I'd Fight the World: A Political History of Old-Time, Hillbilly, and Country Music by Peter La Chapelle (review)

In this welcome addition to the ever-burgeoning field of country music historiography, Peter La Chapelle, professor of history at Nevada State College, explores the political uses of country music from the late nineteenth century to the early twenty-first century. La Chapelle mainly focuses on amateur musicians (for example, Thomas E. Watson and Robert Love "Bob" Taylor), who entertained the public by playing at campaign events; professional musicians and promoters of country music (for instance, Glen H. Taylor, Roy C. Acuff, and James H. "Jimmie" Davis), who leveraged their celebrity in their bids for state and federal office; and nonmusician politicians (for example, Huey P. Long and George C. Wallace) who hired hillbilly and country bands to showcase a populist appeal on the campaign trail. La Chapelle finds considerable diversity in the politics of those who sought to burnish their images and messaging with country music. Despite this observation, La Chapelle also argues that country music politics has traditionally been—and largely still is—united by a concern for the elderly, a preoccupation with agrarian themes, and a populist desire to maintain tradition in the midst of modernity.

Early chapters of I'd Fight the World: A Political History of Old-Time, Hillbilly, and Country Music trace the late-nineteenth- and early-twentiethcentury careers of fiddler politicians, as well as the development by the 1930s and 1940s of what La Chapelle dubs a "hillbilly political style," featuring support for old-age pensions, abolition of the poll tax, and opposition to political machines (p. 86). Purveyors of this style varied politically, ranging from segregationists like Texas governor, and later senator, W. Lee "Pappy" O'Daniel to liberals like Idaho's singing cowboy and radio show host-turned-senator Glen Taylor.

In one of his most compelling chapters, La Chapelle highlights post–World War II "nonperformer" Alabama politicians, including Governor James E. "Big Jim" Folsom Sr. (p. 67). Folsom's liberal politics clashed with those of his onetime protégé, Governor George Wallace, though the "Little Judge," as Wallace was called, borrowed from Folsom to make country music campaigning into a national phenomenon, starting in the late 1960s, with Richard M. Nixon going on to wield it even more potently. In a rushed final chapter, La Chapelle traces country music's lurch to the political right in recent decades. He claims that our current politics is partially rooted in earlier politicians' embrace of country music as a way to transcend their inexperience and lack of access to traditional bases of political and media support.

Numerous insights make I'd Fight the World an indispensable contribution to the study of American country music and politics. In particular, La Chapelle makes a compelling assertion that country music campaigning marked an early manifestation of the twentieth century's celebrity-style politics, which scholars have typically connected to Hollywood. In addition, La Chapelle eviscerates the notion that country music's politics are inherently conservative, and he demonstrates that many politicians who have utilized the genre advanced fairly progressive agendas.

As for the book's weaknesses, La Chapelle could have devoted more space to discussing why country artists chose to support certain candidates. For example, he criticizes the Nashville country music establishment's support for Wallace's presidential runs, though he does little to explain why a star like Tammy Wynette backed Wallace. A couple of chapters—one on Henry Ford's efforts to revitalize old-time music and dances and another comparing the views of the Vanderbilt Agrarians with those contained in country musicians' memoirs—are intriguing but feel out of step with the rest of the narrative.

Grounded in deep research in archival and popular print material, I'd Fight the World recovers an often obscure—yet vitally important...