Workin' Man Blues:
 Country Music in California

Gerald Haslam 
with Alexandra Haslam Russell and Richard Chon

California has been fertile ground for country music since the 1920s, nurturing a multitude of talents from Gene Autry to Glen Campbell, Rose Maddox to Barbara Mandrell, Buck Owens to Merle Haggard.

In this affectionate homage to California's place in country music's history, Gerald Haslam surveys the Golden State's contributions to what is today the most popular music in America. At the heart of the music he finds and illuminates the lives of the working-class men and women who migrated to California during the Dust Bowl, exploring their Hoovervilles and the other locales from which they had been turned out, shut down, or otherwise told to move on.

Reviews

"Workin' Man Blues is possibly the most brilliantly astute and thorough examination ever written about country music in California and the impact it has had in our lives and on our culture. I'm extremely flattered to be even mentioned in such august company."—Dwight Yoakam, singer/songwriter

"Lively and well-informed."—Chicago Sun-Times

"With all the pathos of a Rose Maddox ballad and more edges than a Merle Haggard song, Haslam has spun together the stories of the artists who have made California part of country music and country music part of California."—James Gregory, author of American Exodus: The Dust Bowl Migration and Okie Culture in California

Awards

Winner of Rolling Stone magazine's Ralph J. Gleason Award

About the Authors

Gerald Haslam is the author and editor of numerous books of fiction and nonfiction, including Haslam’s Valley and The Great Central Valley: California's Heartland. Haslam was a professor of English at California State University, Sonoma, until his retirement in 1997.

Alexandra Haslam Russell is managing editor of Gavin magazine. She and her father co-edited the anthology Where Coyotes Howl and Wind Blows Free: Growing Up in the West.

Richard Chon plays fiddle with the Sons of the San Joaquin and for many years was an entertainment writer for the Bakersfield Californian.