Expert Dispels Country Music Myths

About 70 country music fans got a chance to learn about myths and realities like these Thursday when Bill Malone, one of country music's most renowned authorities, gave a talk called "Country Music, Where Art Thou?" in Gardner Hall.

The talk was part of "Centering the South," an ongoing speaker series sponsored by the University's Center for the Study of the American South.

A Texas native and professor emeritus of history at Tulane University, Malone hosts a weekly three-hour radio show called "Back to the Country" and has written three books, including "Country Music, U.S.A."

Malone said trends like bluegrass music's recent surge in popularity -- spawned by the success of the film "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" and its soundtrack -- typically fall prey to public myths.

He focused on the popular belief that country music is a gateway to the purity often associated with Appalachian roots. Contrary to that myth, only one artist featured on the soundtrack is from the Appalachian region, he said.

He added that people cling to that notion because it validates the music and gives it a false sense of honored and ancient pedigree.

"My concern with the myth is that it distorts the history of country music and causes us to look for purity where there is none," he said. "What makes it so great is the lack of purity.

"Country music emerged from hundreds of corners of the South, but none of them pristine or isolated," he said. "It's a hybrid phenomenon. Country music is a product of an eclectic, highly diverse culture."

That culture includes a large working class Malone said was the heart of country music.

"For every Garth Brooks, there's a thousand country musicians who work nine-to-five jobs and play music when they can," he said.

Understanding the true origins of country music is important for people in the Piedmont, Malone said, because it was in this area that rural musicians confronted Northern innovations that made their music more mainstream. He spoke of country music founders like the Dixon Brothers, from Greenville, S.C., and Charlie Poole and the North Carolina Ramblers from Alamance County.

"Of all the people in the world, you people ought to know your country music," he said. "The music began here."

History and folklore Professor Bill Ferris, who introduced Malone, said Malone was the ideal person to help students understand the important part country music plays in Southern culture and local history.

"Bill Malone has the rare gift of being able to evaluate a culture from within," Ferris said. "He helps open our eyes about the music and culture at our doorstep."

The Arts & Entertainment Editor can be reached at artsdesk@unc.edu.