White Soul: Country Music, the Church and Working Americans

White Soul examines the social, political, and religious foundations of country music as the soul music of white, working-class Americans. Country music gives voice to an economically battered subculture of hard-living and hard-working people who find self-expression in the music of honky-tonks and heartaches. It celebrates the "wild side of life" as a form of populist anarchism and escapist festivity. This unusual medley of sociology, theology, and country music history is also a compelling critique of the elitism of "good taste" in the dominant culture. Tex Sample challenges the church to reach out to working-class people, who have often been ignored and demeaned by churches held captive to the tastes and lifestyles of the upper middle class.

Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Abingdon Press
Published: 10/01/1996
ISBN: 9780687032938
Pages: 212
Weight: 0.60lbs
Size: 8.54h x 5.51w x 0.52d