Homeplace: A Southern Town, a Country Legend, and the Last Days of a Mountaintop Honky-Tonk

Winchester, Virginia is an emblematic American town. When John Lingan first traveled there, it was to seek out Jim McCoy: local honky-tonk owner and the DJ who first gave airtime to a brassy-voiced singer known as Patsy Cline, setting her on a course for fame that outlasted her tragically short life. What Lingan found was a town in the midst of an identity crisis.



As the U.S. economy and American culture have transformed in recent decades, the ground under centuries-old social codes has shi...