Article

Encoding Authenticity in Radio Music: Renfro Valley Barn Dance and Kentucky Folk Music

Helen Gubbins

Published in: Ethnomusicology Ireland 5 (2017)

Pages: 16-31 | Published Online: July 2017

https://doi.org/10.64208/TULX1589

Abstract

First broadcast in 1937, the Renfro Valley Barn Dance was the first American barn dance radio programme to be performed and recorded in an actual barn as opposed to a radio studio. This article explores how the programme’s producer, John Lair, propagated in this programme his single-minded reconstruction of an idealised past and his own personal image of authenticity in American folk music. Drawing on archived recordings, production files, and interviews with radio participants in the Kentucky area, this article examines how Lair constructed his aesthetic within Appalachian stereotypes and definitions of genre in folk and country music. It explores Lair’s interactions with performers, radio regulators, and advertisers to investigate his careful negotiation of the hillbilly icon and of signifiers of truth, sincerity, and authenticity in early country music. With this, the article aims to contribute to musical histories of the Appalachian region, while also highlighting the significance of radio stories to narratives of musical history.

Keywords: Music, radio, hillbilly, authenticity, Appalachia, Renfro Valley Barn Dance

Author: Helen Gubbins