The 1970s through 1990s were a struggling time for traditional country and bluegrass music. Movies like Urban Cowboy were bringing rock, pop, and even disco influences into the country music vein. It was the start of moving country music stars from honky tonks to arenas, with overdriven guitars and light shows becoming the norm. There were a few sparkles of traditional country lights within the realm, but they were few and far in between. The Grand Ole Opry began to lose its charm, with old stalwarts re-hashing past hits to a senior citizen crowd for nostalgic purposes.
The tail end of the punk/new wave movement did show a lot of respect to the spirits of Hank Williams and Patsy Cline, as well as some near forgotten legends like Johnny Cash, Porter Wagoner, and Loretta Lynn with speed-driven covers and originals that paid musical tribute. However, it would be at least a decade until the fledgling cow-punk and alt-country sub-genres would blossom into what we now know as Americana music.
So during those dry times, there were a few performers that kept the flame going because their hearts were in the right place. Highways and Heartaches: How Ricky Skaggs, Marty Stuart, and Children of the New South Saved the Soul of Country Music provides a decent chronicle of that time by looking at the musical lives of Skaggs, Stuart, and a number of other musicians from that era and group.
The first chapter is a bit too politically correct for my taste, as while it looks at Skaggs’ poor upbringing in Kentucky, it looks at Stuart’s upbringing as being heavily influenced by the racial tensions in his hometown of Philadelphia, Mississippi. While I am sure that there was a lot more bigotry around back in the 1950s, the author Michael Streissguth narrates it as if it was in the blood of every white person in the South. There is way too much coverage of segregation, lynchings, and other racially motivated happenings that have very little to do with the musical influences of Stuart.
Later chapters cover the legacy of Ronald Reagan and the influence of the Moral Majority. Again, it all passes as the author trying to be politically correct and apologetic for being white.
Once the reader gets past that, the flow if the book is quite interesting. Even if you are familiar with both Skaggs’ and Stuarts’ early careers, there are a few things that you may still learn. We all know of Skaggs’ work with Keith Whitley and Ralph Stanley, but there were a lot of inner struggles that he was having to move out on his own, as well as wanting to be known as a serious go-to musician and arranger. For Stuart’s part, his early teen years with Lester Flatt would cement him as a bluegrass prodigy, but the downside is that he really never got to live life as a normal teenager. He spent almost all of that time surrounded by older bluegrass musicians that had their ways of drinking, carousing, and occasional fighting, and his studies were spent in a tour bus instead of a normal high school.
While the gist of the book follows the career of these two modern legends, there is also ample coverage of other artists from that time. These include Jerry Douglas, Emmylou Harris, Larry Cordle, and Linda Ronstadt. Bluegrass coverage includes extensive mentions of J.D. Crowe, Doyle Lawson, the Seldom Scene, and the many festivals that were popping up due to the public’s interest in roots music from both the liberal and conservative teams.
If you can get past the PC talk, this book makes for an interesting read, learning how much Skaggs and Stuart were able to keep traditional country and bluegrass alive during this dark time, and become the highly respected statesmen that they are.
Chew on it and comment.
Luegra 