Country Music Message: Revisited

By Jimmie N. Rogers, Jimmie Rogers, ROGERS JIMMIE

Book Overview

The Country Music Message: Revisited is more than a history of commercial country music, a discussion of the performers, or a compilation of song lyrics. It is an examination of the way the "message" in country songs is relayed and received: why the songs move us as they do. As Jimmie Rogers saying in his preface, "A country song is a special form of communication----communication that more closely resembles interpersonal or face-to-face interaction between two people than do other types of mass appeal music. This close bond that exists between audience and performers, as well as the unique treatment of the song topics, helps to make the music, the performers, and the audience special. After the characteristics are reviewed, observations are made about the audience that accepts and approves these messages. The topics, and the approach to those topics by the songwriter and by the singers, tell us much about the audience that chose to listen to country music."

If you are already a fan of country music, this book will provide insights into a process you've probably taken for granted. If you are a newcomer, you will better understand and appreciate the music that a "few folks are performing for a large number of people."

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1557280525
• ISBN13: 9781557280527
• Release Date: July 1988
• Publisher: University of Arkansas Press
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 0.88 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.4" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

A respectful analysis of America's most popular music genre.

After a look at "the process" -- how the message gets to the listener -- Rogers devotes the bulk of his book to the content of the message: Hurtin' love, happy love, cheatin' love and "just livin'". He closes with a look at the audience. This is an eminently readable book and manages to avoid the fawning superficiality of others, including most so-called country star autobiographies (... written with ...) but also any kind of condescension. Rogers does not lose sight of the inherent humour in much of country poetry and he stresses the crucial connection between singer and audience. He really writes about country before Garth Brooks and Shanaia Twain, but some of his analysis can be applied even to pop country, for instance the three-minute story structure. This is a fun book for everyone who enjoys country music and may seriously wonder why... Ole J. Thienhaus