Limit this search to....

Smile When You Call Me a Hillbilly
Contributor(s): Lange, Jeffrey (Author)
ISBN: 082035256X     ISBN-13: 9780820352565
Publisher: University of Georgia Press
OUR PRICE:   $93.01  
Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats
Published: April 2017
Qty:
Additional Information
BISAC Categories:
- Music | Genres & Styles - Country & Bluegrass - General
- Music | History & Criticism - General
- History | United States - 20th Century
Dewey: 781.642
Physical Information: 0.88" H x 6" W x 9" (1.45 lbs) 336 pages
Themes:
- Chronological Period - 20th Century
- Chronological Period - 1930's
- Chronological Period - 1940's
- Chronological Period - 1950's
 
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc.
Publisher Description:

Today, country music enjoys a national fan base that transcends both economic and social boundaries. Sixty years ago, however, it was primarily the music of rural, working-class whites living in the South and was perceived by many Americans as "hillbilly music." In Smile When You Call Me a Hillbilly, Jeffrey J. Lange examines the 1940s and early 1950s as the most crucial period in country music's transformation from a rural, southern folk art form to a national phenomenon.

In his meticulous analysis of changing performance styles and alterations in the lifestyles of listeners, Lange illuminates the acculturation of country music and its audience into the American mainstream. Dividing country music into six subgenres (progressive country, western swing, postwar traditional, honky-tonk, country pop, and country blues), Lange discusses the music's expanding appeal. As he analyzes the recordings and comments of each of the subgenre's most significant artists, including Roy Acuff, Bob Wills, Bill Monroe, Hank Williams, and Red Foley, he traces the many paths the musical form took on its road to respectability.

Lange shows how along the way the music and its audience became more sophisticated, how the subgenres blended with one another and with American popular music, and how Nashville emerged as the country music hub. By 1954, the transformation from "hillbilly" music to country music was complete, precipitated by the modernizing forces of World War II and realized by the efforts of promoters, producers, and performers.


Contributor Bio(s): Lange, Jeffrey J.: - JEFFREY J. LANGE currently teaches history at the University of St. Francis in Joliet, Illinois.