With just a $20 Zeiss Ikon camera, audio engineer Leon Kagarise took hundreds of photographs of his favorite country radio stars while they were basically exiled to outdoor parks and backwoods stages on the east coast during the 50's-70's. The result was an extremely intimate look at performers like June Carter, Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton, Bill Monroe, Hank Snow,The Stanley Brothers, The Stonemans, and many others. After being stowed away for decades, Kagarise revealed them to a friend only a few years ago. Journalist Eddie Dean spent many hours with Kagarise before his death in early 2008, and lent his words to the book.
Pure Country features 140 of Kagarise’s stunning color images, most never seen in print, from an archive now considered by historians to be one of the richest discoveries in the history of American music.
To celebrate the release of Pure Country, legendary Hee Haw starlet and the First Lady of Banjo Roni Stoneman picked and grinned up a storm in both New York and LA. She charmed our socks off cracking naughty jokes and recounting stories from the events at which the pictures by Leon were taken (and she was a bit of a muse for). Apropos for both the shows and the book, she says “An old manager said, ‘Don’t be too friendly! You take the mystique away! You go out there like you’re at a family reunion!’” she says. “Well – I am!”
The Los Angeles Citybeat had a chance to interview Roni right before her Los Angeles show
The Wall Street Journal Reviews Pure Country
Arthur Magazine features Pure Country in their latest issue
More critical praise for PURE COUNTRY: The Leon Kagarise Archives: 1961-1971:
"Among the few surviving documents of live performances from a period that is frequently described as the golden age of country music."
-The New York Times
"It’s an amazing collection of photographs of musicians in what was almost a forgotten era in American music. Almost."
- Baby Got Books, December 2008
“…each photo seems like such a special glimpse into a lost time.”
- This Just In!, September 2008
“Pure Country offers a front row ticket to a moment when scores of artists came into their prime and "hillbilly music" transformed into a national popular phenomenon…”
- IMWAN, November 2008
“…where pictures of both noted and anonymous performers appear in all their hazy, saturated, slide-transferred glory.”
-Flavorpill, December 2008
"Leaving behind more than 4,000 hours of live performances and lost radio shows, Kagarise left another legacy: more than 700 color slides he snapped over the years with his $20 Zeiss Ikon camera. These photos are presented in the stunning Pure Country: The Leon Kagarise Archives, 1961-1971 from the Process/Daniel 13 Books imprint."
-River City Reader, December 2008
Take a peek at PURE COUNTRY
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