Wrong's What I Do Best: Hard Country Music and Contemporary Culture [Hardcover]

Barbara Ching (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 19, 2001

This is the first study of "hard" country music as well as the first comprehensive application of contemporary cultural theory to country music. Barbara Ching begins by defining the features that make certain country songs and artists "hard." She compares hard country music to "high" American culture, arguing that hard country deliberately focuses on its low position in the American cultural hierarchy, comically singing of failures to live up to American standards of affluence, while mainstream country music focuses on nostalgia, romance, and patriotism of regular folk.
With chapters on Hank Williams Sr. and Jr., Merle Haggard, George Jones, David Allan Coe, Buck Owens, Dwight Yoakam, and the Outlaw Movement, this book is written in a jargon-free, engaging style that will interest both academic as well as general readers.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

A professor of English (Univ. of Memphis) and obvious country music fanatic, Ching offers a study of the basis and social implications of "hard country." She begins by defining her subject as the Southern twang of angry alienation, hard times, and incurable desolation in contrast to the patriotism, nostalgia, and pop romance of mainstream country. She examines the desolate male fatalism of such stars as George Jones, Merle Haggard, and David Allen Coe, then turns to the roots of hard country with pioneer Hank Williams and his son, Hank Jr. Rather unconvincingly, Ching categorizes as "hard" the rock-inflected Bakersfield sound of Hee Haw regular Buck Owens and prot?g? Dwight Yoakam. She finishes with the rock-tinged, Hank Williams-obsessed outlaw country of the 1970s, discussing such singers as Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings, and hints at the uncertain future of the music. Well organized, well researched, and largely free of academic jargon, the book conveys Ching's enthusiasm for the hard country sound and contributes some interesting, though misplaced, new material about Buck Owens. Recommended primarily for fans and scholars of country. Dave Szatmary, Univ. of Washington, Seattle
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Ching sketches the history of a major substyle of alt-country, hard country, which thrives without the media saturation that syrupy Nashville country enjoys. Harking back to honky-tonk country touchstone Hank Williams for inspiration, it offers, Ching says, "an important perspective on the bewildering cultural situation, often called postmodernism, in which we find ourselves." Of course, she would say that. She has been trained "in literary criticism and cultural theory," which she finds "particularly useful for discussing" a music relying so heavily on songs full of "remarkable characters and lyrics." Think Susan Sontag declaiming on the spiritual thread connecting Buck Owens and Dwight Yoakam: that's Ching. Besides deconstructing the likes of Merle Haggard and getting into highfalutin matters like high culture versus low culture, she kicks enough s--t to satisfy dedicated country fans. Mike Tribby
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 200 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (July 19, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195108353
• ISBN-13: 978-0195108354
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,483,024 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic, May 29, 2009

By 

Micah J "can't be bothered" (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Wrong's What I Do Best: Hard Country Music and Contemporary Culture (Paperback)

Very interesting and entertaining exploration of the meanings and themes of hard country music. Highly recommended for fans of the music or even perhaps for ivory-tower academics trying to understand its persistence.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 'Wrong's What I Do Best" book, November 17, 2009

By 

W. Andrews (Cleveland, OH) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Wrong's What I Do Best: Hard Country Music and Contemporary Culture (Hardcover)

Arrived at my house very quickly. Great book - everything I expected it to be.

0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Don't Waste Your Time, May 7, 2009

By 

Gari B. Helms - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Wrong's What I Do Best: Hard Country Music and Contemporary Culture (Paperback)

This book is a real yawn. Nothing interesting here at all. Author simply rewrites the lyrics and themes of country songs using academic jargon and vocabulary. Extremely boring attempt at translating the artist, songs, and themes into complicated descriptions and analysis. Very text book.