Overview
Distinguished historian of country music Bill Malone is interviewed by Southern Spaces editorial board member Charles Reagan Wilson at the University of Mississippi in October 2005. Malone offers a brief perspective on the beginnings of his career and discusses themes in his work. Videography by Joe York, University of Mississippi.
Video
Part 2: Malone discusses enrolling at the University of Texas, the Austin folk revival, and his dissertation, Country Music USA
Part 3: Malone discusses variation in country music style, contrasting the honky tonk of the oil boom with older Appalachian music
Part 4: Malone discusses the commercialization of rural southern music first as “hillbilly” and later as “country”
Part 5: Malone discusses relationships between “southern” and “American” music, addressing questions of authenticity and fusion
Part 6: Malone discusses tensions between themes of rambling and rootedness in country music
Part 7: Malone explores how contemporary country music represents the concerns of its largely nine-to-five audience
Part 8: Malone discusses county music as an area of academic inquiry
About Bill Malone
Bill Malone is Professor Emeritus of History at Tulane University. His books include Country Music, U.S.A.; Southern Music/American Music; Southern Culture and the Roots of Country Music; and Don't Get Above Your Raisin': Country Music and the Southern Working Class.