Synopses & Reviews
Popular between the two world wars, American barn dance radio evoked comforting images of a nostalgic and stable past for listeners beset by economic problems at home and worried about totalitarian governments abroad. Sentimental images such as the mountain mother and the chaste everybody's-little-sister "girl singer" helped to sell a new consumer culture and move commercial country music from regional fare to national treasure. Kristine M. McCusker examines the gendered politics of these images through the lives and careers of six women performers: Linda Parker, the Girls of the Golden West (Milly and Dolly Good), Lily May Ledford, Minnie Pearl, and Rose Lee Maphis.
Review
"McCusker captures the essence of her subject in this discussion of the careers of a handful of female country music radio stars. . . . McCusker delves deep into the changing creations and perceptions of female country performers. . . . Highly recommended."--Choice
Review
McCusker's work sheds a welcome light on a musical movement still in living memory for some but forgotten or never known by others."--Library Journal
Synopsis
A collective biography of the women who shaped early country and western music
About the Author
Kristine M. McCusker is an associate professor of history at Middle Tennessee State University. She is coeditor of A Boy Named Sue: Gender and Country Music.