Vol. 12, No. 4: Music 2006

Vol. 12, No. 4: Music 2006

B.B. King rescues Lucille from a blaze. Hank Williams finds a sober Justice of the Peace. Elvis shakes and quakes and shocks the ministry. Uncle Dave gets robbed in New York. John Shelton Reed waits for the royalties to roll in. The Carter Family’s jalopy gets stuck in a stream. The songs of the South become America’s songs. And the Blues keep us looking for love.

Front Porch: Music 2006

by Harry L. Watson

"Little about the South has meant more to southerners than their tunes."

“Everything leads me back to the feeling of the blues.” B.B. King, 1974

by William R. Ferris

"I almost lost my life trying to save my guitar."

In B.B. King’s Words . . .

by B.B. King

"'Oh, wake up in the mornin' 'bout the break of day.'"

Sidney A. Seidenberg, 1925–2006

by SC Editors

In Memoriam

King of the Hillbillies: Hank Williams

by Bland Simpson

"They stopped at a gas station in Andalusia, Alabama, and found a justice of the peace who had a Bible and the right forms to fill out and on top of that was sober."

“Where Is the Love?”: Racial Violence, Racial Healing, and Blues Communities

by Adam Gussow

"Does love have the power to heal our blues?"

“The South Got Something to Say”: Atlanta’s Dirty South and the Southernization of Hip-Hop America

by Darren E. Grem

"We got the feel of the blues, the togetherness of funk music, the conviction of gospel music, the energy of rock, and the improvisation of jazz."

“Just a Little Talk with Jesus”: Elvis Presley, Religious Music, and Southern Spirituality

by Charles Reagan Wilson

"Presley faced criticism from ministers about his lewd performances."

Blue Yodeler: Jimmie Rodgers

by Bland Simpson

"The Blue Yodeler's first royalty came out to $27."

Doc Watson on the Cicada Concert

by R.T. Smith

"I wish they'd get tired of tuning and play."

Give Me That Old-Time Music. . . or Not

by Larry J. Griffin

"American popular culture would be unimaginable without the music created by the South's disfranchised, impoverished, and forgotten peoples."

Dixie Dewdrop: Uncle Dave Macon

by Bland Simpson

"He left the shop stunned and went back and wrote in his diary: 'Robbed in a New York barbershop—$7.50!'"

“A Blessing to People”: Dorsey Dixon and His Sacred Mission of Song

by Patrick Huber

"Songwriter and singer Dorsey Dixon was never supposed to live."

Aiming for Fame and Riches

by John Shelton Reed

"I proudly sent the lyrics off to a friend with connections in the country-music business, asking him if he didn't agree that it was a natural-born hit."

Wildwood Flowers: The Carter Family

by Bland Simpson

"They lit out over the bad roads, and the family car broke down in the middle of a stream."

Passed Down Things

by Josh Guthman

Music Issue Companion CD