TOO COUNTRY FOR ROCK & TOO ROCK FOR COUNTRY: COWPUNK AS REGIONAL IDENTITY, MUTED MEMORY, AND THE AESTHETIC ETHOS OF ALTERNATIVE PERFORMANCE

Abstract

This dissertation investigates the recording and performance ethos of alternative subsets of regional punk rock and its unique intersection with country music. This analysis will dissect the ways in which regional music scenes embody aesthetics and iconography representative of southern, western, or country identity. In doing so, the study addresses questions directly related to the state of cowpunk as a disintegrating thread of cultural memory and its muted legacy. I also interrogate the complex relationships that exist between performers, audiences, and the music business, as well as examining cultural geography, material culture, and the formation of youth subcultures in the built environment. This analysis brings regional subsets of popular music to the forefront of contemporary public history and music studies, arguing their importance as an integrated and highly interdisciplinary angle by which to deconstruct musical subculture. While cowpunk is just one example of this methodological thread, it is an applicable framework that both highlights and decodes the ways in which the public consume popular music and repackage subculture according to regional identity.