Country music reached an inevitable crossroads in 2022. The dialogues around the genre’s history of exclusion — from the disappearance of women from country radio beginning in the early 2000s to the marginalized artists who’ve made history despite not fitting into the mainstream mold — continued to dominate the conversation. The year’s best country music books explore all those histories and the history-making careers of the genre’s most iconic acts.
From Margo Price‘s unflinching memoir to an exhaustive biography of Merle Haggard, these ten books represent a wide-reaching spectrum of what country and Americana music are truly about. They share the stories of acts that knocked down doors that had been closed in their faces and those that were uncompromising when it came to paving their own paths to success. The collection includes little-known stories about the marginalized communities that refused to sacrifice their dignity for notoriety, and reflections on the lives of America’s greatest living songwriters, in their own words.
Keep reading to explore our picks for the best music books of 2022:
10 Must-Read Country Music Books Released in 2022
Need some new reading material? Take a look at these 10 essential country music books released in 2022.