Though it tends to be a bit too pedantic and stilted, this
ambitious study offers interesting insights into America's most
popular musical form. Peterson (Sociology/Vanderbilt Univ.) coopts
postmodernist vocabulary in his study of contemporary country
music's "authenticity" - such authenticity is, he claims, a
cultural and commercial fabrication based on the observation of
previous generations of musicians and what individual performers
perceive as longterm trends rather than fads. Most interesting is
Peterson's separation of country music into "hard core" and "soft
shell" subcategories. Hard-core performers play in a consistent
style, write confessional lyrics, and generally live a life that
parallels their music. On the other hand, soft-shell musicians,
typified by the Grand Ole Opry's style, tended toward musicianship
that transcended country, often performing ballads that had been
made popular by songwriters and musicians in other formats. For
Peterson, the hard-core strain - typified best by the legendary
Hank Williams, whose death in 1953 marks the end of the 30-year
period that Peterson examines - is perhaps the most "authentic,"
though his definitions are purposefully slippery, and he certainly
means no disrespect to the soft-shell performers (such as Kenny
Rogers and Tammy Wynette) to whom he gives attention in his study.
Among the most interesting bits of trivia that Peterson offers is
that the term "country" displaced the more popular term "folk"
largely due to the efforts of Sen. Joseph McCarthy, whose
interrogation of early 1950s folkie Pete Seeger slapped folk music
with a "red" label that country musicians sought to avoid. With his
interesting and perhaps controversial theories, as well as his
exhaustive scholarship, Peterson is able to overcome his overly
scholarly style and produce an informative study. (Kirkus Reviews)
In this engrossing account, Richard Peterson traces the
institutionalization of country music from the early days with
Fiddlin' John Carson in Atlanta - which he shows could have become
the center of country music production - using experiences from the
lives and work of many of the genre's most influential performers,
including the Carter Family, Jimmie Rodgers, Bob Wills, Gene Autry,
Bill Monroe, the Delmore Brothers, Roy Acuff, Patsy Montana, the
Girls of the Golden West, Ernest Tubb, and of course Hank Williams.
The story, set in the era of the Roaring 1920s, the Great
Depression, World War II, and postwar prosperity, takes us from
Atlanta and Bristol, Tennessee, through Charlotte, Chicago, Tulsa,
and on to Hollywood, New York, and Nashville. Peterson captures the
free-wheeling entrepreneurial spirit of the era, detailing the
activities of the key promoters who sculpted the emerging country
music - Polk Brockman, Ralph Peer, George Hay, J. L. Frank and Fred
Rose. Along the way the influence of car-maker Henry Ford and
politician Joseph R. McCarthy are also noted. Vintage photographs
of this cast of characters complement the lively narrative. More
than just a history of the genre, Creating Country Music is the
first exploration of authenticity in popular culture. After
discussing the meaning of the term, Peterson uses the ironic phrase
"fabricating authenticity" to highlight the fact that, for fans,
authenticity does not refer to some clear standard from the past,
but is a reconstruction of selected elements from the past crafted
to meet the needs of the present. With this conception in mind,
Peterson concludes by showing the conditions necessary for the
continuation of country music in the twenty-first century.
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