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 ; 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

"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