
Dissonant Identities
The Rock 'n' Roll Scene in Austin, Texas
Barry Shank(Author)
Wesleyan University Press
Published on 1. April 1994
Book
Paperback/Softback
312 pages
978-0-8195-6276-0 (ISBN)
Description
Music of the bars and clubs of Austin, Texas has long been recognized as defining one of a dozen or more musical "scenes" across the country. In Dissonant Identities, Barry Shank, himself a musician who played and lived in the Texas capital, studies the history of its popular music, its cultural and economic context, and also the broader ramifications of that music as a signifying practice capable of transforming identities.
While his focus is primarily on progressive country and rock, Shank also writes about traditional country, blues, rock, disco, ethnic, and folk musics. Using empirical detail and an expansive theoretical framework, he shows how Austin became the site for "a productive contestation between two forces: the fierce desire to remake oneself through musical practice, and the equally powerful struggle to affirm the value of that practice in the complexly structured late-capitalist marketplace."
While his focus is primarily on progressive country and rock, Shank also writes about traditional country, blues, rock, disco, ethnic, and folk musics. Using empirical detail and an expansive theoretical framework, he shows how Austin became the site for "a productive contestation between two forces: the fierce desire to remake oneself through musical practice, and the equally powerful struggle to affirm the value of that practice in the complexly structured late-capitalist marketplace."
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United States
Illustrations
9 illus. Map.
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 19 mm
Weight
528 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-8195-6276-0 (9780819562760)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
BARRY SHANK is Assistant Professor of American Studies at the University of Kansas. He has performed in rock'n'roll bands in Kansas City, Los Angeles, Austin and Philadelphia.