American barn dance radio of the 1920s-1940s evoked comforting images of a nostalgic and stable past for listeners beset by economic problems at home and worried about totalitarian governments abroad. Sentimental images such as the mountain mother and the chaste everybody's-little-sister "girl singer" helped to sell a new consumer culture and move commercial country music from regional fare to national treasure.

Drawing on personal interviews and rich archival material from the Grand Ole Opry, Kristine M. McCusker examines the gendered politics of the images through the lives and careers of six women performers: Linda Parker, the Girls of the Golden West (Milly and Dolly Good), Lily May Ledford, Minnie Pearl, and Rose Lee Maphis.

| Cover Title Copyright Contents Acknowledgments Introduction: Women, the Barn Dance Radio Genre, and the Roots of the Country and Western Music Industry 1. "Family Songs of Surpassing Sweetness" Vaudeville, Appalachia, Technology, and the Emergence of Barn Dance Radio 2. "Bury Me beneath the Willow" Jeanne Muenich, Linda Parker, and the Appearance of Southern Female Characters on Barn Dance Stages 3. "Hey, Hey, Hey, the Hayloft Gang Is Here" Lulu Belle Wiseman and the Emergence of the Professional Radio Barn Dance 4. "Will There Be Any Yodelers in Heaven?" The Girls of the Golden West and Selling the Stage 5. Banjo Pickin' Girl Lily May Ledford, the Roosevelts, and Constructing National Identity Illustrations 6. "Howdee! I'm Jes So Proud T'Be Here" Sarah Colley Cannon (Better Known as Minnie Pearl), World War II, and the Grand Ole Opry 7. "Oh Carry Me Back to the Mountains" Rose Lee Maphis and Laboring on the Air Coda: Barn Dance Radio's New Friend, Loretta Lynn Notes Bibliography Index Back cover |"McCusker's work sheds a welcome light on a musical movement still in living memory for some but forgotten or never known by others."—Library Journal
"McCusker delves deep into the changing creations and perceptions of female country performers. . . . Highly recommended."—Choice
"In her engaging and exciting book, McCusker brings the women of barn dance radio to life. Lonesome Cowgirls and Honky-Tonk Angels is a fascinating story of how these women constructed their public images to showcase a virtuous, all-American character and support the sale of sponsors' products. The women's lively firsthand accounts are delightful!"—Casey Henry, recording artist
|Kristine M. McCusker is a professor of history at Middle Tennessee State University. She is a coeditor of Country Boys and Redneck Women: New Essays in Gender and Country Music.