"Country Music, as It Stands Today, Is Broken"

"Corporations don't respect listeners' intelligence. They view country music as a medium through which they can pander to rural and suburban folk and sell cars, power tools and cheap beer. Labels don't have a much higher view of their audiences, it often seems. They've got their eyes on short-term profits, which may be alluring for label executives, but protecting the genre's reputation matters much more in the long run, both for the good of music culture and their own bottom line. So I say bring on the substance–bring on the proverbial Nirvana that replaced the hair metal acts and restored credibility to popular rock music. Because country music's image is plummeting with fans and outsiders alike."


Grady Smith in The Guardian discusses "the debate about the soul of country music."

"How Photography Helped Shape the Image of Country Music"

"Ask him about that energetic shot of Lynn he took half a century ago and you'll hear pride as well as unflinching honesty: 'It would have been better if I'd had a wide-angle lens. I had the Lenhoff, which was the Cadillac of 4x5 cameras, but darn it, I was so close I cut her hand off,' he said. 'It all happened so fast. But, boy, that was a fun time.'"


In the Los Angeles Times, Randy Lewis previews the Annenberg Space for Photography's new exhibit, "Country: Portraits of an American Sound."

The Thin Man from the West Plains

"In 1953, Mr. Wagoner spent $350 to buy his first Nudie suit, one of the extravagant rhinestone-studded creations by the tailor Nudie Cohn. Mr. Wagoner’s was a peach-colored number with wagon wheels on it. He eventually owned 50 of them, for which he paid as much as $12,000 apiece. A special feature on most was the word 'Hi!' in foot-high letters on each side of the lining. He would throw the jacket open when he saw somebody snapping his picture."

Douglas Martin in The New York Times writes an obit for country singer Porter Wagoner.