The American South’s major contribution to the world

In a post for The Imaginative Conservative Sean Busick notes that historian Michael O’Brien has called the South’s music Southern culture’s “major contribution” to the world (Rethinking the South: Essays in Intellectual History). In that spirit, he offers some recent Southern albums (and an older box set) as musical suggestions for giving as Christmas presents. 

His list includes: The Secret Sisters, “Put Your Needle Down”; Doc Watson, “Southbound”; Johnny Cash, “Out Among the Stars”; Gram Parsons, “180 Gram”; R.E.M., “MTV Unplugged 1991/2001” and Goodbye, Babylon, an amazing 2003 gospel box set. He also notes that The Civil Wars, St. Paul and the Broken Bones, the Alabama Shakes, and Jason Isbell have all recorded albums worth giving a listen. 

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The Secret Sisters - River Jordan.