The rising popularity of country music in the United States since WWII is a cultural phenomenon intimately related to the ascendance of conservative values, leaders, and movements over the same period. By routinely celebrating themes like heterosexual love, the patriarchal nuclear family, hard work, individualism, freedom, patriotism, religion, and small-town life, country music provided the soundtrack for the insurgent conservatism of politicians like George Wallace, Richard Nixon, and Ronald Reagan. In the sixties and seventies, while other forms of popular music (rock, folk, soul) articulated the values of liberals, socialists, hippies, war protestors, feminists, and civil rights activists, country music alone stood for the "traditional" values cherished by the so-called "silent majority" that powered the rise of the Right. The spread of both country music and conservatism is also a reflection of the "southernization" of America---the diffusion across the nation of cultural and political traits long associated with the South.

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The purpose of this study was to determine whether the themes and values represented in lyrics of progressive country music are significantly different from those of traditional country music. Content analytical techniques were used to determine, first, themes and, second, attitudes reflected in those themes in each type of song. The chi square test of independence was u-ilized, and a difference significant to the .05 level was found between themes and attitudes of lyrics in the two song types.

"Gospel According To Bristol: The Life, Ministry, and Ministry of Ernest Phipps" is the first biographical and critical writing on the Kentucky Holiness preacher and Bristol Sessions recording artist. With information gathered from interviews with his surviving family members, court documents, and public records, this thesis paints the most complete picture of the life of Ernest Phipps (1900-1963) possible. Phipps is known for the company he keeps in the line-up of mountain musicians, including Jimmie Rodgers and the Carter Family, that came to Bristol, Tennessee to record for Ralph Peer in 1927, but Phipps's music is discussed here on its own merit as a forerunner of modern Southern Gospel music. This thesis also argues that a 1930 Vocalion record by the Kentucky Holiness Singers is the last record Ernest Phipps made.