Off It Goes

The world teems with issues and concerns greater than my own, but I have to take a second to observe an event over here in STM land. Today's the day my book went off in the mail for the last time in any meaningfully changeable form to my publisher, the most excellent University of Illinois Press. In the works for nearly nine years, it’s the first book that, to my mind, tells the whole story of how Nashville became what it is today, at least culturally speaking. By that I mean it’s the first to be comprehensive, tracing a line from 1920 to now, and the first that isn’t directed at country music fans per se. I wanted the story to be relevant to America’s fast evolving media culture. And the only way to do that is by talking about WSM. The book is called Air Castle of the South: WSM and the Making of Music City, and it’s due out in “the fall” as they put it in publishing land, which I think means November-ish.

It’s a POPULAR history of WSM coming from a scholarly publisher, which I hope will be a winning combo for lots of types of people, not only country music geeks or Opry fans, but anyone who’s into music, the South, media, business, or human nature for that matter. Because it’s a very human story full of amazing characters, and I tried as best I could to flesh them out. I’m sort of amazed and honored that this is even happening. It’s my first book so I’m naturally excited about that, but I’m more excited about the people I met working on it. From Irving Waugh and Bud Wendell to Margaret Parker and Marge Kirby, I got to go down the rabbit hole that is Nashville, Tenn., in all its wonder and uniqueness. This place is astonishingly cool and important, but I’ve discovered that while a noticeable minority of people understand that at some level, very few people really know why. I want very much to change that, to spread the gospel of this gospel-ish town. If those names don’t ring a bell with you, stay tuned. There will be a lot to say about the book and about WSM in the coming months. So I won’t get into it now. But for all the other stuff I do, I’m first and foremost a writer, and writers want to write books, and I actually believe now that we’ve passed the point of no return.

Comments

[Brance Gillihan]

Hey Craig,

Congratulations on getting the book finished. What a major undertaking this must have been! I look forward to hearing more about it and eventually reading it.