The rich and colorful story of America's most popular music and the singers and songwriters who captivated, entertained, and consoled listeners throughout the 20th century--based on the upcoming eight-part film series to air on PBS in September 2019

Bobby Braddock, the only living songwriter to have written number-one country songs in five consecutive decades, celebrates standout lines in more than eighty country masterpieces. Unique stories give the reader a behind-the-scenes look at classics from Hank Williams, Bill Anderson, Roger Miller and Merle Haggard, as well as twenty-first-century icons like Alan Jackson, Taylor Swift and Eric Church. Artist Carmen Beecher brings these tales to vivid...

"A definitive look at the outlaw country music movement, [Outlaw] follows the stories of three legendary icons--Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, and Kris Kristofferson--as they redefined country music in the late '60s and early '70s, set in the rich backdrop of Nashville"--Provided by publisher.

Nashville is a name synonymous with music. Years before the first radio broadcast of country music from Nashville's Grand Ole Opry, music and publishing were central to Nashville's self-identity.Thousands of songs flooded into the Cumberland and Tennessee River valleys from Southern Appalachia, sung by folk performers. These songs became the foundation for the folk-hymn traditions that grew throughout Tennessee. Into this stream flowed a body of

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Merle Haggard has enjoyed artistic and professional triumphs few can match. He's charted more than a hundred country hits, including thirty-eight number ones. He's released dozens of studio albums and another half dozen or more live ones, performed upwards of ten thousand concerts, been inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, and seen his songs performed by artists as diverse as Lynryd Skynyrd, Elvis Costello, Tammy Wynette, Willie Nelson,

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This volume is a study of the Grand Ole Opry from its beginning to 1940. The Grand Ole Opry is a weekly country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, that has presented the biggest stars of the genre since 1925. This detailed history and a group biography of the Opry's early years provides an account of the personalities, the music, and the social and cultural conditions that were such fertile ground for the growth of a radio show that was...

"This book is an analysis and appreciation of the most noteworthy recordings of one of the world's greatest guitarists. Chet Atkins' whole body of work--truly unmatched in the history of modern musical entertainment--and nearly 140 of his all-time greatest recordings are discussed. A concise overview of his life and work is provided"--

"In a dim clearing off a county road in Kentucky sits a sagging outdoor stage buried in moss and dead leaves. It used to be the centerpiece of carnival-like Sunday afternoons where local guitarists, fiddlers and mandolin players hammered out old mountain ballads while legends from the dawn of country music performed their classic hits. Most of the musicians who showed up have long since passed, but Nashville stars Ricky Skaggs and Marty Stuart survive....

When George Jones recorded "He Stopped Loving Her Today" more than thirty years ago, he was a walking disaster. Twin addictions to drugs and alcohol had him drinking Jim Beam by the case and snorting cocaine as long as he was awake. Before it was over, Jones would be bankrupt, homeless, and an unwilling patient at an Alabama mental institution. In the midst of all this chaos, legendary producer Billy Sherrill-the man who discovered Tammy Wynette

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From the Publisher: Throughout his career, Johnny Cash has been depicted-and has depicted himself-as a walking contradiction: social protester and establishment patriot, drugged wildman and devout Christian crusader, rebel outlaw hillbilly thug and elder statesman. Leigh H. Edwards explores the allure of this paradoxical image and its cultural significance. She argues that Cash embodies irresolvable contradictions of American identity that reflect...