Traditional Country & Western Music presents historical photographs, memorabilia, and stories about an enduring music genre that took root in America from the late 1920s through the mid-1930s. Although many of our early folk songs originated from the British Isles, Jimmie Rodgers (the "Father of Country Music") and Gene Autry ("America's Favorite Singing Cowboy") became the foundation of modern country and western music. Many regional styles and variations of country and western music developed during the first half of the 20th century, including hillbilly, bluegrass, honky-tonk, rockabilly, southern gospel, Cajun, and Texas swing. Local artists, live radio shows, and regional barn dance programs provided entertainment throughout the Great Depression, World War II, and into America's postwar years. During the 1950s, country and western music became homogenized with the Nashville sound and the Bakersfield sound. By the end of the 1960s, country music completed its move to Nashville, and "western" was dropped from the equation. This book recalls the golden age of country and western music from the late 1920s through the 1960s. Each of the featured artists and programs in this book were once household names. We celebrate these early legends, live radio and television shows, unsung heroes, and local performers from Maine to California.

Traditional Country & Western Music presents historical photographs, memorabilia, and stories about an enduring music genre that took root in America from the late 1920s through the mid-1930s. Although many of our early folk songs originated from the British Isles, Jimmie Rodgers (the "Father of Country Music") and Gene Autry ("America's Favorite Singing Cowboy") became the foundation of modern country and western music. Many regional styles and variations of country and western music developed during the first half of the 20th century, including hillbilly, bluegrass, honky-tonk, rockabilly, southern gospel, Cajun, and Texas swing. Local artists, live radio shows, and regional barn dance programs provided entertainment throughout the Great Depression, World War II, and into America's postwar years. During the 1950s, country and western music became homogenized with the Nashville sound and the Bakersfield sound. By the end of the 1960s, country music completed its move to Nashville, and "western" was dropped from the equation. This book recalls the golden age of country and western music from the late 1920s through the 1960s. Each of the featured artists and programs in this book were once household names. We celebrate these early legends, live radio and television shows, unsung heroes, and local performers from Maine to California.

Offers biographical sketches with pictures of over 200 major figures in Country and Western music.

Now for the first time, country music authority Charles K. Wolfe gathers together his profiles of 50 legends of country music, including Bill Monroe, Lefty Frizzell, and Kitty Wells.

Country music may have existed before 1925-in barn dances, roadside taverns, tent shows, minstrel shows, and vaudeville-but it didn't become Country Music until the advent of radio and new stars were born. In Classic Country Singers, author Douglas B. Green (a.k.a. Ranger Doug from the Grammy-winning western group Riders in the Sky) celebrates the men and women who built the industry that gave us "Your Cheatin' Heart," "Blue Yodel," "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels," and the Grand Ole Opry. From the beginnings of bluegrass to honky-tonk to western swing and more, Classic Country Stars offers intimate biographies and cherished photos covering the careers of nearly fifty major stars from country music's first half-century, including beloved musicians such as Uncle Dave Macon, the Carter Family, and Jimmie Rodgers up to the pop-country hit makers of the 1950s like Eddy Arnold and Marty Robbins. Through war, depression, and the advent of rock and roll, these men and women pioneered a sound that moved from regional barn dances and radio stations to an international audience. Includes profiles on: Hank Williams Gene Autry Hank Snow Kitty Wells Ray Price Minnie Pearl Ernest Tubb Douglas B. Green is the author of three previous works on American music: Country Roots, Singing In The Saddle, and Singing Cowboys. He is considered one of the leading experts on American roots music, especially western. His full-time job for thirty years has been as lead vocalist of Riders in the Sky, the two-time Grammy-award-winning western quartet and member of the Western Music Hall of Fame. For more information on the group, including their tour schedule, please visit www.ridersinthesky.com.

Includes essays tracing Country's growth from hand-me-down folk to a major American industry; concise biographies; critical album reviews, from the earliest commercial recordings of the 1920s through the mulitplatinum artists of today; and vintage album jackets and previously unpublished photographs.