COUNTRY ON COMPACT DISC: THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE

by the Country Music Foundation

Paul Kingsbury, Editor

(Grove Press, 1993)

The hype of its subtitle notwithstanding, Country on Compact Disc really does stake a claim to essentiality - not by virtue of its offering a guide to purchasing country CDs (which it does) but rather by dint of its offering a contemporary appraisal (which is to say, reappraisal) of the music itself. Where else could you find one cover the insights of such heavies as Nick Tosches, Charles Wolfe and Bill Malone (who've set the standards for country music journalism) as well as the offerings of contributors from such non-country hotbeds as Option and Village Voice?

The book's norm is smart, pithy career surveys that pull no punches. Willie Nelson's Red-Headed Stranger gets its deserved five stars, and Sawyer Brown's CDs get their deserved one star, so you know you can trust this book. And the book's implied paramet ers of country are admirably wide, as evidenced by the inclusion of artists such as Alejandro Escovedo and Vic Chesnutt (but no Eugene Chadbourne!?)

But I'm still having a heck of a time conceiving country as a CD genre. (Jim Gardner)

Go to Stay Free! #8 Table of Contents