Transmissions :: Erin Osmon

Welcome back to Aquarium Drunkard Transmissions with Jason P. Woodbury. This week on the show, we welcome Nashville-based music journalist, critic and author Erin Osmon, to discuss her tremendous book, Won't Back Down: Heartland Rock and the Fight for America, which chronicles how heartland rock, typified by artists like Bruce Springsteen, John Mellencamp, Tom Petty, Bob Seger, and more, brought a populist, Americana-inspired sound to the airwaves of the radio and MTV.

Along the way, Osmon shines a light on lesser heralded artists in the heartland canon, including Bonnie Raitt, Lucinda Williams, and Tracy Chapman, explores the impact of the shift from vinyl and tape to compact discs, the ubiquity of synthesizer technology, and the progressive undercurrent that propels this music.

Osmon’s writing has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Rolling Stone, and the New York Times, and she’s the author of a 33 ⅓ book on John Prine and Jason Molina: Riding with the Ghost. With Won’t Back Down, she traces the origins of heartland rock and its influence on artists like The War on Drugs and The Hold Steady, and best of all, offers deep insight into the complex characters of its most notable figures. Especially intriguing is the Indiana-born Osmon’s focus on fellow Hoosier John “Cougar” Mellencamp, who emerges as one of the most fascinating characters, a hothead with a leftist heart and punk rock verve.

This year marks the 250th birthday of America, and this conversation was taped just a few days before the 4th of July. We haven't been feeling all that patriotic—maybe it has something to do with the fascists governing our country and their endless commitment to foreign wars and environmental destruction—but Osmon’s book reminds us that this country has at its core something more noble, some promise that has not been stamped out just yet. As the Boss once sang: “Everything dies, baby, that’s a fact/But maybe everything that dies someday comes back.”

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