Journal of Texas Music History (JTMH).(Periodical Review)

Center for Texas Music History, Southwest Texas State University. Edited by Kathryn Ledbetter. Vol. 1, nos. 1 (spring 2001) and 2 (fall 2001); vol. 2, nos. 1 (spring 2002) and 2 (fall 2002). Semiannual. Subscription: SWT Department of History, 601 University Drive, San Marcos, TX 78666. Vol. 1, nos. 1 and 2 available as PDF at http://www.history.swt.edu/ Music/journal_PDF_pages.htm. $10 North America; $15 outside of North America. ISSN: 1535-7104.

Besides Vermont and Hawaii, Texas is the only state in the United States that was once a nation. A "perceived difference between Texas culture and the popular culture of the nation was essential to how music in Texas was promoted, categorized, and talked about by people both inside and outside the state.... Many of the influences shaping the sound, symbolism and the economy of Texas music are not from Texas" (Karl Hagstrom Miller, JTMH 1, no. 2: 7). In turn, Texas's influences are broad, extending through the South and West, and serving as the root of other musical movements, particularly jazz and popular music. Southwest Texas State University's Center for Texas Music History. promotes the preservation and study of Texas and Southwestern music history by supporting research, recordings, and courses, with the goal of helping "Americans better understand our unique and diverse cultural heritage through music" (www.history.swt. edu/Music/about_the_center.htm).

The center's scholarly Journal of Texas Music History uses detailed, engaging narrative to explore "the entire spectrum of Texas music history"; recent issues emphasize Texas's popular, jazz, folk, and country music. Articles averaging nine to fifteen pages are well researched and have long bibliographies drawing extensively from contemporary journals, mass-media publications, interviews, and ...