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bgsu1151330052.pdf (700.37 KB)
ETD Abstract Container
Abstract Header
LIKE A WRECKING BALL: GILLIAN WELCH AND THE MODERN SOUTH
Author Info
Kirby, Jason
Permalink:
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1151330052
Abstract Details
Year and Degree
2006, Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, American Culture Studies/Popular Culture.
Abstract
This thesis explores the work of "alternative country" music performer Gillian Welch in the context of modern-day Southeastern American regional identity. Gillian Welch, along with her accompanist and songwriting partner David Rawlings, has been known since the mid-1990s for making spare acoustic music which incorporates elements of early country and string-band music, bluegrass, gospel, rock, punk, and folk music. Her songs' lyrics obliquely address themes of change and continuity central to the Southern roots music she draws upon. Welch has been celebrated as an innovator in the "alt.country" scene, but her detractors have labeled her as inauthentic, due to her status as a woman raised in privilege in California performing music most commonly associated with Southern working-class people. The authenticity debate surrounding Welch is particularly relevant considering the shifting boundaries of Southern regional identity following latter 20th century industrialization and re-migration to the area. Having first established the social and historical context to the debate, in this thesis I argue that Gillian Welch's music opens up traditionally limited definitions of what it means to be Southern in modern America. Welch's work proves that it is possible to use the region's past as a tool to understand its present situation, without sinking into a sort of white nostalgia. Her work also demonstrates that it is possible to claim a Southern identity without personally hailing from the South. In fact, I argue that Welch's music is "authentically" Southern, when one considers authenticity as culturally-defined instead of determined by blood. In this thesis, I argue that Welch procures her authenticity in ways which also serve as commentary upon the modern South. Through her intervention in musical genre boundaries, she establishes an empathy with ordinary Southerners put through the emotional wringer of 20th century modernity. She participates in a tradition of Southern collective remembrance while also critiquing its race, class, and gender limitations. Finally, Welch gives a voice to the new "Sunbelt" migrant, searching for a diasporic identity in a changed and industrialized region. In so doing, her work both reflects and helps shape present-day Southern culture.
Committee
Jeremy Wallach (Advisor)
Subject Headings
American Studies
;
Music
Keywords
Welch, Gillian
;
Southern states
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Citations
Kirby, J. (2006).
LIKE A WRECKING BALL: GILLIAN WELCH AND THE MODERN SOUTH
[Master's thesis, Bowling Green State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1151330052
APA Style (7th edition)
Kirby, Jason.
LIKE A WRECKING BALL: GILLIAN WELCH AND THE MODERN SOUTH.
2006. Bowling Green State University, Master's thesis.
OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center
, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1151330052.
MLA Style (8th edition)
Kirby, Jason. "LIKE A WRECKING BALL: GILLIAN WELCH AND THE MODERN SOUTH." Master's thesis, Bowling Green State University, 2006. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1151330052
Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)
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Document number:
bgsu1151330052
Download Count:
3,812
Copyright Info
© 2006, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Bowling Green State University and OhioLINK.
Release 3.2.12