* LEAD BELLY, WOODY GUTHRIE, BOB DYLAN
AND AMERICAN FOLK OUTLAW PERFORMANCE
by Damian A. Carpenter

    With its appeal predicated upon what civilized society rejects, there has always been something hidden in plain sight when it comes to the outlaw figure as cultural myth. Damian A. Carpenter traverses the unsettled outlaw territory that is simultaneously a part of and apart from settled American society by examining outlaw myth, performance, and perception over time.
    Since the late nineteenth century, the outlaw voice has been most prominent in folk performance, the result being a cultural persona invested in an outlaw tradition that conflates the historic, folkloric, and social in a cultural act. Focusing on the works and guises of Lead Belly, Woody Guthrie, and Bob Dylan, Carpenter goes beyond the outlaw figure's heroic associations and expands on its historical (Jesse James, Billy the Kid), folk (John Henry, Stagolee), and social (tramps, hoboes) forms.

Collection 'Outlaws in Literature, History, and Culture' Routledge 24 September 2017, 296 pages. ISBN-13 978-1472484420

alternate cover