Country Soul
Making Music and Making Race in the American South
By Charles L. Hughes
280 pp., 6.125 x 9.25, 24 halftones, notes, bibl., index
-
Paperback ISBN: 978-1-4696-3342-8
Published: February 2017 -
eBook ISBN: 978-1-4696-2244-6
Published: March 2015
Buy this Book
- Paperback $34.95
- E-Book $14.99
For Professors:
Free E-Exam Copies
Awards & distinctions
Certificate of Merit, Best Historical Research in Recorded Blues, Gospel, Soul, or R&B, Association for Recorded Sound Collections
One of Rolling Stone's 10 Best Music Books of 2015
A Slate Book Review Overlooked Book of 2015
A No Depression Reading Room Best of 2015
Hughes offers a provocative reinterpretation of this key moment in American popular music and challenges the conventional wisdom about the racial politics of southern studios and the music that emerged from them. Drawing on interviews and rarely used archives, Hughes brings to life the daily world of session musicians, producers, and songwriters at the heart of the country and soul scenes. In doing so, he shows how the country-soul triangle gave birth to new ways of thinking about music, race, labor, and the South in this pivotal period.
About the Author
Charles L. Hughes is director of the Memphis Center at Rhodes College.
For more information about Charles L. Hughes, visit
the
Author
Page.
Reviews
βA deep, fresh examination of various power relations involved in the making of soul music, country music, and the sonic space between them.β--The Wall Street Journal
βAn essential piece of Southern musical history.β--Kirkus Reviews
"A powerful work."--Library Journal
βAn eye-opening corrective to notions of racial harmony in the recording studio or on the bandstand.β --Memphis Flyer
βWith its courageous, thoroughly researched, and deeply considered take on the racial politics of the southern music industry in a pivotal period for not just the music but the South and the nation at large, Country Soul claims its own essential place in the telling of that messy history.β--Paste
"A fascinating read on many levels."--Stillwater News Press
Multimedia & Links
Follow the author on Twitter @CharlesLHughes2.
Read: Hughes remembers soul legend Ben E. King in a blog post at New Black Man. Read "A Cornerstone of American Soul: Remembering Ben E. King". (5/4/2015)