The Nashville Sound : Bright Lights and Country Music

While on a Nieman Fellowship at Harvard, journalist and novelist Paul Hemphill wrote of that pivotal moment in the late sixties when traditional defenders of the hillbilly roots of country music were confronted by the new influences and business realities of pop music. The demimonde of the traditional Nashville venues (Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge, Robert’s Western World, and the Ryman Auditorium) and first-wave artists (Roy Acuff, Ernest Tubb, and Lefty Frizzell) are shown coming into first contact, if not conflict, with a new wave of pop-influenced and business savvy country performers (Jeannie C. “Harper Valley PTA” Riley, Johnny Ryles, and Glen Campbell) and rock performers (Bob Dylan, Gram Parsons, the Byrds, and the Grateful Dead) as they took the form well beyond Music City. Originally published in 1970, __The Nashville Sound__ shows the resulting identity crisis as a fascinating, even poignant, moment in country music and entertainment history. "While on a Nieman Fellowship at Harvard, journalist and novelist Paul Hemphill wrote of that pivotal moment in the late sixties when traditional defenders of the hillbilly roots of country music were confronted by the new influences and business realities of pop music. The demimonde of the traditional Nashville venues (Tootsie's Orchid Lounge, Robert's Western World, and the Ryman Auditorium) and first-wave artists (Roy Acuff, Ernest Tubb, and Lefty Frizzell) are shown coming into first contact, if not conflict, with a new wave of pop-influenced and business savvy country performers (Jeannie C. Harper Valley PTA Riley, Johnny Ryles, and Glen Campbell) and rock performers (Bob Dylan, Gram Parsons, the Byrds, and the Grateful Dead) as they took the form well beyond Music City. Originally published in 1970, The Nashville Sound shows the resulting identity crisis as a fascinating, even poignant, moment in country music and entertainment history." --Publisher description Cover 1 Contents 8 Foreword to the 2015 Edition 10 Preface 16 Prologue: Friday Night at Tootsie's Orchid Lounge 20 PART ONE: HILLBILLY HEAVEN 30 Music City, U.S.A. 32 A&R Session with Chet Atkins 52 The Nashville Sound 60 Session at Bradley's Barn 78 Making It 86 John Wesley Ryles, I 108 PART TWO: WHITE SOUL 118 Days of Innocence 120 Sunday in Tate City 128 Days of Change 136 Home on the Range with Tex Ritter 146 Days of Dollars 156 A Shoeshine from DeFord Bailey 166 PART THREE: SPREADING THE WORD 174 Going Public 176 The Billy Dilworth Show 194 Nashville West 210 Glen Campbell 228 The Future 240 On the Road with the Po' Boys 248 Epilogue: Saturday Night at the Opry 268 Index 286 A 286 B 286 C 287 D 288 E 288 F 288 G 288 H 289 I 289 J 289 K 290 L 290 M 290 N 291 O 291 P 291 R 292 S 292 T 293 U 293 V 293 W 293 X 294 Y 294 An intimate portrait of the country and western music scene.