The country music reader

"In The Country Music Reader Travis D. Stimeling provides an anthology of primary source readings from newspapers, magazines, and fan ephemera encompassing the history of country music from circa 1900 to the present. Presenting conversations that have shaped historical understandings of country music, it brings the voices of country artists and songwriters, music industry insiders, critics, and fans together in a vibrant conversation about a widely loved yet seldom studied genre of American popular music. Situating each source chronologically within its specific musical or cultural context, Stimeling traces the history of country music from the fiddle contests and ballad collections of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries through the most recent developments in contemporary country music. Drawing from a vast array of sources including popular magazines, fan newsletters, trade publications, and artist biographies, The Country Music Reader offers firsthand insight into the changing role of country music within both the music industry and American musical culture, and presents a rich resource for university students, popular music scholars, and country music fans alike."--Back cover

"Georgia's unwritten airs played by old 'fiddlers' for Atlanta prizes : untutored players from hillsides and marshes perform traditional Southern melodies on wire-stringed violin -- society folk and workers in audiences 'shuffle feet' to contagious strains -- 'Bald Mountain Caruso' and treble-singing dog at unique convention' (1914) / Linton K. Starr -- English folk songs from Southern Appalachians (1917) [excerpt] / Cecil B. Sharp -- Cowboy songs and other frontier ballads (1910) / John A. Lomax -- "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) -- "Mountain songs recorded here by Victor Co. : notable performers of this section at work at station in this city" (1927) -- "Discovery of the 1st hillbilly great" (1953) / Ralph Peer -- "Interview with Mother Maybelle Carter" (1968/1971) / Bill Williams -- "Bradley Kincaid" (1928) / Harold A. Safford -- "Radio's hillbilly king, Carson Robison, who is, with his Pioneers, a regular attraction for Oxydol every Sunday from Luxembourg, Lyons and …