The Encyclopedia of Country Music The Ultimate Guide to the Music

by Kingsbury, Paul; Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum

• ISBN13: 9780195176087
• ISBN10: 0195176081
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-12-16
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

To its millions of fans, country music is America's music, offering a window on the sweet dreams and cruel disappointments of ordinary American lives. Now the renowned Country Music Foundation, custodian of Nashville's legendary Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, has compiled a fascinating and infinitely useful guide to this beloved musical genre-- The Encyclopedia of Country Music . Nearly 1,300 alphabetical entries put eight decades of country music at readers' fingertips, from the earliest '20s recordings of the Carter Family and Jimmie Rodgers to the '90s chart-topping albums of LeAnn Rimes and Garth Brooks. A distinguished field of 137 contributors provides an eminently readable and reliable guide to the singers, songwriters, record companies, and industry movers and shakers who have made country music the increasingly popular--and profitable--juggernaut it is today. Hundreds of photographs, some never before published, accompany the text, including 75 color photographs from the CMF Library's record collection, surveying the history of the country music album cover. Twelve appendices provide lists of country's all-time best-selling albums, country music stations nationwide, all the country music awards won over the years, and much more. Authoritative, accessible, and unerringly accurate, The Encyclopedia of Country Music will delight fans. It is an essential reference for libraries, radio stations, and the entertainment industry.

Author Biography

Paul Kingsbury is a freelance writer and the author of The Grand Ole Opry History of Country Music and Vinyl Hayride:Country Music Album Covers. A Deputy Director for the Country Music Foundation and an editor of Journal of Country Music, he lives in Nashville.

Table of Contents

Foreword
The entries, A-Z	p. 3
The look of country : the colorful history of country music costuming	p. 125
The folk and popular roots of country music	p. 188
The gospel truth : Christianity and country music	p. 218
Extra! Read all about it! : the literature of country music	p. 312
Country music as music	p. 364
The center of Music City : Nashville's music row	p. 385
The talking machine : how records shaped country music	p. 465
It all began with a song : a brief history of country songwriting	p. 522
The South and country music	p. 529
From schoolhouses to arenas : a history of country music touring	p. 556
Country music's all-time best-selling albums	p. 609
The ASCAP most performed country song of the year awards	p. 614
Country's share of the U.S. recorded music market	p. 615
Full-time country radio stations in the U.S.A.	p. 615
BMI's most performed country song of the year awards	p. 616
Grand Ole Opry members and the dataes they joined the show's cast	p. 616
Country Music Hall of Fame members and their years of election	p. 617
Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame	p. 617
Grammy Awards related to country music	p. 618
Country Music Association (CMA) Awards	p. 623
Academy of Country Music Awards	p. 625
Music City News/TNN Awards	p. 629
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.