An intimate account of country music, social change, and a vanishing way of life as a Shenandoah town collides with the twenty-first century Winchester, Virginia is an emblematic American town. When John Lingan first traveled there, it was to seek out Jim McCoy: local honky-tonk owner and the DJ who first gave airtime to a brassy-voiced singer known as Patsy Cline, setting An intimate account of country music, social change, and a vanishing way of life as a Shenandoah town collides with t...
| Title | : | Homeplace: A Southern Town, a Country Legend, and the Last Days of a Mountaintop Honky-Tonk |
| Author | : | John Lingan |
| Rating | : | |
| Genres | : | Nonfiction |
| ISBN | : | 0544932536 |
| Format Type | : | Hardcover |
| Number of Pages | : | 272 pages pages |
Homeplace: A Southern Town, a Country Legend, and the Last Days of a Mountaintop Honky-Tonk Reviews
The author is a good writer and kudos to him for taking on such class social issues, but the book lacks cohesiveness and the chapters read like a series of unrelated magazine-length articles about eastern West Virginia and north-central Virginia. It's mostly about Jim McCoy and his...
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I began reading this book after a brief skimming of the book?s description. I expected a lot of country and roots music history, with some small town-loving prose. I got a lot less of the music I was expecting. I got a lot more of the small town story, but it was a story of change, n...
I reviewed this book and interviewed the author for a wonderful feature in Pacific Standard. ...
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3.5 stars. Mostly entertaining read about Winchester, Va., class warfare, Patsy Cline and the last damn honky-tonk in the free world. ...
Not at all what I expected based upon the book description: "As the U.S. economy and American culture have transformed in recent decades, the ground under centuries-old social codes has shifted, throwing old folkways into chaos. Homeplace teases apart the tangle of class, race, and fa...
Somewhere between 3 and 4 stars; I'm rounding up because it was a lifesaver this week. I needed something relatively gentle. Though it meandered, and had insufficient attention to race, I thought this fond and sorrowful portrait of Winchester, VA was a great read. I could dive right ba...
The last honky tonk in the Shenedoah proves the entry point into a collection of essays about the rapid change of rural America, family, authenticity, a lot of other things. Fair warning, I would pay even less attention to my opinion on this one then you are used to normally, since Joh...
I received a DIGITAL Advance Reader Copy of this book from #NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. From the publisher --- An intimate account of country music, social change, and a vanishing way of life as a Shenandoah town collides with the twenty-first century Winchester, Vir...
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Are you interested in the backstory of some historical country musicians and bands from the deep South? Are you curious about how these people found their music getting a boost to a noticeable level? This well researched book will reveal that to you. Many, many visits and interviews we...
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...- I bought this because I love visiting Winchester. This book certainly widened my knowledge of the greater area, but wandered pretty far afield (the water in West Virginia, local wrestling matches, etc.). Also, there were statements that I know to be exaggerated. For example, Lingan sai...
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Bittersweet, well researched, I enjoyed every page. For years I wondered why Winchester didn't celebrate Patsy Cline. THIS book led to a greater understanding of the social mores of the area,. ...- Lovely style of writing. Story detailing history of the man who brought country music to Winchester, VA. Patsy Cline was one of his discoveries. ...
This is a poorly reported, jumbled mess of anecdotes that's not worth anyone's time. ...
My review, for PopMatters: https://www.popmatters.com/homeplace-... ...- ...
From the first word of Homeplace, a reader can tell that this was a labor of love for John Lingan. At the book?s center is Jim McCoy, an earnest, former traveling want-to-be music star who first introduced the airwaves to Patsy Cline. Jim?s story is the starter pistol that leads Li...
I blew through John Lingan's "Homeplace" in two days. But, this isn't to say that the book is shallow or light. This is a book that you float through: its lyrical beauty carries you from chapter to chapter and character to character, back and forth through the history of the town of Wi...- ...
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Bittersweet, well researched, I enjoyed every page. For years I wondered why Winchester didn't celebrate Patsy Cline. THIS book led to a greater understanding of the social mores of the area,. ...- I received this book as a gift after a recent trip to Winchester and so was eager to dive into it. It was fascinating to read not only about the Winchester I visited but also the one I missed. Beyond Winchester specifically, the book made me ponder those ways in which all small towns a...
- I often find myself listening to blues and country music while dreaming about who I'd be if I were born somewhere in a place like Winchester, so the book seemed extraordinarily appealing. I quickly read the first handful of pages and instantly found myself thinking that this guy Jim Mc...
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