Country Music Message By Jimmie N. Rodgers Prentice-Hall, Inc. 1983 182 Pages ISBN:  0-13-184366-4

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Country music is a unique personal experience. A form of communication exists that more closely resembles interpersonal or face-to-face interaction between two people than in any other type of mass appeal music. The Country Music Message—with its emphasis on the message of country music—provides an intriguing look at the intensely personal situations and emotions to give you a better understanding of the music and the people who make it popular. The Country Music Message takes a unique approach in its description of the predominant ideas found in the 50 most popular songs of each year since 1960 by employing a technique called content analysis to identify themes. Using the human communication process as a framework, it describes how the songwriter, singer, recording companies, radio stations, jukebox industry, live performances, and other elements of the process act, interact, and react to determine the message delivered to the audience. In addition to more than 90 partial and full sets of lyrics to help you get a better feel for the language in the music, The Country Music Message features selected portions of an interview with country music giant Willie Nelson. If you just listen to country music, let The Country Music Message help you to really appreciate the songs, the singers, and the listeners. About the Author Jimmie N. Rogers, a professor of communication at the University of Arkansas, has done extensive research, lecturing, and writing on the content of country songs. He received the George C. Whatley award for an outstanding article he wrote for a popular culture journal, and his research has been described and syndicated in various publications, among them the New York Times.