Archives Collection

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ALLEN, BOB 88‑041

PAPERS

Physical description:

1.25 linear feet manuscripts

3 photographs

2 audio cassettes

1 souvenir book.

Dates:

1981‑1985.

Provenance:

Purchased from Fred Goodwin, Murfreesboro, TN, in April, 1989. These materials were given to Mr. Goodwin by Bob Allen.

Biographical sketch:

Bob Allen is a country music journalist, historian and critic. His articles have appeared in Billboard, Rolling Stone, Circus, Country Music Magazine, and other magazines and in newspapers in Atlanta, GA, and Baltimore, MD. He was editor of Country Music Magazine and writer and consultant for Time-Life Records. Bob Allen is also the author of George Jones: The Life and Times of a Honky Tonk Legend and editor of The Blackwell Guide to Recorded Country Music. He now lives in Eldersburg, Maryland.

Scope and content:

This collection consists of research materials generated by Bob Allen, then a free lance writer of Nashville, Tennessee, in writing numerous articles during the years 1984 and 1985. Research materials include clippings, brochures and photographs; notes and outlines; edits and drafts; correspondence; press releases, and contracts and expense forms. The articles are about various country music performers, Colonel Harland Sanders, bourbon whiskey, tourist attractions in Nashville, and Nashville attorney James H. Neal. The collection also holds similar materials generated by liner notes written by Allen, a small file of material related to a lawsuit against Allen, and copies of serials in which his articles appeared. The final published articles have been photocopied and may be found in Box 3. Two audio cassette tapes are included; one pertaining to Allen’s lawsuit article and the other of a “60 Minutes” segment on Scotch whiskey.

Location:

These materials are filed by accession number with other manuscript collections. The magazine publications have been separated and placed in the Center’s Secondary Serials category of special collections. Three publicity photographs were removed and placed in the Center’s Iconographic Names file. The John Conlee souvenir book was transferred to rarebooks. The cassette tapes reside in Box 2 and 3.

Note: This collection was processed in March 2008 with assistance from students in the MTSU Introduction to Public History class. Newspaper clippings have not been photocopied.

Box/Folder List:

Box # Folder # Description

1 1 Press Releases

2 Correspondence

3 Articles: Gail Davies, Bobby Bare

4 Liner Notes, Music Reviews

5 Financial Records, 1984

6 “Good Times” Nashville

7 Tourism in Nashville

8 Roseanne Cash and Rodney Crowell

9 Charlie Pride

10 Tibby Edwards

11 Gus Hardin

12 John Herald

13 Foreign Travel

14 Roy Acuff

15 John Conlee

Box # Folder # Description

2 1 David Allen Coe

2 Emmylou Harris

3 Tracy Lynn Gunderson

4 Waylon Jennings

5 Colonel Harland Sanders

6 Court Trial, October 1984

7 Lawsuit Article (cassette tape included)

8 Ricky Scaggs

9 Tom Russell

10 Kathy Mattea

11 Chet Atkins

12 Johnny Western

13 The Kendalls

14 The New Grass Revival

15 James F. Neal

Box # Folder # Description

3 1 & 2 Bourbon Country (cassette tape included)

3 Exploring the Underground Wilderness

4 Mertiweather Lewis

5 Miscellaneous Notes

6 Miscellaneous Magazine and Newspaper articles

7 Music Catalogs

8 Published Articles

9 Appointment book, 1981

Photographs:

Johnny Western

Tom Russell

Holly Dunn

Books:

Socio-economic and Consumer Use Profiles of the Country Music Radio Listeners, September 1982. (not retained)

Media Law: A Legal Handbook for the Working Journalist by Attorney Katherine M. Galvin. (not retained)

John Conlee souvenir book, 1984.

© 2008 The Center for Popular Music, Middle Tennessee State University

EBG 1989; LPC 2008