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Andrew Leach
JIM FARRINGTON(EDITOR)
By Colin Escott. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Books, 2003. 192pp (hardcover). Illustrations, Bibliography, Discography, Index. ISBN 1-58834-149-6. $26.95
Since its commercial beginnings, country music has maintained a long affair with mainstream American popular music. Throughout much of its history, many of country
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music's artists, producers, and businesspeople have increasingly had their sights set on the popular music charts. This influence has consistently troubled many country music devotees, who have felt that it has threatened the emotional depth and character that defines country music. This conflict is a major theme throughout Colin Escott's Lost Highway: The True Story of Country Music . The book succinctly covers the history of commercial country music ''from the back porch to the stadium,'' (p. 9) and Escott's view is that something significant has been lost or corrupted during that journey, chiefly in the interest of money. As Escott states in the book, ''Art and commerce have done battle throughout its history, and commerce has usually won'' (p. 12). He points out a number of examples, including the rise of the pop-influenced ''Nashville Sound'' during the late 1950s and early 1960s, the proliferation of ''middle-of-the-road'' pop-country stars in the 1970s, and the enormous crossover success of ''stadium country'' performers since the early 1990s. Escott also calls attention to country music's own reactions to these trends, such as the twangy ''Bakersfield Sound'' in the 1960s, the...