo artists of all time. At the age of eight her mother was taking her to sing in lumberjack bars and after-hours clubs; she lives now in a secluded Swiss mansion with her record producer husband and is worth over $100 million. Hits such as "Man! I Feel Like a Woman" and "That Don't Impress Me Much" ensured that her third album, "Come on Over", became the best-selling album in country music history. Robin Eggar has talked to close friends, family, and business associates to build a rounded portrait of the woman from the forests of Canada.

From humble beginnings in a dirt-poor mining town in Northern Canada, Shania Twain has become one of the most successful female solo artists of all time. At the age of eight her mother was taking her to sing in lumberjack bars and after-hours clubs; she lives now in a secluded Swiss mansion with her record producer husband and is worth over $100 million. Hits such as "Man! I Feel Like a Woman" and "That Don't Impress Me Much" ensured that her third album, "Come on Over", became the best-selling album in country music history. Robin Eggar has talked to close friends, family, and business associates to build a rounded portrait of the woman from the forests of Canada.