Voices of the Country: Interviews with Classic Country Performers by Michael StreissguthReview by: Jeanette L. CaseyNotes, Second Series, Vol. 61, No. 4 (Jun., 2005), pp. 1032-1033Published by: Music Library AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4487508 .

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1032 NOTES, June 2005

this book, as with all the others in the se- ries, included a standard bibliography and discography (of singles, album variations, and bootlegs) as a reference to accompany these thoughtful works.

I approached Joe Harvard's The Velvet Underground and Nico with some reserva- tions. A fair amount has been written about the band and their first record and I won- dered if the book would have anything new to say. Harvard does an excellent job bring- ing a fresh angle to the subject particularly the under appreciated roles of the pro- ducer Andy Warhol and rhythm guitarist Sterling Morrison. With an in-depth knowl- edge of the recording process and attentive listening to Velvet Undergrounds's 1965 demos, the author is able to explain the band's inner workings and early musical development.

Chis Ott's Unknown Pleasures is a wonder- ful resource for fans and students studying Joy Division's post-punk classic. The book closely documents the band's development through live performances, demos, and recording sessions. The book also provides an inside look at Manchester, England's rock scene, the disturbing lyrics and per- sonal life of singer Ian Curtis, and the de- velopment of the band's distinctive sound in the studio.

Reading Continuum's 33 1/3 series is like spending an afternoon with a passion- ate music friend who is adamant about their favorite record and really wants you to sit down and hear it. As someone with all these records in my collection, the books had me dusting off the records and listen- ing again with renewed interest and fresh insight. The books are geared toward music fans, but will be useful for students studying popular music. They are fun, accessible, and easy to read. As of this writing, no hip- hop albums are included in the series, but there are still more volumes to come and much potential for broadening the canon of rock music. I highly recommend the series for casual readers and libraries with an interest in popular culture or rock music.

STEVE WEISS Southern Folklihfe Collection, University of

North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Voices of the Country: Interviews with Classic Country Performers. By Michael Streissguth. New York: Routledge, 2004. [x, 216 p. ISBN 0- 415-90742-3. $19.95.] Illustrations, in- dex, bibliography.

Interviews at their best can be a great pri- mary source of information and give an entertaining sense of the interviewee's

personality. At their worst, interviews can be misleading and lose the reader in a con- fusion of names or verbal meanderings. When interviews are published, the mate- rial surrounding the interview-the con- text, the clarifications and background- can be a key component in making sense of and appreciating the information pre- sented. While a skilled interviewer and the interviewee already know the subject(s) well, the reader of an interview may not. Voices of the Country shows the difficulty of

keeping the artist's voice on the one hand and making sense of the information on the other though oral narrative.

Michael Streissguth, who conducted and edited the interviews for Voices of the

Country, is undoubtedly a skilled inter- viewer. Both the unusual assortment of per- formers represented and the questions asked show a keen appreciation and knowl- edge of country music. While the famous are represented (Loretta Lynn and Chet Atkins), others will likely be known only to fans of 1950s and 1960s country music; a few are downright obscure. The subject matter of the interviews varies equally, from career highlights, to reminiscences of other

performers, to recollections of music busi- ness practices.

Five of the interviews, those of Hank Locklin, Sheb Wooley, Billy Walker, Charley Pride, and Loretta Lynn, have been published in part already in the jour- nals Goldmine or Country Music. The inter- views of Eddy Arnold and Chet Atkins were conducted as research for Streissguth's book Eddy Arnold: Pioneer of the Nashville Sound (New York: Schirmer, 1997). The re-

maining three interviews are with Anita Kerr, Ginny Wright and Red Kirk. The ten interviews are preceded by a two to three

page introduction, with the interviews rang- ing in length from twelve to twenty-seven

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Book Reviews 1033

pages. A short bibliography and adequate index complete the volume.

While all the performers were active in country music in the 1950s and 1960s, the author does not claim any particular the- matic cohesiveness among them. While he does mention the performers' shared rural culture, most of Streissguth's introduction focuses on the origins of his interest in country music and in the interview format. The short introductions to each interview do not relate one to another either; rather each stands alone. While there is certainly much of value in the individual interviews, readers looking for an overview of classic country music or a reasoned selection of oral history to expand their understanding will not find it here.

Throughout the collection, it is Streiss- guth's attention to the business aspects of country music that makes these interviews distinctive. Questions about contracts, the role of producers, and the relation of radio to sales are a welcome addition to the more usual questions of how someone got their start as a performer and who influenced them musically. For example, Ginny Wright's accounting of her derailed career includes a vivid look at the power of agents and managers. Anita Kerr's contribution to the Nashville sound is practically unknown. Her interview relates just how her arrange- ments were worked out in conjunction with Chet Atkins as producer. Why did Red Kirk's career miss the big time, when per- formers with similar talents become stars? His look back at turning points highlights the role of A & R men and sponsors. These issues and people shaped the path of coun- try music just as much as singing styles and songwriting talents. With the addition of more background material, even a glossary

of names, this glimpse at the country music business of forty years ago could have been exceptional.

As to the words of the performers them- selves, Streissguth says they "deserved to be heard from directly" (p. 5). However, he also states, "readers should know that in ad- dition to throwing out responses with dubi- ous probity and adding clarifying notes, I took other measures, such as rearranging the order of questions to improve readabil- ity and deleting questions and responses that seemed irrelevant" (p. 5). Four of the interviews are a blend of sessions con- ducted over the course of two or more years. Still the direct voice or personality of the interviewee does sometimes come through, as in the interviews of Loretta Lynn, Sheb Wooley, and Ginny Wright. In others, one wonders whether the per- former was being tactful or if their emotion was unintentionally edited out.

Streissguth notes that if not for the popu- larity of the film O Brother, Where Art Thou? the interviews "may have lain in boxes strewn around my dark and dusty attic, trampled over by my children on their imaginary adventures" (p. 3). It is good that these stories have emerged from the attic. It is both frustrating that their setting does not show them off to full advantage, and puzzling that someone so clearly knowledgeable and enthusiastic about country music could not more clearly bring out these voices. Given the unique material included, this collection is recommended to libraries with significant country music collections.

JEANETTE L. CASEY

Northwestern University

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