1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910449957803321

Autore

Ching Barbara <1958->

Titolo

Wrong's what I do best : hard country music and contemporary culture / / Barbara Ching

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Oxford, [England] ; ; New York, New York : , : Oxford University Press, , 2001

©2001

ISBN

1-280-45300-1

0-19-535529-6

0-19-518599-4

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (199 p.)

Disciplina

781.642

Soggetti

Country music - History and criticism

Electronic books.

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Contents; Introduction: Learning the hard way; 1 "Country 'til I die": Contemporary hard country and the incurable unease of class distinction; 2 The Possum, the Hag, and the Rhinestone Cowboy: The burlesque abjection of the white male; 3 The hard act to follow: Hank Williams and the legacy of hard country stardom; 4 Drawing hard lines: Buck Owens, Dwight Yoakam, and the Bakersfield Sound; 5 Dying hard: Hard country at the finish line?; Notes; Works Cited; Index; A; B; C; D; E; F; G; H; I; J; K; L; M; N; O; P; R; S; T; U; V; W; Y

Sommario/riassunto

This is the first study of ""hard"" country music as well as the first comprehensive application of contemporary cultural theory to country music. Barbara Ching begins by defining the features that make certain country songs and artists ""hard."" She compares hard country music to ""high"" American culture, arguing that hard country deliberately focuses on its low position in the American cultural hierarchy, comically singing of failures to live up to American standards of affluence, while mainstream country music focuses on nostalgia, romance, and patriotism of regular folk. With chapters on