Table of Contents Acknowledgments Country Strong Joshua Heter and Brett Coppenger I. Getting to the Heart of Country On What Makes It Country Jeannie DePoe and John M. DePoe Heaps, Barbecue, and Country Music Zack Garrett The Essence of Country Catherine Villanueva Gardner II. Country Music Aesthetics Simply Country Joshua Heter Wittgenstein Plays the Pedal Steel Jeffrey Patrick Colgan Does Country Music Suck? S. Evan Kreider III. The Good (Country) Life The Dilemma of Freedom and Belonging Gordon P. Barnes Storytelling and the Good Life Jenna Yuzwa Law and Virtue in Outlaw Country Eric C. Brook IV.

Country Music Politics The "Country" in Country Walter Barta Bards and (Prison) Bars Jakob R. Gibson and Tobias T. Gibson Country Music Is Conservative Anthony Petros Spanakos and Ian J. Drake Country Music Isn't Conservative Andrea Conque V. The Dark Side of Country The Tragedy of Country Music Joshua Heter Why Do We Drink, Smoke, and Cheat on Those We Love Most? Alexander Crist What's Wrong with the Good Old Days? Keith Dromm and Heather Salter Dromm VI. Country Music Values Puzzles About Prayer Jonathan Reibsamen True Country as the Art of ­Self-Deprecation Benjamin Hutchens Dolly Parton: Reluctant Feminist but Definite Woman! Cindy Muenchrath Spady Loyalty and Its Limits Casey Rentmeester VII. On Being Authentically Country Hollywood with a Touch of Twang Theodore Gracyk Three Chords and the (Existential) Truth Kristina Gehrman (A)I Did My Part Christopher Doll All Your Rowdy Friends Index.