The Country Music Reader

Travis D. Stimeling is an Assistant Professor of Music History at West Virginia University. He is the author of Cosmic Cowboys and New Hicks: The Countercultural Sounds of Austin's Progressive Country Music Scene (OUP, 2011) and has published widely on U.S. music topics.

"The Country Music Reader, assembled for 'students of music history' by Travis D. Stimeling, is a wonderful collection of primary sources who purpose is to present the subject 'not simply as the result of musicians' work but also as a product of many figures, often with competing interests and goals.' The variety of sources Stimeling has accumulated achieves his primary objective and is the strength of this volume." --The Journal of SouthernHistory

• THE COUNTRY MUSIC READER ; TABLE OF CONTENTS ; Acknowledgements ; Preface ; Note on Sources ; 1. Lindon K. Starr, "Georgia's Unwritten Airs Played by Old 'Fiddler's' for Atlanta Prizes: Untutored Players from Hillsides and Marshes Perform Traditional Southern Melodies on Wire-Stringed Violins-Society Folk and Workers in Audiences 'Shuffle Feet' to Contagious Strains-'Bald Mountain Caruso' and Treble-singing Dog at Unique Convention" (1914) ; 2. Cecil B. Sharp, English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians (1917) ; 3. John A. Lomax, Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads (1910) (excerpt) ; 4."What the Popularity of Hill-Billy Songs Means in Retail Profit Sensibilities: The Widespread Vogue of the Funereal Type of Songs Is Attested by Publishers and Record Manufacturers-Is It of Significance as Indication of Public Taste?" (1925) ; 5."Mountain Songs Recorded Here by Victor Co.: Notable Performers of This Section at Work at Station in This City" (1927) ; 6. Ralph Peer, "Discovery of the 1st Hillbilly Great" (1953) ; 7. Bill Williams, excerpt "Interview with Mother Maybelle Carter" (1968/1971) ; 8. Harold A. Safford, "Bradley Kincaid" (1928) ; 9. Paul Hobson, "Radio's Hillbilly King, Carson Robison, who is, with his Pioneers, a regular attraction for Oxydol every Sunday from Luxembourg, Lyons and Normandy, tells us in this interview how he writes his world-famous songs" (1938) ; 10. John Wright, "J.E. Mainer" (1993) ; 11. Virginia Seeds, "Back Stage Ramble: Cowboys and Cow Belles Enjoy the Barn Dance" (1936) ; 12. "No Hill Billies in Radio: Ballads Are Still Written, Says John Lair" (1935) ; 13. Alva Johnston, "Tenor on Horseback" (1939) ; 14. George D. Hay, excerpt from A Story of the Grand Old Opry (1945) ; 15. Janis Stout, "The Light Crust Doughboys Were on the Air: A Memoir" (1996) ; 16."Okies Reverse Order of Steinbeck's Tale" (1941) ; 17. Maurice Zolotow, "Hillbilly Boom" (1944) ; 18. Nicholas Dawidoff, "Earl Scruggs: Three Fast Fingers" (excerpt) (1997) ; 19. Rufus Jarman, "Country Music Goes to Town" (1953) ; 20. Johnny Cash on recording at Sun with Sam Phillips, Cash: The Autobiography (excerpt) (1997) ; 21. Charlie Louvin, "Elvis" (2012) ; 22. Murray Nash, "Miss Country Music and Her Family" (1955) ; 23. Linda Lamendola, "Steve Sholes-Star Maker" (1956) ; 24. Ben A. Green, "Chet Makes Guitar Talk with Rhythm and Melody" (1957) ; 25. "Coast Country Biz Booms" (1957) ; 26. Alan Lomax, "Bluegrass Background: Folk Music with Overdrive" (1959) ; 27. Tom T. Hall, The Storyteller's Nashville on songwriting and song plugging (1979) ; 28. "The Story of the Country Music Association" (1968) ; 29. "Ask Trina" (1968) ; 30. John Grissim, Jr., "California White Man's Shit Kickin' Blues" (1969) ; 31. Lee Arnold, "A DJ Tells Why-There's Country Music in the City Air" (1975) ; 32. Michael Bane, The Outlaws: Revolution in Country Music (1978) ; 33. Rex Rutkoski,"The Pill: Should It Be Banned from Airplay?" (1975) ; 34. George F. Will, "Of Pride and Country Music" (1975) ; 35. Aaron Latham, "The Ballad of the Urban Cowboy: America's Search for True Grit" (1978) ; 36. Tom Anthony, "Kenny Rogers: Drawing Full Houses" (1981) ; 37. Alanna Nash, "Emmylou Harris" (1988) ; 38. Holly G. Miller, "Randy Travis: Nice Guy Finishes First" (1988) ; 39. Bruce Feiler, Dreaming Out Loud: Garth Brooks, Wynonna Judd, Wade Hayes, and the Changing Face of Nashville (1998) ; 40. Debbie Holley, "Country Dancing Sparks Club Growth: New Nightclubs, Remixes Target Trend" (1992) ; 41. Eric Boehlert, "Classic Country Stations Fill Niche: Claim Fans of Currents, Standards Mix" (1993) ; 42. Peter Cronin, "Nashville's Studio Boom Alters Musical Landscape" (1993) ; 43. Kyle Ryan, "Any Kind of Music But Country: A Decade of Indie Country, Punk Rock, and the Struggle for Country's Soul" (2005) ; 44. Rich Kienzle, Review of BR5-49 (1996) ; 45. Deborah Evans Price, "Has There Been 'Murder on Music Row'? Key Players Speak Out" and "Is There 'Murder on Music Row'? Debate Continues" (2000) ; 46. Scott Galupo, "The Critical Rockist and Gretchen" (2005) ; 47. Craig Havighurst, "Scenes from a Rose Garden: Martina McBride Found Career and Family Bliss by Carefully Balancing the Timeless and the Timely (2006) ; 48. Jill Sobule, "Searching for the Republican Artist" (2008) ; 49. Vanessa Grigoriadis, "The Very Pink, Very Perfect Life of Taylor Swift" (2009) ; 50. Chet Flippo, "Why the Term 'Country Music' May Disappear: Marketers of the Future May Dissolve Music Genre Labels" (2010) ; 51. Skip Hollandsworth, "The Girl Who Played with Firearms" (2011) ; INDEX ; SONG INDEX