Walking the Line

Thomas Alan Holmes is a professor of English who teaches American literature in the East Tennessee State University Department of Literature and Language; he also serves as associate dean of arts and sciences.Roxanne Harde is associate dean¿research, an associate professor of English, and a McCalla University Professor at the University of AlbertäAugustana Faculty. She studies and teaches American literature and culture.

Walking the Line: Country Music Lyricists and American Culture examines how country songwriters engage with their nation's religion, literature, and politics. Walking the line requires following strict codes, respecting territories, and, sometimes, yearning to break those bonds. This collection's essays explore how iconic country lyricists such as Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton, and Steve Earle have tested and expanded such boundaries, challenging musical, social, and political conventions, often reevaluating what "country" means in country music.

Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsCreditsIntroductionWalking the Line: The Dixie Chicks and the Making of Country LyricistsThomas Alan HolmesRoxanne HardeChapter 1"Nobody knows but me": Jimmie Rodgers and the Body PoliticTaylor HagoodChapter 2Cindy Walker, Lyle Lovett, and the WestThomas Alan HolmesChapter 3"Help your brother along the way": Hank Williams and the Humane TraditionHoward Steve GoodsonChapter 4JC: Johnny Cash and FaithThomas Alan HolmesChapter 5Religious Doctrine in the mid-1970s to 1980s Country Music Concept Albums of Willie NelsonBlase S. ScarnatiChapter 6Grace to Catch a Falling Soul: Country, Gospel, and Evangelical Populism in the Music of Dottie RamboDouglas HarrisonChapter 7"Here's the story of my life; listen and I'll tell it twice": The Appalachian Autobiography of Loretta LynnLaura Grace PattilloChapter 8"Branded" Man: Merle Haggard's Romance of the OutlierThomas Alan HolmesChapter 9Townes van Zandt: "Now here's what this story's told."Pete Falconer and James ZborowskiChapter 10Wildness, Eschatology, and Enclosure in the Songs of Townes Van ZandtMichael B. MacDonaldChapter 11"Where it counts I'm real": The Complexities of Dolly Parton's Feminist VoiceSamantha ChristensenChapter 12"Sin City": Gram Parsons and the "Christ-Haunted South"Clay MotleyChapter 13Weeping Willows and Long Black Veils: The Country Roots of Rosanne Cash, from Scotland to TennesseeJune Skinner SawyersChapter 14"They draft the white trash first 'round here anyway": Steve Earle's American BoysRoxanne HardeIndexAbout the Contributors