KIRKUS REVIEW
Bertholf’s slightly irreverent, highly entertaining historical junket transports readers through a century of musical detours and developments in a jam-packed tour de force of everything you ever wanted to know about American country music. Progressing chronologically from pre-radio barn dances to the early recording industry, to Depression soup lines and gospel singing, on to celluloid singing cowboys and hillbilly jazz into WWII and the emergence of Nashville and honky-tonk, rock-a-billy and bluegrass, right up to the current country-music craze, Bertholf unearths country music’s myriad roots. Amusing, interactive introductions to popular country instruments, apparel, pets, vehicles, dances, nicknames, hairstyles and foods, as well as a glossary of common country words, yodeling instructions, cameo biographies of country-music all-stars and caricatures of every famous country singer from 1920 to 1999, complete this diverting and informative package. Humorous illustrations in colored pencil and crayon evoke the mood of the times and provide diverting detail. If y’all hanker for some rib-ticklin’ fun and cotton to learn more about country music, this one’s for you. (Nonfiction. 6-9)
