Sing Me Back Home: Love, Death and Country Music.
He says this music spoke to millions of other working class people who were struggling.
There were plenty of honky tonk men in Dana Jennings’ family; hard-working, hard-drinking men. There were wife-beaters, child-beaters, and as he writes, "Men who created their own solitary confinement, living a gritty existence in Kingston, New Hampshire in the 1950s and 60s."
Jennings reaches back to the classic country music of that period in his new book, "Sing Me Back Home: Love, Death and Country Music." He writes that songs like Johnny Horton’s "Honky Tonk Man" tell a secret history of Americans in the 20th Century.
"Because the best singers and songwriters came out of really hard, poverty-stricken backgrounds, mostly depression backgrounds, they were telling the stories of their lives and the people around them. Those stories really resonated with working-class people nationwide, not just in the South, like a lot of people perceive country music. We are fortunate that we have this aural history that we can hum along to that’s left from the 50s and 60s, and into the 70s."
Support PRI when you buy Dana Jennings’ book "Sing Me Back Home: Love, Death, and Country Music
"Here and Now" is an essential midday news magazine for those who want the latest news and expanded conversation on today’s hot-button topics: public affairs, foreign policy, science and technology, the arts and more.
The story you just read is available to read for free because thousands of listeners and readers like you generously support our nonprofit newsroom. Every day, the reporters and producers at The World are hard at work bringing you human-centered news from across the globe. But we can’t do it without you: We need your support to ensure we can continue this work for another year.
When you make a gift of $10 or more a month, we’ll invite you to a virtual behind-the-scenes tour of our newsroom to thank you for being with The World.