In the Country of Country: A Journey to the Roots of American Music

Prologue: The Spirit of Jimmie Rodgers 3 PART ONE Nashville Cats Notes on Paper Napkins: Harlan Howard 23 Taking Out the Twang: Chet Atkins 39 PART TWO Deep Country Three Women: Sara Carter, Kitty Wells and Patsy Cline 53 PART THREE Bluegrass Full of Beans: Bill Monroe and Ralph Stanley 83 Three Fast Fingers: Earl Scruggs 113 PART FOUR That Old-Time Country Hell's Half Acre: The Louvin Brothers 133 Just One of the People: Doc Watson 149 PART FIVE Two Real Country Stars Fade to Black: Johnny Cash 169 Just Put That Sad Back in the Bottle: George Jones 201 PART SIX The West Coast Sound Still Kicking: Sister Rose Maddox 217 Honky-Tonk Man: Buck Owens 229 Going to Get a Sandwich: Merle Haggard and Iris DeMent 249 PART SEVEN Taking It Forward Convert: Emmylou Harris 277 Lubbock or Leave It: Jimmie Dale Gilmore and The Flatlanders 291 Epilogue: No Depression 309 A Note on the Sources 315 Notes 319 Selected General Bibliography 341 Discography (Selected Listening) 347 Index 353