John Edwards: Collector, Researcher and Discographer Extraordinaire
Don Cusic, Andrew Smith, Mickie Akenson, James Akenson Managing Editor’s Note: Once again Andrew Smith in Tasmania, Australia provides a fascinating discussion of an important Country Music topic. A description of the John Edward collection at the University of North Carolina may be found at https://finding-aids.lib.unc.edu/20001/ . It is particularly interesting how some international […]
Doc Watson Life’s Work: A Retrospective
Andrew Smith Managing Editor’s Note: Once again Andrew Smith of Tasmania lends his substantive expertise in Country Music to an important four CD release with 101 tracks and an 86 page book from Craft Recordings. Doc Watson (1923-2012) holds a special place in the history of Country Music…broadly defined….and merits all the attention from scholars, journalists, […]
Satan is Busy in Knoxville: A Review
Andrew Smith Managing Editor’s Note: We’re pleased once again to have a contribution from Andrew Smith in Tasmania. Smith is exceptionally knowledgeable about Country Music not just in Australia, but the entire scope of Country Music history. His forth coming biography of Australian Country Music pioneer Tex Morton will be published in Spring, 2023 by […]
Hillbilly Bop: The Other Memphis Sound. Part 2
Carl Perkins – everybody’s rockin’ tonight Editor’s Note: This is the second of two articles about the Memphis region and the Country Music scene of the 1950s. Dr. Shawn Pitts lives in Selmer, Tennessee. Cinema fans may recognize Selmer as the County Seat of McNairy County, Tennessee. The film “Walking Tall” made McNairy County […]
Hillbilly Bop: The Other Memphis Sound. Part 1. The Snearly Ranch Boys
The Snearly Ranch Boys Editor’s Note: Dr. Shawn Pitts lives in Selmer, Tennessee. Cinema fans may recognize Selmer as the County Seat of McNairy County, Tennessee. The film “Walking Tall” made McNairy County Sheriff Buford Pusser famous. Dr. Pitts has served in many positions for the Tennessee Folklore Society including President. In addition, Pitts […]
What Comes Round
I vividly remember Johnny Cash and Hank Williams, Jr’s version of That Old Wheel with lyrics including That old wheel will roll around again. The theme….evening up scores from past wrongs…works well for my use in using Country Music to deal with topics in how to teach history, geography, and even literature. And…it also relates […]
Ron Cohen: Part 3
My Rainbow Quest: The Life of Ronald D. Cohen Part 3 Managing Editor’s Note: This third, and final installment of Ron Cohen’s remarkable career shows his political bent in connection to Folk Music. Pete Seeger is truly iconic in American culture. Alan Lomax and The Weavers aren’t far behind. Folklorist Archie Green was a major […]
Ron Cohen: Part 2
University of Minnesota Dr. Ronald D. Cohen, Retired Indiana University Northwest Gary Indiana U.S.A. I graduated from the University of California, Berkley in June 1962 During my senior year, Clarke Chambers, professor from the University of Minnesota was hired to teach the recent US history course. I talked with Chambers about going to graduate […]
Country Music Cowboy: Trashtastic, Fun, and Deconstructable
James E. Akenson Managing Editor If you’re tired of long dense sentences from the likes of William Faulkner, Aleksandr Sozhenitsyn, or Leo Tolstoy then Sasha Summers Country Music Cowboy is just what the doctor ordered. And…less you think that romance novels such as Country Music Cowboy fall beneath your dignity level…think again. It reminds me […]
My Rainbow Quest: The Life of Ronald D. Cohen, Part 1
Dr. Ronald D. Cohen, Retired Indiana University Northwest Gary Indiana U.S.A. My brother Alan, four years my senior (b. 1936), was a major influence on my early life, in many ways, in particular my interest in folk music, past and present. I was born in 1940 in Eagle Rock, an older neighborhood of Los Angeles, […]