The selling sound : the rise of the country music industry / Diane Pecknold.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Pecknold, Diane.

Series:

Refiguring American music

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Country music--History and criticism.

Country music.

Music trade--United States.

Music trade.

Country music--Social aspects.

United States.

Physical Description:

x, 294 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Durham : Duke University Press, 2007.

Summary:

Few expressions of popular culture have been shaped as profoundly by the relationship between commercialism and authenticity as country music has. While its apparent realism, sincerity, and frank depictions of everyday life are country's most obvious stylistic hallmarks, Diane Pecknold demonstrates that commercialism has been just as powerful a cultural narrative in its development. Listeners have long been deeply invested in the "business side" of country. In The Selling Sound, Pecknold explores how country music's commercialism, widely acknowledged but largely unexamined, has affected the way it is produced, received by fans and critics, and valued within the American cultural hierarchy.

Contents:

Commercialism and the cultural value of country music, 1920-1947

Country music becomes mass culture, 1940-1958

Country audiences and the politics of mass culture, 1947-1960

Masses to classes : the Country Music Association and the development of country format radio, 1958-1972

Commercialism and tradition, 1958-1970

Silent majorities : the country audience as commodity, constituency, and metaphor, 1961-1975.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [273]-286) and index.

ISBN:

9780822340591

0822340593

9780822340805

0822340801

OCLC:

134992230