University of Mississippi eGrove Honors College (Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors Theses Honors College) Spring 5-10-2020 Country Fun: A Cultural History of Opryland USA, Nashville, and the Suburban South William C. Nieman Follow this and additional works at: https://egrove.olemiss.edu/hon_thesis Part of the American Popular Culture Commons, Cultural History Commons, and the United States History Commons Recommended Citation Nieman, William C., "Country Fun: A Cultural History of Opryland USA, Nashville, and the Suburban South" (2020). Honors Theses. 1348. https://egrove.olemiss.edu/hon_thesis/1348 This Undergraduate Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Honors College (Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College) at eGrove. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors Theses by an authorized administrator of eGrove. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. COUNTRY FUN: A CULTURAL HISTORY OF OPRYLAND USA, NASHVILLE, AND THE SUBURBAN SOUTH by William C. Nieman A thesis submitted to the faculty of the University of Mississippi in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College. Oxford April 2020 Approved by ______________________________ Advisor: Professor Ted Ownby ______________________________ Reader: Professor Rebecca Marchiel ______________________________ Reader: Professor Jay Watson © 2020 William Chalmer Nieman ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii In memory of Frankie and John Prine, two Nashvillians that we lost too early. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First, my thanks go to the faculty members who have shaped me into the scholar, writer, and critical thinker that I am today, including Ted Ownby, Darren Grem, Katie McKee, Brian Foster, Ralph Eubanks, Patrick Alexander, Garrett Felber, and Kirk Johnson.