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Proud to Be an Okie: Cultural Politics, Country Music, and Migration to Southern California

Online ISBN:
9780520940000
Print ISBN:
9780520248885
Publisher:
University of California Press
Book

Proud to Be an Okie: Cultural Politics, Country Music, and Migration to Southern California

Published:
3 April 2007
Online ISBN:
9780520940000
Print ISBN:
9780520248885
Publisher:
University of California Press

Abstract

This book brings to life the influential country music scene that flourished in and around Los Angeles from the Dust Bowl migration of the 1930s to the early 1970s, taking us from Woody Guthrie's radical hillbilly show on Depression-era radio to Merle Haggard's Okie from Muskogee in the late 1960s. It explores how these migrant musicians and their audiences came to gain a sense of identity through music and mass media, to embrace the New Deal, and to celebrate African American and Mexican American musical influences before turning toward a more conservative outlook. What emerges is a clear picture of how important Southern California was to country music, and how country music helped shape the politics and culture of Southern California and of the nation.

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