Traces the growth of country music as an industry, and includes biographies of hundreds of performers, album reviews, and background stories of songs.

This is a truly fine one-volume encyclopedia of country music. Organized both historically and generically, the book is divided into 14 chapters, each discussing a type of music (hillbilly, cowboy, western swing, honky tonk, etc.) and tracing it from the time of its introduction to the present, with an overview followed by entries spotlighting the artists in alphabetical order. The chapter on rockabilly, for instance, includes both Elvis and the Stray Cats. Each entry concludes with brief reviews of recommended recordings. In addition, there are over 250 photographs of performers and album covers and numerous sidebars with short essays on a variety of topics.

The book comes in at almost 600 pages, covering the length and breadth of the subject and making a pretty fair attempt at measuring the depth, as well. To give an idea of the book's scope, the "classic" stars Johnny Cash and Patsy Cline don't appear until the middle. For anyone who may think country music starts and ends with Nashville, it will come as a surprise that so much of this music originated elsewhere.

You can read this book any old way you like, flipping through the pages, letting the pictures catch your eye as you discover favorite performers. If you grew up with country, there's many a trip down memory lane. If you're just discovering country, it is an excellent reference book just filled with information charting the careers of artists and their place in country music history. Well written, handsomely designed, easy to read and enjoy, it's a terrific book that will enhance any fan's love of this great musical tradition.