Baseball and Country Music

The histories of baseball and country music ran in parallel tracks through most of the twentieth century. America’s sport and America’s music moved from the fringes to the mainstream, gaining exposure and building heroes, first via radio broadcasts and then on the television screen. Both evolved with American society through wartime, the Civil Rights movement, and into the age of multimillion dollar superstars. Don Cusic offers an engaging and insightful analysis that addresses race, gender, class, ethnicity, business practices and marketing, performance, media, and the cult of celebrity.

Don Cusic is Professor of Music Business at Belmont University as well as a writer and songwriter in Nashville, Tennessee. He is the author of many books on music and popular culture including Cowboys and the Wild West and Willie Nelson: Lyrics 1957–1994.