Creating Country Music: Fabricating Authenticity

by Richard A. Peterson

In Creating Country Music , Richard Peterson traces the development of country music and its institutionalization from Fiddlin' John Carson's pioneering recordings in Atlanta in 1923 to the posthumous success of Hank Williams. Peterson captures the free-wheeling entrepreneurial spirit of the era, detailing the activities of the key promoters who sculpted the emerging country music scene. More than just a history of the music and its performers, this book is the first to explore what it means to be authentic within popular culture.

"[Peterson] restores to the music a sense of fun and diversity and possibility that more naive fans (and performers) miss. Like Buck Owens, Peterson knows there is no greater adventure or challenge than to 'act naturally.'"—Ken Emerson, Los Angeles Times Book Review

"A triumphal history and theory of the country music industry between 1920 and 1953."—Robert Crowley, International Journal of Comparative Sociology

"One of the most important books ever written about a popular music form."—Timothy White, Billboard Magazine

Genres: Music, History, Nonfiction, Sociology

320 pages, Paperback

First published November 24, 1997

Reviews

[Garrett Cash · Rating 4 out of 5]

Peterson recounts much of the same historical information concerning country music's development that Bill C. Malone does, with a twist. It only concerns the genre's beginning in Atlanta in 1923 to Hank Williams's death thirty years later in 1953, and the angle being explored is how country music relates to itself in authenticity and image-making. If you've ever asked yourself: "Why did we decide that Hank Williams is more 'country' than Eddy Arnold?" for instance, then this is the book for you. Authenticity and image are two of the most central struggles in country music because the genre is founded upon 1. An assumption that the music should be more "real" than other genres and 2. That there is an identity country artists should embody while also remaining original.

What constitutes "realness" and a viable identity that an artist should pattern themselves after to become acceptably "authentic" changes along with the taste of times, argues Peterson. For instance, to perform hillbilly boogie music now would not be considered authentic, but a reproduction because that style is outmoded. To wear casual western wear like plaid shirts and cowboy hats is considered acceptably authentic country wear now, but overalls and floppy hats are not even though that was what would have been "authentic" in the 30's.

Peterson charts these changes and examines the roles different major stars of the country field had in influencing the development the genre towards becoming the easily recognized industry it is today. Highly recommended reading for those who want to dig into the "why?" behind what changes took place in country's history, not just what happened.

[Justin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this sans dust jacket at a library. The title appeared only as Creating Country Music on the spine. I began reading and was pleasantly surprised to find a book not about the music theory or anthropology of folk music. After all there are plenty of books like that. This is more like a fun text of political economy breaking down the ways that recorded country music from the start was marketed (with all the dishonesty that word can imply) by the cachet/currency of authenticity.

From the 21st century its easy to look back at music from 1920s and 1930s and ascribe it a certain purity as though it was produced under different economic circumstances than those of today. The fact that much of the music we encounter from this time is limited to 78s which are devoid of the spectacle of modern marketing contributes to this perception. A moment's consideration of the fact that the majority of people recording the artists were doing so at the behest of an employer to ultimately sell records reveals the absurdity of the notion.

I was naive enough on the subject to be surprised by Creating Country Music. I haven't listened to The Carter Family the same way since. Perhaps if my copy had the dust jacket I would've seen the subtitle and been slightly less surprised or impressed. Good book!

[szymborskalyte · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not very interesting tbh.

[Charles Heath · Rating 5 out of 5]

The sense of authenticity in country music is preserved as it is changed by performers, the industry, and fans.

[eli · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5: interesting enough, had some good information and it was fun to read!

[Gemma · Rating 4 out of 5]

five stars for value within the field of cultural sociology (and ability to live up to that value); I confess, three stars for my personal tastes

[Alexa · Rating 4 out of 5]

In spite of what I expected to be an uninteresting case study, this is a really engaging sociological take on structuralist analysis. Very readable and educational.

[Joe Matson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Peterson tackles the making of a style, 1923-53. Some of the middle chapters drag a bit, but the first few and especially the last are quite strong.

[JayKeast · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very informative. Pretty well constructed.