Progressive Country: How the 1970s Transformed the Texan in Popular Culture

Jason Mellard

Published by University of Texas Press 2013

Progressive Country

How the 1970s Transformed the Texan in Popular Culture

Jason Mellard

https://doi.org/10.7560/753006

Overview
Contents

About this book

Winner, Coral Horton Tullis Memorial Prize, Texas State Historical Association, 2014

During the early 1970s, the nation’s turbulence was keenly reflected in Austin’s kaleidoscopic cultural movements, particularly in the city’s progressive country music scene. Capturing a pivotal chapter in American social history, Progressive Country maps the conflicted iconography of “the Texan” during the ’70s and its impact on the cultural politics of subsequent decades.

This richly textured tour spans the notion of the “cosmic cowboy,” the intellectual history of University of Texas folklore and historiography programs, and the complicated political history of late-twentieth-century Texas. Jason Mellard analyzes the complex relationship between Anglo-Texan masculinity and regional and national identities, drawing on cultural studies, American studies, and political science to trace the implications and representations of the multi-faceted personas that shaped the face of powerful social justice movements. From the death of Lyndon Johnson to Willie Nelson’s picnics, from the United Farm Workers’ marches on Austin to the spectacle of Texas Chic on the streets of New York City, Texas mattered in these years not simply as a place, but as a repository of longstanding American myths and symbols at a historic moment in which that mythology was being deeply contested.

Delivering a fresh take on the meaning and power of “the Texan” and its repercussions for American history, this detail-rich exploration reframes the implications of a populist moment that continues to inspire progressive change.

Author / Editor information

Jason Mellard is Assistant Director of the Center for Texas Music History at Texas State University–San Marcos, where he also teaches in the Department of History.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Introduction. “Too Much Ain’t Enough,” or, The Texan in the Late Twentieth Century Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
1 The Empire of Texas. Lone Star Regionalism Sets the Stage, 1936–1968 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	19
2 Home with the Armadillo. Austin’s Progressive Country Music Scene Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	55
3 This New Cross Between Baba Ram Dass and Sam Bass. Cosmic Cowboydom and the 1970s Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	89
4 The Vanishing Texan. The Party of the Fathers Realigns Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	125
5 You a Real Cowboy? Texas Chic in the Late Seventies Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	171
Conclusion Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	199
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	209
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	241
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	263

Language: English
Publisher: University of Texas Press
Audience: General/trade;
Pages
- Main content: 288

eBook

Published: October 1, 2013
ISBN: 9780292754669