Pure Country
I recently enjoyed Amanda Petrusich’s book It Still Moves, which is about Americana music. Then I discovered the treasure trove of the Life Magazine photos now hosted on Google. It seems that I was being primed for the book Pure Country: The Leon Kagarise Archives, 1961-1971. It’s an amazing collection of photographs of musicians in what was almost a forgotten era in American music. Almost.
The book chronicles a time when “traditional” country singers were being squeezed out of the increasingly slick and corporate Nashville music establishment. They took their show on the road to play at venues like Sunset Park in western Pennsyvania and New River Ranch in Maryland. These were rural venues where day long concerts were held for $1 a car load. There was no backstage area, so performers mingled in the crowd while they waited their turn to go on stage. The picture of Johnny Cash and June Carter below is a good illustration of how low-key the vibe was.
Many of the stars pictured were well within their prime. That’s George Jones on the cover sporting a buzz cut and a sweet suit (and it snot exactly a mob scene behind him). Other musicians pictured inlcude Johnny Cash, June Carter, Porter Wagoner, Dolly Parton, Kitty Wells, and Roy Acuff. Check out the line up on the sign for the upcoming Labor Day show (behind Ernest Tubb on the mic):
The collection is one of those stories that is impossibly fortuitous. Leon Kagarise was an electronics engineer and country music fan. He had to hide his love of music from his parents, because they belonged to one of those Footloose churches that frowned on all music. He quietly spent years taking pictures at the shows that he attended (after putting his then state-of-the-art recording equipment on the stage to record the music) and filled his home with incredible historical documentation that he didn’t think anyone else would be interested in. He was sort of an accidental Alan Lomax.
NPR ran a story several years ago that details how Kagarise’s bootleg goldmine was discovered by a local record store owner. I assume the same discovery is responsible for this book. Hopefully the music will be making its way out soon. I’d love to hear what some of these shows sounded like.
This is the part of the post where I usually mention that the book’s subject is an excellent excuse to put up some streaming audio. I’d love to post something from the recordings at these shows, but I don’t have any. Here’s what I pulled together instead:
Hank Williams – Jambalaya (recorded live in 1952 at Sunset Park — Thanks, Frank! I love Hank’s Cajun cooking lesson at the end.)
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The Carter Family – Wildwood Flower (from a 1928 recording, but that’s Maybelle on guitar)
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George Jones – He Stopped Loving Her Today (live on Austin City Limits – saddest song ever written)
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Dolly Parton – Silver Dagger (not from the time period nor is it live – but it feels like it could have been something from that era)
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Books, Non-Fiction, Review | Tim | 
December 4, 2008 8:34 am
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By richard, December 5, 2008 @ 3:07 am
This is the music I grew up with – albeit a little later, and in Canada so it was on the radio and LP’s. A smokin’ cover for the book, and I too will be on the lookout for albums….
By Tim, December 5, 2008 @ 10:25 am
Same here, Richard. Except the Canada bit. This music was the soundtrack to every family roadtrip we embarked upon. A few years later, and we could have been one of the $1 carloads.