Music and the Road: Essays on the Interplay of Music and the Popular Culture of the American Road [Paperback]

Brian Wilson and The Beach Boys, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, and Paul Simon-these familiar figures have written road music for half a century and continue to remain highly-regarded artists. But there is so much more to say about road music. This book fills a glaring hole in scholarship about the road and music. In a collection of 13 essays,Music and the Roadexplores the origins of road music in the blues, country-western, and rock 'n' roll; the themes of adventure, freedom, mobility, camaraderie, and love, and much more in this music; the mystique and reality of touring as an important part of getting away from home, creating community among performers, and building audiences across the country from the 1930s to the present; and the contribution of music to popular road films such asBonnie and Clyde,Easy Rider,Thelma and Louise, and On the Road.Gordon E. Slethaugis Professor at the University of Waterloo, Canada. He is the former Head of the English Department and former Associate Dean of Graduate Programs in Arts at Waterloo, as well as the former Director of American Studies at the University of Hong Kong. His published books include:International Teaching and Learning at Universities(2015);Adaptation Theory & Criticism: Postmodern Literature and Cinema in the USA(2014);Hit the Road, Jack: Essays on the Culture of the American Road(2012);Beautiful Chaos: Chaos Theory and Metachaotics in Recent American Fiction;andThe Play of the Double in Postmodern American Fiction(2000).

Gordon Slethaug has assembled a band of traveling companions for a musical road trip that spans time, place, and genre. This is a sparkling collection of essays that casts a critical yet appreciative eye on American road music and its power to mobilize and mythologize. Stacilee Ford, Honorary Associate Professor, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

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