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The Encyclopedia of Country Music . 2nd ed. Edited by Paul Kingsbury , Michael McCall , and John W. Rumble . New York : Oxford University Press , 2012.
Lonesome Melodies: The Lives and Music of the Stanley Brothers . By David W. Johnson . American Made Music Series. Jackson : University Press of Mississippi , 2013.
Rednecks, Queers, and Country Music . By Nadine Hubbs . Berkeley : University of California Press , 2014.
The Hank Williams Reader . Edited by Patrick Huber , Steve Goodson , and David M. Anderson . Readers on American Musicians. New York : Oxford University Press , 2014.
Entering into its sixth decade, the field of country music studies is thriving. During its first fifty years, country music scholars eschewed methodological orthodoxy, instead developing ad hoc methodologies that have permitted scholars to reach a deep understanding of country music's significance as both a musical and a cultural practice. As a consequence, country music scholarship--as in much popular music scholarship generally--has been indelibly shaped by its engagement with the fields of American history, sociology, anthropology, folklore, cultural studies, ethnomusicology, gender studies, and, most recently, musicology and music analysis. The volumes reviewed here bear traces of this heterodoxy and, when read in conjunction with one another, work together to complicate our understanding of the genre, its place in the popular music landscape of the United States, and its role in the lives of the people who embrace these rich musical traditions.
First published in 1998, The Encyclopedia of Country Music was, at the time, a much-needed reference source. The decision by the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum (CMHOF&M) staff to revisit this monumental resource only fifteen years after the publication of the first edition reveals the institution's commitment to providing their constituents with up-to-date and accurate information about key country recording artists, session musicians, industry executives, and stylistic trends. This constituency is not easy to write for, however, as it includes scholars, journalists, and industry insiders as well as the thousands of country music fans who pass through CMHOF&M's doors each year. Paul Kingsbury, who edited the first edition, is joined in the new edition by CMHOF&M historians John W. Rumble...