The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum is going back into the archives to release historical books about important figures in country music. The lives and careers of Country Music Hall of Fame members Patsy Cline, The Delmore Brothers, Jimmie Rodgers, and Bob Wills are explored through four individual books previously published by the Hall of Fame’s CMF Press and later taken out of print.
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The Life and Times of Patsy Cline by Margaret Jones chronicles Cline’s rise from poverty growing up in Virginia to becoming a country icon before she died in a plane crash at the age of 30. The book was originally published in 1994 and features a foreword written by Cline’s friend and fellow country legend Loretta Lynn. Cline is also the first solo female artist inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1973.
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My Husband, Jimmie Rodgers is the oldest book of the group to be reissued. It was written by Rodgers’ wife Carrie and published in 1935. Rodgers rose to fame with his distinct yodeling in the 1920s with songs like “Blue Yodel No. 8, Mule Skinner Blues,” which earned him the title of “The Father of Country Music.” My Husband was the first full-length biography written about a country singer. Rodgers died in 1933 at the age of 35 from tuberculosis.
The Delmore Brothers—the duo of Alton and Rabon Delmore—made their mark on country music in the 1930s and ’40s with their distinct sound that blended blues and gospel. The brothers were mainstays on the Grand Ole Opry in the 1930s and were known for such hits as “Brown’s Ferry Blues” and “Blues Stay Away from Me.” Alton published the autobiography The Delmore Brothers: Truth Is Stranger Than Publicity in 1977, which is now being re-issued by the Hall of Fame.
Rounding out the foursome is Bob Wills: Hubbin’ It by Ruth Sheldon. The book offers insight into how Wills became a pioneer of Western swing dance music. Journalist Sheldon followed Wills throughout his career and the book was originally published in 1938 during Wills’ peak fame.
The books are now available via the museum’s website and in-store. They’re expected to be released in bookstores at a later date.
Photo by GAB Archive/Redferns
