The Bakersfield Sound: How a Generation of Displaced Okies Revolutionized American Music

An immersive look at the country music sub-genre, from its 1950s origins to its heyday to the twenty-first century.

In California's Central Valley, two thousand miles away from Nashville's country hit machine, the hard edge of the Bakersfield Sound transformed American music during the later half of the twentieth century. Fueled by the steel twang of electric guitars, explosive drumming, and powerfully aching lyrics, the Sound transformed hard times and desperation into chart-toppers. It va...