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As the twentieth century began, Black and white southerners alike
dealt with low life expectancy and poor healthcare in a region
synonymous with early death. But the modernization of death care by
a diverse group of actors changed not only death rituals but
fundamental ideas about health and wellness. Kristine McCusker
charts the dramatic transformation that took place when southerners
in particular and Americans in general changed their thinking about
when one should die, how that death could occur, and what decent
burial really means. As she shows, death care evolved from being a
community act to a commercial one where purchasing a purple coffin
and hearse ride to the cemetery became a political statement and
the norm. That evolution also required interactions between perfect
strangers, especially during the world wars as families searched
for their missing soldiers. In either case, being put away decent,
as southerners called burial, came to mean something fundamentally
different in 1955 than it had just fifty years earlier.
As the twentieth century began, Black and white southerners alike
dealt with low life expectancy and poor healthcare in a region
synonymous with early death. But the modernization of death care by
a diverse group of actors changed not only death rituals but
fundamental ideas about health and wellness. Kristine McCusker
charts the dramatic transformation that took place when southerners
in particular and Americans in general changed their thinking about
when one should die, how that death could occur, and what decent
burial really means. As she shows, death care evolved from being a
community act to a commercial one where purchasing a purple coffin
and hearse ride to the cemetery became a political statement and
the norm. That evolution also required interactions between perfect
strangers, especially during the world wars as families searched
for their missing soldiers. In either case, being put away decent,
as southerners called burial, came to mean something fundamentally
different in 1955 than it had just fifty years earlier.
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.
One of the most influential and acclaimed female vocalists of the
twentieth century, Patsy Cline (1932-63) was best known for her
rich tone and emotionally expressive voice. Born Virginia Patterson
Hensley, she launched her musical career during the early 1950s as
a young woman in Winchester, Virginia, and her heartfelt songs
reflect her life and times in this community. A country music
singer who enjoyed pop music crossover success, Cline embodied the
power and appeal of women in country music, helping open the
lucrative industry to future female solo artists. Bringing together
noted authorities on Patsy Cline and country music, Sweet Dreams:
The World of Patsy Cline examines the regional and national history
that shaped Cline's career and the popular culture that she so
profoundly influenced with her music. In detailed, deeply
researched essays, contributors provide an account of Cline's early
performance days in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley, analyze the
politics of the split between pop and country music, and discuss
her strategies for negotiating gender in relation to her public and
private persona. Interpreting rich visual images, fan
correspondence, publicity tactics, and community mores, this volume
explores the rich and complex history of a woman whose music and
image changed the shape of country music and American popular
culture. Contributors are Beth Bailey, Mike Foreman, Douglas
Gomery, George Hamilton IV, Warren R. Hofstra, Joli Jensen, Bill C.
Malone, Kristine M. McCusker, and Jocelyn R. Neal.
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