Real Country: Music and Language in Working-Class Culture

by Aaron A. Fox

In Lockhart, Texas, a rural working-class town just south of Austin, country music is a way of life. Conversation slips easily into song, and the songs are full of conversation. Anthropologist and musician Aaron A. Fox spent years in Lockhart making research notes, music, and friends. In Real Country, he provides an intimate, in-depth ethnography of the community and its music. Showing that country music is deeply embedded in the textures of working-class life, Fox argues that it is the cultural and intellectual property of working-class people and not only of the Nashville-based music industry or the stars whose lives figure so prominently in popular and scholarly writing about the genre.Fox spent hundreds of hours observing, recording, and participating in talk and music-making in homes, beer joints, and garage jam sessions. He renders the everyday life of Lockhart’s working-class community in detail, right down to the ice cold beer, the battered guitars, and the technical skills of such local musical legends as Randy Meyer and Larry “Hoppy” Hopkins. Throughout, Fox focuses on the human voice. His analyses of conversations, interviews, songs, and vocal techniques show how feeling and experience are expressed, and how local understandings of place, memory, musical aesthetics, working-class social history, race, and gender are shared. In Real Country, working-class Texans re-imagine their past and give voice to the struggles and satisfactions of their lives in the present through music.

Genres: Music, Anthropology, Nonfiction, Language, History, Ethnography

384 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

Reviews

[Starbubbles · Rating 2 out of 5]

so apparently trying to maintain your culture is considered a social movement. sort of a stretch, but i'll mule it over. seems to take a middle-class condescending tone to the working-class. can't seem to brake out of "working-class is dirty" descriptions. if his goal was to combat those stereotypes, he should of had a "but" statement somewhere. it does get highly theoretical in place, but you are forewarned at the beginning. i mean, there are even charts! what?! this really isn't a history bk, but a ethnological study. yay. neat look at central tx though. plus the stuff on language was pretty cool. but this isn't one i would have tried to trudge through if it wasn't a requirement for a class, i would have deemed it a lost cause, and moved on.

[Blair · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is truly, truly amazing. It is so good that I couldn't read it in public because I couldn't help but exclaim, out loud, stuff like, "Amazing!" or "Wow!" or "This is the best thing I've ever read!"

I wish I could give it 6 stars. It is THAT good.

[Christian Layow · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sorry never finished this book. Too academic. It had some good stuff, but needed a dictionary cracking at least twice a page. Was originally written as a Ph.D. thesis, and from what I can tell not much was removed in the way of academia language and analysis.

[Tessa · Rating 4 out of 5]

the language is very "grad school", which makes sense, but does take a bit of focus in the beginning to get into the rhythms of the language and the excessive use of "quotes" when using terms from music.

[Kerby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Honest opinion I could’ve done a better cultural analysis/ ethnogr. I was just mad for the last like 60 pages so I’d give this a massive thumbs down - Wish he did the subject justice I can’t stand a mf that uses empty academic / theoretical jargon. Say real words

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ethnography of a bar in Texas.

[Elise · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really beautiful and interesting, but Fox has a tendency to romanticize that renders his discussion of gender in a tremendously male-centered society rather weak.

[Lars · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best ethnography I've read in a long time. And an often moving portrait of its subject matter, the country scene in Lockhart, TX.

[Dustin Roggenburg · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent read for any ethnomusicologist, cultural anthropologist, sociologist, or anyone who is generally interested in music and how it shapes identity

[Chandler Moore · Rating 4 out of 5]

Linguistics + country = REAL COUNTRY

[Casey Martini]

great