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To borrow words from Stan “The Record Man” Lewis, Shreveport, Louisiana, is one of America’s most important “regional-sound cities.” Its musical distinctiveness has been shaped by individuals and ensembles, record label and radio station owners, announcers and disc jockeys, club owners and sound engineers, music journalists and musicians. The area’s output cannot be described by a single genre or style. Rather, its music is a kaleidoscope of country, blues, R&B, rockabilly, and rock. This book presents that evolution in a collection of scholarly and popular writing that covers institutions and people who nurtured the musical life of the city and its surroundings. The contributions of icons such as Leadbelly and Hank Williams, and such lesser-known names as Taylor-Griggs Melody Makers and Eddie Giles, come to light. New writing explores the famed Louisiana Hay-ride, musicians Jimmie Davis and Dale Hawkins, local disc jockey “Dandy Don” Logan, and KWKH studio sound engineer Bob Sullivan. With glimpses into the lives of original creators, the book reveals the mix that emerges from the ongoing interaction between the city’s black and white musicians.

This book rewrites the history of early twentieth-century pop music in modernist terms. Tracking the evolution of popular regional genres such as blues, country, folk, and rockabilly in relation to the growth of industry and consumer culture, the book shows how this music became a vital means of exploring the new and often overwhelming feelings brought on by modern life. The book examines these rural genres as they translated the traumas of local experience—the racial violence of the Delta, the mass exodus from the South, the Dust Bowl of the Texas panhandle—into sonic form. Considering the accessibility of these popular music forms, the book asserts the value of music as a source of progressive cultural investment, linking poor, rural performers and audiences to an increasingly vast network of commerce, transportation, and technology.

This book is entirely dedicated to one of the most influential music labels of the twentieth century. In addition to creating the largest bluegrass catalog throughout the 1950s and 1960s, Starday was also known for its legendary rockabilly catalog, an extensive Texas honky-tonk outpouring, classic gospel and sacred recordings, and as a Nashville independent powerhouse studio and label. Written with the label president and co-founder, it traces the label’s origins in 1953 through the 1968 Starday–King merger. Interviews with artists and their families, employees, and the label’s president contribute to the stories behind famous hit songs, including “Y’all Come,” “A Satisfied Mind,” “Why Baby Why,” “Giddy-up Go,” “Alabama,” and many others. The book’s author’s research and interviews also shed new light on the musical careers of George Jones, Arlie Duff, Willie Nelson, Roger Miller, the Stanley Brothers, Cowboy Copas, Red Sovine, and countless other Starday artists. Conversations with the children of Pappy Daily and Jack Starns provide a unique perspective on the early days of Starday, and extensive interviews with the label’s president offer an insider glance at the country music industry during its golden era. Weathering the storm of rock and roll and, later, the Nashville Sound, Starday was a home to traditional country musicians and became one of the most successful independent labels in American history. Ultimately, this book is the record of a country music label that played an integral role in preserving America’s musical heritage.