In-Law Country
Cloth: 12/10/2024
About the Book
Geoffrey Himes explores a previously unnamed movement that helped shape modern country music: In-Law Country. It was a movement of outsiders who would become insiders. Weaving together biography and musical analysis, Himes shows how Emmylou Harris, Rosanne Cash, Rodney Crowell, Ricky Skaggs, Guy Clark, and others changed the sounds and stories of country music forever..About the Author
Geoffrey Himes has won numerous awards for writing about music in the Washington Post, Rolling Stone, New York Times, No Depression, Downbeat, Paste, and many other publications since 1975. His book on Bruce Springsteen, Born in the U.S.A., was published in 2005. He has written liner notes for albums by Rosanne Cash, Merle Haggard, Marty Stuart, and others.Reviews
Blurbs
“When you call a movement that nobody has ever recognized as such ‘without a doubt the genre’s most crucial development over the final quarter of the twentieth century,’ you’re really throwing down the gauntlet. I loved reading this book and learned a lot from it. I also found myself challenging it and arguing with it, which you might expect with such a provocative work of criticism.”--Don McLeese, author of Dwight Yoakam: A Thousand Miles from Nowhere
“In this insightful book, Geoffrey Himes recounts how a broad, yet tightly interconnected collection of creative Baby Boomers infused country music with a new sensibility and sound––respectful of the music’s older roots, but equally influenced by the modern rock-and-roll and folk songs they grew up listening to. He even provides a name for their movement: In-Law Country. With fascinating biographical stories and perceptive analysis of their melodies and lyrics, artists like Emmylou Harris, Rosanne Cash, Rodney Crowell, Ricky Skaggs, Guy Clark and others are shown to be innovative pioneers who reinvigorated country music for a new generation.”--Dayton Duncan, writer/producer, Ken Burns’s Country Music
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