That ain’t Country Music!

Last updated on: April 10, 2020 at 8:00 am by Coyle Neal

That ain’t Country Music! 2020-03-13T11:51:01-06:00 Coyle Neal

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Many of us have seen Ken Burns’ recent documentary on the history of Country Music, Country Music. A vastly smaller number of us have been listening through my occasional podcast series on the same topic (linked below). Somewhere in between live the people who have read the source material for both: Country Music USA by Bill C. Malone and Tracey E. W. Laird.

This book is not for the faint of heart of the weak of back. It is a giant doorstop full of everything you would ever want to know about country music, including names, dates, and major events. It is also a 600+ page reflection on the slippery definition of country music. What is ‘real’ country music, and why might some artists fit the bill while others don’t? When country starts to sound like pop music (and usually this becomes more socially acceptable and generally popular), has it somehow sold its soul?

As a part of this extensive discussion, we also encounter explorations of other issues in country music. What is the role of race in country music? (There have been minority country singers, but not many.) What about patriotism? In the 21st century we certainly associate country music with flag waving and supporting the troops and such, but that has not always been the case (and isn’t even always the case now–some of our older readers will remember the Dixie Chicks fiasco from the early 2000s). And of interest in this blog, what is the relationship of country music to religion? At least some of the origins and influences of the genre are the world of religious music. Many of the older country singers started out in churches, and the influence persisted throughout their careers. Stuart Hamblin’s This Old House, Hank Williams’s I Saw the Light or Lowell Blanchard’s Jesus Hits Like an Atom Bomb are just three examples of many. Even today mainstream country singers regularly put out albums of religious music. Alan Jackson and Randy Travis are just two examples.

Clearly there is a lot in this book for anyone interested in the genre. With that said, this isn’t the sort of book you should expect to sit down and read through cover-to-cover. It’s more of an encyclopedia-style book (though it is a history with a chronological order to it). Instead of a straight reading, you should plan to jump around and just read what grabs your attention here and there.

You can hear what I have to say about Country Music here:

http://74.208.244.238/CityofMan/068-FINAL.mp3

Dr. Coyle Neal is co-host of the City of Man Podcast and an Associate Professor of Political Science at Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, MO

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