Country Music Culture: From Hard Times to Heaven (Studies in Popular Culture)
Many may find it strange to associate country music, with its songs about cheatin', drinkin', and drivin' trucks, with culture, but as it's the fastest growing, most pervasive segment of popular music today, associate we must. Ellison is especially attentive to the history of the form. He begins his well-researched examination in medias res--that is, at the Grand Ole Opry, country's preeminent venue from its beginnings as a showcase for a mixture of hillbilly and gospel musicians and rustic vaudeville comedians to the slickly produced multimillion-dollar business it is today. Farther along, he examines several country music immortals and observes the contemporary country scene at concerts, county fairs, etc., noting that country's attention to its history and penchant for self-reference give its fans a feeling of literal familiarity--a sense of belonging that greatly stokes the music's commercial success. Regardless whether country sustains its current popularity, Ellison's book affords a vital look at what it is now and how it got that way.Mike Tribby--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.