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Country Music USA: 50th Anniversary Edition
“Fifty years after its first publication, Country Music USA still stands as the most authoritative history of this uniquely American art form. Here are the stories of the people who made country music into such an integral part of our nation’s culture. We feel lucky to have had Bill Malone as an indispensable guide in making our PBS documentary; you should, too.”
—Ken Burns and Dayton Duncan, Country An American Family Story From reviews of previous “Considered the definitive history of American country music.”
— Los Angeles Times “If anyone knows more about the subject than [Malone] does, God help them.”
—Larry McMurtry, from In a Narrow Grave “With Country Music USA , Bill Malone wrote the Bible for country music history and scholarship. This groundbreaking work, now updated, is the definitive chronicle of the sweeping drama of the country music experience.”
—Chet Flippo, former editorial director, Country Music Television and CMT.com “ Country Music USA is the definitive history of country music and of the artists who shaped its fascinating worlds.”
—William Ferris, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, former chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities and coeditor of the Encyclopedia of Southern Culture Since its first publication in 1968, Bill C. Malone’s Country Music USA has won universal acclaim as the definitive history of American country music. Starting with the music’s folk roots in the rural South, it traces country music from the early days of radio into the twenty-first century. In this fiftieth-anniversary edition, Malone, the featured historian in Ken Burns’s 2019 documentary on country music, has revised every chapter to offer new information and fresh insights. Coauthor Tracey Laird tracks developments in country music in the new millennium, exploring the relationship between the current music scene and the traditions from which it emerged.
—Ken Burns and Dayton Duncan, Country An American Family Story From reviews of previous “Considered the definitive history of American country music.”
— Los Angeles Times “If anyone knows more about the subject than [Malone] does, God help them.”
—Larry McMurtry, from In a Narrow Grave “With Country Music USA , Bill Malone wrote the Bible for country music history and scholarship. This groundbreaking work, now updated, is the definitive chronicle of the sweeping drama of the country music experience.”
—Chet Flippo, former editorial director, Country Music Television and CMT.com “ Country Music USA is the definitive history of country music and of the artists who shaped its fascinating worlds.”
—William Ferris, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, former chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities and coeditor of the Encyclopedia of Southern Culture Since its first publication in 1968, Bill C. Malone’s Country Music USA has won universal acclaim as the definitive history of American country music. Starting with the music’s folk roots in the rural South, it traces country music from the early days of radio into the twenty-first century. In this fiftieth-anniversary edition, Malone, the featured historian in Ken Burns’s 2019 documentary on country music, has revised every chapter to offer new information and fresh insights. Coauthor Tracey Laird tracks developments in country music in the new millennium, exploring the relationship between the current music scene and the traditions from which it emerged.
768 pages, Paperback
Published June 1, 2018
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July 17, 2025Excellent and comprehensive history of country music from its origins to the present day. Originally published in 1968 and updated various times for new editions (this one being published in 2018), the book is full of names, stories, and tidbits that show the breadth of this music and its changes over the decades. My favorite chapters were the early ones about the development of country (or, hillbilly) music and its early recorded history, as well as the chapters on the Nashville Sound and bluegrass. After getting heavily into country over the past several years and recently visiting Nashville, I loved getting all the history in one big book. Probably one of the best books about music that I’ve read.
December 27, 2023
I bought this while on pain meds after having my wisdom teeth pulled and I finally finished it 4 years later. This is THE definitive history and catalog of country music in the United States and I loved every minute of it. The book begins with country music’s Anglo and African roots, wrapping things up with bro-country cringe. There’s no shying away from the inherent vices within the genre, yet the authors also bathe country music in a big hallelujah that sends me straight to the steel guitar after each reading.
May 26, 2023
A fantastic history of country music. There's a mountain of information there that's presented with crystal clarity and excellent organization. I love it!
February 3, 2021
Our "typical" hillbilly, though, was a man whose musical perceptions had been shaped by women, first by the mother who had lullabied him to sleep and who, perhaps, had taught him his first musical instrument. Furthermore, his songs often revealed the insecurities that plagued his life as a poor unfulfilled worker or farmer, and they often worked themselves out in expressions of unrequited love, guilt, or self-pity, or in macho songs such as "Black Jack David."
"The Folk Background"
What an opus on something which, after over 700 pages of scholarship, neither author can quantify: what elements make a song "country music"? We start with fiddling hillbillies and finish with Beyonce singing with the Dixie Chicks--a vast topography filled with fascinating facts and mind-numbing rosters. Bill C. Malone's work is a labor of love. His examination of the 1920s and 30s and the emergence of a distinct genre known as "hillybilly music" is fascinating. When we encounter the machinations of Nashville and the allure of crossing to pop music, Malone remains grounded in excavating the characteristics specific to a genre while it is in the very process of splitting into infinite branches.
If I were reviewing Bill Malone's book alone, I would certainly give it 4 stars, taking a star off for the ponderous prose. This is a fascinating story, but it is told in a dry, academic manner. However, Tracey Laird's contributions drag the book further down. She is unable to function without bias, obviously enamored with Austin City Limits (did she mention she wrote a history of the PBS program? Yes, she did)and the Austin country scene in general. Read the following excerpt from her final chapter carefully:
That music is not simply the product of a handful of musicians and producers. It is sustained by millions of listeners. To cite only one example, Tim McGraw's album Set This Circus Down, which leaped to the number one position on the charts during the same week of its issuance, did not generate that meteoric rise through some kind of capitalistic conspiracy that imposed it upon thousands of unwilling fans. The hosts of fans who buy McGraw's CDs, or who faithfully attend Nashville's Fan Fair each June, find something to listen to in contemporary country music that many of us reject or simply cannot hear.
While I can't name a single Tim McGraw song, I do not like the manner Laird describes her wonder at his ability to sell CDs, essentially dismissing him. Malone, though faced with some real sellouts and spurious talents in the 1940s and 1950s, never dismisses or, as is the case here, belittles an artist. The final sentence, "many of us," assumes we are on the same intelligent team which summarily "rejects" this artist and is baffled he possesses a fanbase. Laird then dismisses a literate country singer like John Prine while spending multiple pages on obscure Austin musicians or quasi-shock country musicians associated with the Chicago Bloodshot label. When John Prine is dismissed as "not country" but an intelligent "folk" songwriter, I'm confused as to what criteria we're using. We seriously consider Beyonce for an entire chapter but we have nothing to say about John Prine? Only one paragraph on Lucinda Williams? This isn't a continuation of the Malone scholarship but the rantings of an angry hipster. She should have never been given the keys to the car.
My recommendation is to certainly read what Malone has to say about the music. It is insightful and entertaining. I learned a lot and discovered a lot of new artists in the process. Then, for the final third, prepare yourself because, evidently, only Austin has "real country musicians" in the 21st century...
"The Folk Background"
What an opus on something which, after over 700 pages of scholarship, neither author can quantify: what elements make a song "country music"? We start with fiddling hillbillies and finish with Beyonce singing with the Dixie Chicks--a vast topography filled with fascinating facts and mind-numbing rosters. Bill C. Malone's work is a labor of love. His examination of the 1920s and 30s and the emergence of a distinct genre known as "hillybilly music" is fascinating. When we encounter the machinations of Nashville and the allure of crossing to pop music, Malone remains grounded in excavating the characteristics specific to a genre while it is in the very process of splitting into infinite branches.
If I were reviewing Bill Malone's book alone, I would certainly give it 4 stars, taking a star off for the ponderous prose. This is a fascinating story, but it is told in a dry, academic manner. However, Tracey Laird's contributions drag the book further down. She is unable to function without bias, obviously enamored with Austin City Limits (did she mention she wrote a history of the PBS program? Yes, she did)and the Austin country scene in general. Read the following excerpt from her final chapter carefully:
That music is not simply the product of a handful of musicians and producers. It is sustained by millions of listeners. To cite only one example, Tim McGraw's album Set This Circus Down, which leaped to the number one position on the charts during the same week of its issuance, did not generate that meteoric rise through some kind of capitalistic conspiracy that imposed it upon thousands of unwilling fans. The hosts of fans who buy McGraw's CDs, or who faithfully attend Nashville's Fan Fair each June, find something to listen to in contemporary country music that many of us reject or simply cannot hear.
While I can't name a single Tim McGraw song, I do not like the manner Laird describes her wonder at his ability to sell CDs, essentially dismissing him. Malone, though faced with some real sellouts and spurious talents in the 1940s and 1950s, never dismisses or, as is the case here, belittles an artist. The final sentence, "many of us," assumes we are on the same intelligent team which summarily "rejects" this artist and is baffled he possesses a fanbase. Laird then dismisses a literate country singer like John Prine while spending multiple pages on obscure Austin musicians or quasi-shock country musicians associated with the Chicago Bloodshot label. When John Prine is dismissed as "not country" but an intelligent "folk" songwriter, I'm confused as to what criteria we're using. We seriously consider Beyonce for an entire chapter but we have nothing to say about John Prine? Only one paragraph on Lucinda Williams? This isn't a continuation of the Malone scholarship but the rantings of an angry hipster. She should have never been given the keys to the car.
My recommendation is to certainly read what Malone has to say about the music. It is insightful and entertaining. I learned a lot and discovered a lot of new artists in the process. Then, for the final third, prepare yourself because, evidently, only Austin has "real country musicians" in the 21st century...
May 6, 2025
# Twang, Tears, and Two-Step: A Half-Century of "Country Music USA"
If country music were a person, Bill C. Malone would be its most devoted biographer, therapist, and drinking buddy all rolled into one. With the 50th Anniversary Edition of "Country Music USA," Malone—now joined by Tracey E. W. Laird—continues his reign as the genre's preeminent historian, proving that good scholarship, like good whiskey, only improves with age.
First published when Richard Nixon was still considered trustworthy and Dolly Parton was just beginning to, ahem, make her presence known, Malone's opus has outlasted eight-tracks, cassettes, CDs, and possibly the entire music industry as we once knew it. This updated edition arrives in an era when "Old Town Road" can spark existential crises about what country music even is anymore—making Malone's historical perspective all the more valuable.
The book traces country music from its humble origins—when it wasn't even called "country" but rather "hillbilly music," a term about as politically correct as calling champagne "fancy bubble juice"—through its commercial evolution and cultural significance. Malone and Laird chronicle how this music of rural America somehow survived the Nashville-ification process with its soul intact, despite producers' best efforts to smooth its rough edges like a whiskey distiller filtering out the very impurities that give the spirit character.
What makes this anniversary edition particularly delightful is how it manages to be both scholarly and readable—a combination as rare as a country song without mentions of trucks, trains, or mama. Malone writes with the precision of an academic but the heart of someone who actually enjoys the music, while Laird's contributions bring the narrative into the 21st century with observations on how country has absorbed, rejected, or side-eyed contemporary influences.
The authors don't shy away from country's contradictions: its progressive working-class themes alongside conservative social values; its authentic expressions of rural life versus its commercially calculated personas; its celebration of tradition while constantly reinventing itself. They explore how artists from Jimmie Rodgers to Taylor Swift (yes, remember when she was country?) navigated these tensions, creating a musical tradition as complex as America itself.
For the uninitiated, this book might seem as daunting as line dancing sober. But Malone and Laird are generous guides, never talking down to readers or getting lost in jargon thicker than a Texas accent. They understand that behind every three-chord song is a rich cultural history worth exploring with both reverence and a raised eyebrow.
At 50, "Country Music USA" remains essential reading not just for understanding a musical genre, but for comprehending America's soul—or at least the part of it that cries in its beer on Saturday night and seeks redemption on Sunday morning. Like the music it chronicles, this book endures because beneath its scholarly exterior beats the heart of a damn good story.
If country music were a person, Bill C. Malone would be its most devoted biographer, therapist, and drinking buddy all rolled into one. With the 50th Anniversary Edition of "Country Music USA," Malone—now joined by Tracey E. W. Laird—continues his reign as the genre's preeminent historian, proving that good scholarship, like good whiskey, only improves with age.
First published when Richard Nixon was still considered trustworthy and Dolly Parton was just beginning to, ahem, make her presence known, Malone's opus has outlasted eight-tracks, cassettes, CDs, and possibly the entire music industry as we once knew it. This updated edition arrives in an era when "Old Town Road" can spark existential crises about what country music even is anymore—making Malone's historical perspective all the more valuable.
The book traces country music from its humble origins—when it wasn't even called "country" but rather "hillbilly music," a term about as politically correct as calling champagne "fancy bubble juice"—through its commercial evolution and cultural significance. Malone and Laird chronicle how this music of rural America somehow survived the Nashville-ification process with its soul intact, despite producers' best efforts to smooth its rough edges like a whiskey distiller filtering out the very impurities that give the spirit character.
What makes this anniversary edition particularly delightful is how it manages to be both scholarly and readable—a combination as rare as a country song without mentions of trucks, trains, or mama. Malone writes with the precision of an academic but the heart of someone who actually enjoys the music, while Laird's contributions bring the narrative into the 21st century with observations on how country has absorbed, rejected, or side-eyed contemporary influences.
The authors don't shy away from country's contradictions: its progressive working-class themes alongside conservative social values; its authentic expressions of rural life versus its commercially calculated personas; its celebration of tradition while constantly reinventing itself. They explore how artists from Jimmie Rodgers to Taylor Swift (yes, remember when she was country?) navigated these tensions, creating a musical tradition as complex as America itself.
For the uninitiated, this book might seem as daunting as line dancing sober. But Malone and Laird are generous guides, never talking down to readers or getting lost in jargon thicker than a Texas accent. They understand that behind every three-chord song is a rich cultural history worth exploring with both reverence and a raised eyebrow.
At 50, "Country Music USA" remains essential reading not just for understanding a musical genre, but for comprehending America's soul—or at least the part of it that cries in its beer on Saturday night and seeks redemption on Sunday morning. Like the music it chronicles, this book endures because beneath its scholarly exterior beats the heart of a damn good story.
August 3, 2022
This is a phenomenal book with an amazing story of country music history. If you've ever wanted to see it all fit together, read this book. There's a reason it is a classic. Malone covers everything from the origins of the genre, what characterized the early days, and the evolution through the 20th century and into the early 21st century.
This book is a must-read for musicologists interested in country music in any of its various manifestations. Whether studying Ralph Peer and the early mountain music, Jimmie Rodgers, Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, George Jones, Loretta Lynn, or more recent evolutions like Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood, this book covers it all. There's a remarkable amount of analysis and depth in the book, making it a veritable holy book of country music history.
I will say that it's a five-star book with a one-star ending. The final chapter feels wholly out of place, attempting to argue far too many things in a short span. Rather than capping off the book's historical narrative, the final chapter attempts to make an academic argument that seems concerned with too many variables and social concerns to make much sense of the time period.
Ending aside, this is an important book. I would recommend this to anyone writing on country music in any capacity. Further, I would recommend this for folks who are in the music industry and want a "crash course" in the genre's history. I found it particularly enjoyable to pull up songs as I read through the book, hearing the mood and style in each era. It's striking to observe sonically and musically the evolution of the genre over time.
This book is a must-read for musicologists interested in country music in any of its various manifestations. Whether studying Ralph Peer and the early mountain music, Jimmie Rodgers, Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, George Jones, Loretta Lynn, or more recent evolutions like Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood, this book covers it all. There's a remarkable amount of analysis and depth in the book, making it a veritable holy book of country music history.
I will say that it's a five-star book with a one-star ending. The final chapter feels wholly out of place, attempting to argue far too many things in a short span. Rather than capping off the book's historical narrative, the final chapter attempts to make an academic argument that seems concerned with too many variables and social concerns to make much sense of the time period.
Ending aside, this is an important book. I would recommend this to anyone writing on country music in any capacity. Further, I would recommend this for folks who are in the music industry and want a "crash course" in the genre's history. I found it particularly enjoyable to pull up songs as I read through the book, hearing the mood and style in each era. It's striking to observe sonically and musically the evolution of the genre over time.
September 12, 2018
Absolutely fascinating, including its well-informed discussion of the state of country music today. I reviewed Country Music USA for The Current.
March 18, 2024
Read the original more than once, so I skipped quite a few pages, and concentrated on the later stuff. Still a damn good book!
July 4, 2020
This is the ultimate book for the person who wants mini-biographies and a detailed history of Country Music. In its 572 pages of actual text (the remaining pages are a detailed Bibliography, Footnotes, Index and well over 100 pages of Bibliographic Essays in print so small you need a magnifying glass to read it - if you're into reading what other books are available), it seems everyone who ever performed Country music is listed, but there are omissions of important artists of the recent past (last 50 years).
The book was the author's dissertation to support this candidacy for his Phd. and is written at times in very dull, dry, academic style much like a textbook while at other times, it comes alive with vibrant portrayals of what Country music is all about and who helped make it such.
What was truly bothersome about the book was chapter length. I think the shortest may have been around 40 pages with most of them approaching 70 pages with no breaks! They just went on and on and on some more. This, at times, made reading the book very difficult.
In addition, there is an "updated' last chapter in which a co-author argues - quite unsuccessfully - that pop/rap superstar Beyonce (whoever that may be) could be considered cross over Country because she performed at the CMA awards and did a pseudo-Country song as did other pop stars. Sorry, pop ain't Country - some of it may cross over, but that doesn't make the artist a Country artist. If Bruce Springsteen does a Country song does that suddenly make the veteran rocker a Country star? I think not.
This is the book Ken Burns used as the primary research vehicle for his Country Music TV documentary series on PBS and it's easy to understand why. If you want superficial information in biographical form about artists, it's here. If you're looking for a learned, academic overview of what Country music is all about from the roots to more recent years, it's here. If you're looking for something that you can sit down and read for leisure, this isn't for you. Like I said, it's very dry, and very academic in nature. Enough said.
The book was the author's dissertation to support this candidacy for his Phd. and is written at times in very dull, dry, academic style much like a textbook while at other times, it comes alive with vibrant portrayals of what Country music is all about and who helped make it such.
What was truly bothersome about the book was chapter length. I think the shortest may have been around 40 pages with most of them approaching 70 pages with no breaks! They just went on and on and on some more. This, at times, made reading the book very difficult.
In addition, there is an "updated' last chapter in which a co-author argues - quite unsuccessfully - that pop/rap superstar Beyonce (whoever that may be) could be considered cross over Country because she performed at the CMA awards and did a pseudo-Country song as did other pop stars. Sorry, pop ain't Country - some of it may cross over, but that doesn't make the artist a Country artist. If Bruce Springsteen does a Country song does that suddenly make the veteran rocker a Country star? I think not.
This is the book Ken Burns used as the primary research vehicle for his Country Music TV documentary series on PBS and it's easy to understand why. If you want superficial information in biographical form about artists, it's here. If you're looking for a learned, academic overview of what Country music is all about from the roots to more recent years, it's here. If you're looking for something that you can sit down and read for leisure, this isn't for you. Like I said, it's very dry, and very academic in nature. Enough said.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews