Stars of Country Music is a lively collection of original essays on many of country music's most important performers, past and present. From early greats such as Jimmie Rodgers and the Carter Family t the popular stars of today, including Johnny Cash, Loretta Lynn, and Merle Haggard, leading authorities offer full and colorful portraits of the personal lives and careers of nineteen artists--with special emphasis on their styles, repertoires, and significance. Introducing this cavalcade of singers and musicians is a chapter on early pioneers like Fiddlin' John Carson and Carl T. Sprague, while the concluding chapter, 'A Shower of Stars, ' takes a look at popular entertainers of the past fifty years.