Creating Country Music : Fabricating Authenticity

by Peterson, Richard A.

• ISBN13: 9780226662855
• ISBN10: 0226662853
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-10-01
• Publisher: Univ of Chicago Pr

Summary

InCreating Country Music, Richard Peterson traces the development of country music and its institutionalization from Fiddlin' John Carson's pioneering recordings in Atlanta in 1923 to the posthumous success of Hank Williams. Peterson captures the free-wheeling entrepreneurial spirit of the era, detailing the activities of the key promoters who sculpted the emerging country music scene. More than just a history of the music and its performers, this book is the first to explore what it means to be authentic within popular culture. "[Peterson] restores to the music a sense of fun and diversity and possibility that more naive fans (and performers) miss. Like Buck Owens, Peterson knows there is no greater adventure or challenge than to 'act naturally.'"--Ken Emerson,Los Angeles Times Book Review "A triumphal history and theory of the country music industry between 1920 and 1953."--Robert Crowley,International Journal of Comparative Sociology "One of the most important books ever written about a popular music form."--Timothy White,Billboard Magazine

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments: A Note on Method

Introduction: Finding Country Authenticity

Making the Music Commercial

Atlanta: Birthplace of Commercial Country Music

Renewable Tradition: The Carter Family and Jimmie Rodgers Gallery 1

The Folk vs. Pop Look

Fabricating the Image of Authenticity

Old-Timer Image of Authenticity

Hillbilly Image of Authenticity

Cowboy Image of Authenticity Gallery 2 Geezers, Hillbillies, and Cowboys

Radio-Made Country Music in the 1930s

The Barn Dance in the Air

Radio Station Barnstorming

Soft Shell vs. Hard Core: The Vagabonds vs. Roy Acuff Gallery 3 The Evolving Hard-Core and Soft Shell Looks

Making Country Reproducible

Honky-Tonk Firmament: Lives, Music, Lyrics

Hank Williams as the Personification of Country Music Gallery 4 Iconic Country

Creating a Field Called "Country"

Authenticity and the Future of Country Music

Authenticity: A Renewable Resource

Can the Circle Be Unbroken? Notes References Credits General Index Song

Index

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