Scan barcode
eljaspero's review
4.0
Gloriously idiosyncratic, desperately in need of a revised edition. Linking rock to older Black musical forms quite as insightful as Tosches seems to think, but it’s still a fun jaunt.
jamesdanielhorn's review
4.0
Updated review: 9/3/20
So I have been thinking about this book and my review of it and think in light of the recent events that have been happening in the US, I wanted to come back and reassess.
Nick Tosches Country has a race problem. In my first review I just kind of happily ignored it as I am a privileged white male and when things are unjust I have been conditioned to just ignore them until they go away because I have the privilege to do so. My enjoyment of this book has been weighing on me because while it is a hybrid of academic overview and unfiltered opinion, the former of which I enjoyed immensely, it is the latter that I am wrestling with.
When researching this time period and when talking about it, it’s tough to not run across extremely racist language, because of how prevalent it was during the time being discussed. This is not what is at issue for me. For me it’s these vicious opinions that makes Tosches such a fiery writer that have both captivated me and appalled me simultaneously.
A large portion of the book Tosches revels in some historical racism, obsessed with Emmett Miller a minstrel show performer who’s career was made on black face performances. Another point he clearly thinks Jerry Lee Lewis is a badass for calling Chuck Berry the “n” word, and at one point even casually tosses off the word seemingly in an attempt to either be controversial or wry. He succeeds at neither.
After finishing I was on the fence about this book. I was so impressed with the lightning bolt prose and vast research that I kind of wrote some of Mr Tosches’ racism off as “I’m not racist, Look at all the work I’ve done proving we’re equals” considering the whole point of the book seems to be that rock and roll wasn’t “stolen” from black people and that it evolved devoid of color. I guess after thinking about it for a handful of months now I’m just undecided if it was more “look we’re all equals here” or “in defense of white rockers” I’m not outright saying “Nick Tosches was flat out racist” but he undeniably has published an authoritative tome here containing allusions that he at the very least was deeply interested in in racist history.
Either way. What I’ve come to realize is that I shouldn’t glaze over these things. I should confront them. I should talk about them. I should feel uncomfortable by them, and have uncomfortable discussions and most of all admit when I was wrong. This is my attempt.
I am leaving my initial review intact below, If only as an example to myself of how I have grown. I maintain that everyone has the right to enjoy things the were made by bad people. John Lennon and Chuck Berry abused women, Lewis Carrol was a pedophile, we can’t erase certain things from our cultural identity/experience. But I believe if we work together and talk about these things, humanity has a chance to change for the better.
Original Review(5/23/20):
The depth research that went into this book is astounding. Tosches’ voice is clear and opinionated and his prose is unmatched in non-fiction. A bit heavy on the record collector release and date information, I think this may be an arduous read taken just as it is. I combatted this by finding a Spotify playlist by groovekit (search Nick Tosches Country, you’ll find it) and even though some of the songs are not available(most can be found on YouTube), enough were there that the companion playlist illustrated the writings perfectly and made for an exceptional reading experience. A very important note, this book came out in the 70’s and talks about an era where racism was much more prevalent in culture so if you are sensitive to some of that language I’d skip this. This book is top notch for anyone interested in the true history of American Roots music.
So I have been thinking about this book and my review of it and think in light of the recent events that have been happening in the US, I wanted to come back and reassess.
Nick Tosches Country has a race problem. In my first review I just kind of happily ignored it as I am a privileged white male and when things are unjust I have been conditioned to just ignore them until they go away because I have the privilege to do so. My enjoyment of this book has been weighing on me because while it is a hybrid of academic overview and unfiltered opinion, the former of which I enjoyed immensely, it is the latter that I am wrestling with.
When researching this time period and when talking about it, it’s tough to not run across extremely racist language, because of how prevalent it was during the time being discussed. This is not what is at issue for me. For me it’s these vicious opinions that makes Tosches such a fiery writer that have both captivated me and appalled me simultaneously.
A large portion of the book Tosches revels in some historical racism, obsessed with Emmett Miller a minstrel show performer who’s career was made on black face performances. Another point he clearly thinks Jerry Lee Lewis is a badass for calling Chuck Berry the “n” word, and at one point even casually tosses off the word seemingly in an attempt to either be controversial or wry. He succeeds at neither.
After finishing I was on the fence about this book. I was so impressed with the lightning bolt prose and vast research that I kind of wrote some of Mr Tosches’ racism off as “I’m not racist, Look at all the work I’ve done proving we’re equals” considering the whole point of the book seems to be that rock and roll wasn’t “stolen” from black people and that it evolved devoid of color. I guess after thinking about it for a handful of months now I’m just undecided if it was more “look we’re all equals here” or “in defense of white rockers” I’m not outright saying “Nick Tosches was flat out racist” but he undeniably has published an authoritative tome here containing allusions that he at the very least was deeply interested in in racist history.
Either way. What I’ve come to realize is that I shouldn’t glaze over these things. I should confront them. I should talk about them. I should feel uncomfortable by them, and have uncomfortable discussions and most of all admit when I was wrong. This is my attempt.
I am leaving my initial review intact below, If only as an example to myself of how I have grown. I maintain that everyone has the right to enjoy things the were made by bad people. John Lennon and Chuck Berry abused women, Lewis Carrol was a pedophile, we can’t erase certain things from our cultural identity/experience. But I believe if we work together and talk about these things, humanity has a chance to change for the better.
Original Review(5/23/20):
The depth research that went into this book is astounding. Tosches’ voice is clear and opinionated and his prose is unmatched in non-fiction. A bit heavy on the record collector release and date information, I think this may be an arduous read taken just as it is. I combatted this by finding a Spotify playlist by groovekit (search Nick Tosches Country, you’ll find it) and even though some of the songs are not available(most can be found on YouTube), enough were there that the companion playlist illustrated the writings perfectly and made for an exceptional reading experience. A very important note, this book came out in the 70’s and talks about an era where racism was much more prevalent in culture so if you are sensitive to some of that language I’d skip this. This book is top notch for anyone interested in the true history of American Roots music.
lostjohn02's review
Got tired of tosche’s tough guy shtick, especially because a lot of this is outdated or been expanded upon in better writing. I can appreciate that when he wrote this there wasn’t a lot of literature focusing on these topics, but now there’s more interesting and accurate books out there. Some of this is well researched, and I find tosche’s writing most compelling when he’s abstract and romantic, comparing Elvis to Dionysus and Jerry lee lewis to Faulkner or whatever. Because of that, I’ll give his later stuff a chance but this wasn’t for me
testpattern's review
4.0
Tosches' obsession with the dark places that human being can go can feel a bit tawdry at times, but when he hits it, it really works. [book: Country: The Twisted Roots of Rock and Roll] is my favorite of his works of music criticism. He brings to bear the fierce flame of his awe-inspiring (and autodidactic) erudition to great effect in this text, tracing the roots of Country and Western song back to English medieval ballads and beyond, along the way chronicling some of the forgotten progenitors of the sad shit-factory that is contemporary Nashville. And he thought post born-again Johnny Cash was bad.
wholelottaotto's review
3.0
Nick Tosches' first book, in which his trademarked style of "hard-boiled nonfiction" (which I recently described to a colleague as "40% facts, 60% attitude) was still in development. An interesting read to see the directions it would lead the author in his later works--'Unsung Heroes of Rock & Roll' looks at the history of early (black) R&B/rock & roll pioneers that he skims over here; chapters on Jerry Lee Lewis and Emmett Miller were turned into full-length studies of their own ('Hellfire' and 'Where Dead Voices Gather,' respectively.) My favorite chapters were the ones on Jerry Lee (since I never get tired of hearing about America's greatest batshit-crazy musical genius) and one provocatively entitled "Cowboys and Niggers," which examines the cross-pollination of black and white music (e.g., Otis Redding's Muscle Shoals studio musicians were all white; Louis Armstrong and Jimmie Rodgers recorded tracks together; myriad country covers of Blind Lemon Jefferson's "Matchbox Blues," that sort of thing.) The book has no bibliography or discography, a significant weakness for a volume like this, so I can't whole-heartedly recommend this one for everyone but hard-core Nick Tosches devotees and obsessive country music fans.
More...