New Releases: Country Music and a Revolution

Historian Hernández tells the story of the magonistas and their rebellion against Mexico’s dictator in the early twentieth century. Said dictator was being helped by the U.S., whose capitalist robber barons wanted to continue taking resources from Mexico. The magonistas were made up of “journalists, miners, migrant workers, and more, who organized thousands of Mexican workers.” Super interesting history.

After Garbes’s previous book, Like a Mother, comes her exploration of caregiving in America. In her follow-up, she says that “while the labor of raising children is devalued in America, the act of mothering offers the radical potential to create a more equitable society.” This has all been brought to the foreground by the pandemic and the drastically increased caregiving demanded of women, many of whom are also working full-time jobs and selected to be caregivers for no reason other than their gender. Love reading theories of motherhood.

Dangit, I love the women of country music. This covers the last twenty years, a time when women have been noticeably missing from country music due to radio stations choosing not to play them. At the 2019 CMAs, Sugarland lead singer Jennifer Nettles wore a cape emblazoned with the words “Play Our F*@#!n’ Records.” Despite this and the fight for equal play, singers like Kacey Musgraves and Mickey Guyton have become extremely successful. Nashville journalist Moss compares country of the ’90s, which felt almost dominated by women, to 2021, “when women are only played on country radio 16% of the time, on a good day, and when only men have won Entertainer of the Year at the CMA Awards for a decade.”