Date of Award
2014
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
M.A. in Southern Studies
Department
Southern Studies
First Advisor
Charles Reagan Wilson
Second Advisor
Kathryn McKee
Third Advisor
Ted Ownby
Relational Format
dissertation/thesis
Abstract
My thesis is a cultural analysis of California-based country-rock movement in the late sixties and early seventies. Country rock is a hybrid music genre emerged during this period. Musicians active in the country-rock movement were mostly counterculture hippies, and they adopted country music to serve their own ends. There is no unified ideological thinking in this movement. Some musicians were political while others were not. Music critics generally agree that country rock was a cultural reaction to the cynicism and rootlessness of youth culture in the late sixties and early seventies. The counterculture looked to country music for inspiration because it provided the authenticity and roots for the contemporary music scene that was generally in bad shape. In my thesis, I focus on the music of three prominent country-rock musicians----Gram Parsons, The Band, and the Eagles. I will provide detailed analysis of how they borrocountry music elements to serve their own ends.
Recommended Citation
Xu, Xiang, "When The Counterculture Picked Up A Southern Twang: A Cultural Analysis Of Late Sixties And Early Seventies Country Rock Movement" (2014). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 889.
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/etd/889