From rags to rhinestones

Honky-Tonk Heroes and Hillbilly Angels: The Pioneers of Country and Western Music

by Holly George-Warren; illustrated by Laura Levine

I realize there's been some stink about publishers adding extra bells and whistles like CDs, but this book could surely have used it. Some of these quirky country folk just beg to be heard.

In this collection of 14 all-too-brief bios, we meet the pluckers, twangers, pickers, warblers and yodelers who wove not one but several uniquely American sounds out of strands of gospel, folk music and even hobo ballads. They were roustabouts and hucksters, floosies and boozers who managed to turn their hard luck into hard-driving tunes -- if it didn't kill them first.

There's the familiar Man in Black -- Johnny Cash -- whose "Boy Named Sue" was written by Shel Silverstein, or "Blue Yodeler" Jimmie Rodgers and others who swapped out monikers and band names as often as they changed 10-gallon hats. There's the tragic Hank Williams, who died at age 30, and the campy Buck Owens of "Hee Haw" fame, as well as such household names as Loretta Lynn and Gene Autry.

Now, don't you wish you could hear at least a few samples? The closest I have is the soundtrack to O Brother Where Art Thou? with its covers of the Carter Family's "Keep on the Sunny Side" and Rodgers "In the Jailhouse Now," among others.

Not only don't we get to hear them, but the prose is too encyclopedia-sounding, too bare bones official when what we want is more juicy stuff. We get teased with a line here or there about this one's tempestuous marriage or that one's fatal TB, and way too many mentions of back-up bands that broke up and bit players who faded into obscurity.

Even so, how could you not love these rags-to-rhinestones tales of true American originals? The self-taught Levine paints in that faux folksy or nouveau naive style I sometimes rail about, but it works fine here, amusingly paired with antique wooden frames. The flat, exaggerated figures and eye-scorching colors only seem childlike, while slyly capturing the wry self-deprecation and anti-snob appeal of folks who named the Grand Ole Opry as a tweak to us cultchah'd types.

An absolute shame I can't sample their talents. And I'm not even a country fan.

Rating: *\*\*\

Comments

[Susan]

Aw, man. A CD would have been good. As a former resident of Music City, USA (that's Nashville), I might have to get my hands on this book, Anne. Thanks. If you're looking for Jimmie Rodgers songs, Steve Forbert recorded an excellent album of 'em a few years ago. Love Steve Forbert.

[Anne]

Thanks! I'd never heard of him before this book, to be honest. "O Brother" piqued my curiosity for a while, but this book has renewed my interest.

[Chris Barton]

Another great Jimmie Rodgers tribute is "Same Train, A Different Time" by Merle Haggard (who I guess just missed the cut for inclusion in "Honky-Tonk Heroes"). It was a double LP released around 1970, and I picked up a copy at Goodwill when my older son was a baby. Dancing around with me to Side 4 must have put him (my son, not Merle Haggard) to sleep dozens of times.

[Anne]

I'm completely intrigued now. Thanks. I still wish the book had its own CD though.