Nashville, Tennessee, became the capital of country music by focusing country music in one place where it could become a business but stay true to its roots. George Lewis notes "[The] developing country music industry, at first located in various cities such as Chicago, New York and Cincinnati, began to center in Nashville after World War II and has altered the skyline and image of that city ever since" (149). The key to its transformation into an industry was the city's encouragement of singer-songwriters who wrote "new musical material that only sounded as if it was traditional in nature" (Lewis 149).
James E. Akenson observes, "Country music stands deeply rooted in southern soil despite its national and international popularity" (48). As it grew, it sustained its authenticity by remaining in a small city in a broadly rural part of the country. The Grand Ole Opry's radio broadcasts, originally devised as a way to sell life insurance, "became a marketing tool for insurance agents who sold policies for amounts rarely over $1,000 to people of modest means" (Akenson 49), and country music, with its rural roots, was a natural sales tool. Nashville began attracting performers who made the city their home base. As the show built its audience, the city became associated in listeners' minds with country music. It was a small enough place to assume the identity without seeming to "sell out" to bigger markets.
Akenson, James E. "Social and Geographic Characteristics of Country Music." America's Musical Pulse: Popular Music in Twentieth-Century Society. Ed. Kenneth J. Bindas. Westport, CT: Praeger, 1992. 45-52.
Lewis, George. "Nashville Skyline: The Business of Country Music." All That Glitters: Country Music in America. Ed. George Lewis. Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green State U Popular P, 1993. 149-150.
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