Review by Booklist Review
Lingan's first book provides much more than the appealing subtitle suggests. Readers do meet Joltin' Jim McCoy, visit his Troubadour Lounge, and read tales of Patsy Cline and mountaintop country, but the tale of a honky-tonk reaches beyond music to consider life past and present in rural America. Lingan's literary flourishes will please readers curious about country culture, whether they have reverence for Patsy and her world or not. The author conducted serious interviews with area residents and dug into their backstories via library and archive research, but some of the most interesting details are gleaned from ordinary interactions during his four-year immersion. Homeplace is filled with the engaging tales of charming individuals who make the areas of Winchester and Berkeley Springs, in Virginia, their homes. Lingan is an astute observer of the social problems and cultural changes he encounters, and he writes about them without bias or preachiness. Fans of country music will enjoy Lingan's portrait of a place and insights into a rapidly disappearing culture.--Pekoll, James Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Journalist Lingan's engrossing and fast-paced book tells a mesmerizing tale of the characters that put Winchester, Va., on the map. As in many small cities, the residents of Winchester are torn between preserving tradition and encouraging industry and jobs. Freelance writer Lingan was first drawn to Winchester in 2013 to explore country singer Patsy Cline's hometown, just two hours from Washington, D.C. Once there, he learned about Jim McCoy, a DJ who in 1948 gave Cline a chance to sing on a local radio station when she was 16 years old. Within a decade, McCoy started Winchester Records and opened a country music nightclub called the Troubador, which he operated until his death in 2016. Cline died in a plane crash in 1963, and since then the Troubadour has drawn tourists searching not only for stories about Cline but also looking for an authentic small-town experience. Lingan introduces readers to the town's notable historical figures, such as politician Harry Flood Byrd, who in the early 20th century helped expand the town's apple farming industry, and contemporary writer Joe Bagean (Deer Hunting with Jesus) who railed against the first Walmart that opened there. Lingan's charming book tells of a mountain town's adapting to change in fast-moving times. (July) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
Exploring the musical history of Winchester, VA, journalist Lingan uses the lens of Jim McCoy, local honky-tonk owner and DJ, who first gave Virginia Patterson Hensley, aka Patsy Cline, airtime on country radio, to pen a requiem to Americana, a tribute to a small mountaintop town, honky-tonk, and a country singer who died too soon. McCoy's hilltop honky-tonk bar becomes a backdrop as the author extensively documents its down-home barbecues, late-night karaoke, and the metamorphosis of a community in light of modernity. Winchester, situated in the northern part of the Shenandoah Valley, could be called a microcosm of America. Classism, racism, and immigration are themes the author attempts to develop via cross-sectional interviews; however, these conversations are too brief to offer adequate context to complex issues. The author's empathy for the marginalized population of Winchester is evident; however, his assessment is limited as an outsider with inadequate research. VERDICT Readers interested in Patsy Cline and the Shenandoah Valley will appreciate the history and in-depth details of various localities.-Angela Forret, Clive, IA © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
The struggles of a town in transition reveal ongoing changes in American life.Making his literary debut, journalist Lingan creates a tender, elegiac portrait of Winchester, Virginia, the Shenandoah town where Patsy Cline made her debut and where honky-tonka rueful brand of country musicrang out in working-class dance halls, bars, and clubs. Honky-tonk, writes the author, "is the genre of heartaches, setbacks, and lonely, regret-filled nights. Honky-tonk country is the sound of rural-rooted people taking their first difficult, stumbling steps toward the city, and it is not often the music of triumph." Jim McCoy, the singer/songwriter who first put Cline on the air and who played guitar for many of her performances, is one of several residents Lingan profiles as he reveals "the never-ending American fight between commerce and culture" experienced by Winchester as it aspired to achieve "tourist-trap respectability" after its demise as the flourishing apple-growing center of the country. McCoy, who had been a popular entertainer, never attained Cline's success. By the time Lingan met him, he owned a local nightclub where he hosted karaoke and held a summer barbecue featuring smoked meat, a potluck smorgasbord, and a roster of hopeful local performers. Cline's former home, on the other hand, was turned into a museum, and the town celebrates her in an annual festival. "Patsy," writes the author, "is the patron saint of people who feel kicked to the curb." Those people still live in Winchester; those in the lowest economic strata are barely subsisting, with rising real estate prices, health care costs, and intrusive gentrification posing often insurmountable challenges. At McCoy's summer barbecue, a donation basket collects neighbors' contributions for his and his wife's medical bills. At the same time, hefty funding has turned Old Town Winchester into a walking mall, with espresso bars and sleek restaurants. Lingan resists romanticizing Winchester's rural past; yet, he admits, modernization, change, and loss "is the most American song of all."An empathetic look at a community forging its future as it keeps a tenuous hold on its past. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
