Walking the Line

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.

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 Alberta-Augustana Faculty. She studies and teaches American literature and culture.

Table of Contents Acknowledgments Credits Introduction Walking the Line: The Dixie Chicks and the Making of Country Lyricists Thomas Alan Holmes Roxanne Harde Chapter 1 "Nobody knows but me": Jimmie Rodgers and the Body Politic Taylor Hagood Chapter 2 Cindy Walker, Lyle Lovett, and the West Thomas Alan Holmes Chapter 3 "Help your brother along the way": Hank Williams and the Humane Tradition Howard Steve Goodson Chapter 4 JC: Johnny Cash and Faith Thomas Alan Holmes Chapter 5 Religious Doctrine in the mid-1970s to 1980s Country Music Concept Albums of Willie Nelson Blase S. Scarnati Chapter 6 Grace to Catch a Falling Soul: Country, Gospel, and Evangelical Populism in the Music of Dottie Rambo Douglas Harrison Chapter 7 "Here's the story of my life; listen and I'll tell it twice": The Appalachian Autobiography of Loretta Lynn Laura Grace Pattillo Chapter 8 "Branded" Man: Merle Haggard's Romance of the Outlier Thomas Alan Holmes Chapter 9 Townes van Zandt: "Now here's what this story's told." Pete Falconer and James Zborowski Chapter 10 Wildness, Eschatology, and Enclosure in the Songs of Townes Van Zandt Michael B. MacDonald Chapter 11 "Where it counts I'm real": The Complexities of Dolly Parton's Feminist Voice Samantha Christensen Chapter 12 "Sin City": Gram Parsons and the "Christ-Haunted South" Clay Motley Chapter 13 Weeping Willows and Long Black Veils: The Country Roots of Rosanne Cash, from Scotland to Tennessee June Skinner Sawyers Chapter 14 "They draft the white trash first 'round here anyway": Steve Earle's American Boys Roxanne Harde Index About the Contributors