Scan barcode
A review by shannaconda
Queer Country by Shana Goldin-Perschbacher
informative
slow-paced
3.0
Some interesting discussion and history here.
This is definitely an academic publication and I'm no academic - though it's not nearly as dense as some, it definitely takes some focus and parsing that can lead to slow going. I think Goldin-Perschbacher overly focuses (at least in later chapters talking about more contemporary musicians) on the way queer artists use country music aesthetics to convey queer longing and lonesome journeys -- as opposed to queer country artists who are also from rural backgrounds. It seems like in the larger conversation around what does and doesn't count as authenticity vs. appropriation in country music that would factor in a little more. Some of the sections felt a little disjointed, like the section about filmmaking focusing on Joe Stevens, Rae Spoon, and the film Transamerica, which stars no trans or queer people and features a song by Dolly Parton.
My biggest takeaway from this book as a queer person and lifelong country listener is honestly going to be the discography in the back of the artists she references, many I know but many I owe a deeper listen.
This is definitely an academic publication and I'm no academic - though it's not nearly as dense as some, it definitely takes some focus and parsing that can lead to slow going. I think Goldin-Perschbacher overly focuses (at least in later chapters talking about more contemporary musicians) on the way queer artists use country music aesthetics to convey queer longing and lonesome journeys -- as opposed to queer country artists who are also from rural backgrounds. It seems like in the larger conversation around what does and doesn't count as authenticity vs. appropriation in country music that would factor in a little more. Some of the sections felt a little disjointed, like the section about filmmaking focusing on Joe Stevens, Rae Spoon, and the film Transamerica, which stars no trans or queer people and features a song by Dolly Parton.
My biggest takeaway from this book as a queer person and lifelong country listener is honestly going to be the discography in the back of the artists she references, many I know but many I owe a deeper listen.