Country Boys and Redneck Women: New Essays in Gender and Country Music

by Diane Pecknold (Editor), Kristine M. McCusker (Editor)

Overview

Essays that overthrow stereotypes and demonstrate the genre's power and mystique Contributions by Georgia Christgau, Alexander S. Dent, Leigh H. Edwards, Caroline Gnagy, Kate Heidemann, Nadine Hubbs, Jocelyn Neal, Åse Ottosson, Travis Stimeling, Matthew D. Sutton, and Chris Wilson Country music boasts a long tradition of rich, contradictory gender dynamics, creating a world where Kitty Wells could play the demure housewife and the honky-tonk angel simultaneously, Dolly Parton could move from traditionalist "girl singer" to outspoken trans rights advocate, and current radio playlists can alternate between the reckless masculinity of bro-country and the adolescent girlishness of Taylor Swift. In this follow-up volume to A Boy Named Sue, some of the leading authors in the field of country music studies reexamine the place of gender in country music, considering the ways country artists and listeners have negotiated gender and sexuality through their music and how gender has shaped the way that music is made and heard. In addition to shedding new light on such legends as Wells, Parton, Loretta Lynn, and Charley Pride, it traces more recent shifts in gender politics through the performances of such contemporary luminaries as Swift, Gretchen Wilson, and Blake Shelton. The book also explores the intersections of gender, race, class, and nationality in a host of less expected contexts, including the prisons of WWII-era Texas, where the members of the Goree All-Girl String Band became the unlikeliest of radio stars; the studios and offices of Plantation Records, where Jeannie C. Riley and Linda Martell challenged the social hierarchies of a changing South in the 1960s; and the burgeoning cities of present-day Brazil, where "college country" has become one way of negotiating masculinity in an age of economic and social instability. Diane Pecknold, Louisville, Kentucky, is an associate professor of women's and gender studies at the University of Louisville. Kristine M. McCusker, Murfreesboro, Tennessee, is a professor of history at Middle Tennessee State University. Together they edited A Boy Named Sue: Gender and Country Music (University Press of Mississippi).

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781496804914
Publisher:	University Press of Mississippi
Publication date:	02/24/2016
Series:	American Made Music Series
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Diane Pecknold, Louisville, Kentucky, is an associate professor of women's and gender studies at the University of Louisville. She is also the coeditor of A Boy Named Sue: Gender and Country Music (University Press of Mississippi).

Kristine M. McCusker, Murfreesboro, Tennessee, is a professor of history at Middle Tennessee State University. She is also the coeditor of A Boy Named Sue: Gender and Country Music (University Press of Mississippi).

Table of Contents

Introduction Diane Pecknold Kristine M. McCusker vii

Why "Ladies Love Country Boys": Gender, Class, and Economics in Contemporary Country Music Jocelyn R. Neal 3

"Hey! if I Should Grab Ya": "College Country" and the Realization of Urban Brazil Alexander S. Dent 26

Act Naturally: Charley Pride, Autobiography, and the "Accidental Career" Matthew D. Sutton 44

Holding On to Country: Musical Moorings for Desired Masculinities in Aboriginal Australia Åse Ottosson 64

Taylor Swift's "Pitch Problem" and the Place of Adolescent Girls in Country Music Travis Stimeling 84

Gender and the Nashville Songwriter: Three Songs by Victoria Banks Chris Wilson 102

As if They Were Going Places: Class and Gender Portrayals through Country Music in the Texas State Prison, 1938-1944 Caroline Gnagy 126

Negotiating Gender, Race, and Class in Post-Civil Rights Country Music: How Linda Martell and Jeannie C. Riley Stormed the Plantation Diane Pecknold 146

Remarkable Women and Ordinary Gals: Performance of Identity in Songs by Loretta Lynn and Dolly Parton Kate Heidemann 166

"Backwoods Barbie": Dolly Parton's Gender Performance Leigh H. Edwards 189

Kitty Wells, Queen of Denial Georgia Christgau 211

Gender Deviance and Class Rebellion in "Redneck Woman" Nadine Hubbs 231

Selected Bibliography 255

Notes on Contributors 267

Index 271

Editorial Reviews

"In this sequel to their highly ambitious and successful A Boy Named Sue, Pecknold and McCusker have produced a collection that more than stands on its own. The essays presented, while recalling insights of the original, address new research, topics, and trends that reflect a dynamic and vibrant field. Ultimately, Country Boys and Redneck Women argues cogently that gender is central to understanding country music's past, present, and future."

—Michael T. Bertrand, author of Race, Rock, and Elvis

"This thoughtful collection of essays offers compelling evidence that a gendered lens helps us understand how country music negotiates its own generic identity, as well as ongoing issues in authenticity, race, class, and social relations. The editors of the groundbreaking A Boy Named Sue have collected a powerful new series of essays that incorporate subsequent developments in masculinity studies, as well as in country music scholarship. The collection shows the value and necessity of methodological variety and interdisciplinarity, and it documents the global reach of country music as it addresses dislocations both individual and collective. It will be of interest not only to scholars in gender studies and country music but also to anyone interested in how the many tensions between tradition and transgression are constantly being negotiated in popular culture."

—Joli Jensen, Hazel Rogers Professor of Communication at the University of Tulsa and author of The Nashville Sound

From the Publisher