McDowell, M. A., II. (2016). Heavy South: Identity, Performance, and Heavy Music in the Southern Metal Scene. Master's thesis, University of South Florida, Ann Arbor.
Abstract: The Southern Metal scene depends heavily on the performance of a Southern Identity. While considerable research has been done on other musical genres and scenes from the American South (country music, blues, gospel music), less attention has been given to the extreme metal scene of Southern Metal. Using scholarship of Nadine Hubbs, Philip Auslander, Jefferey C. Alexander, and Keith Kahn Harris, among others, I analyze two films, Slow Southern Steel (2010) and NOLA: Life, Death, and Heavy Blues from the Bayou (2014), and one song, Down’s “Eyes of the South” as cultural productions of this Southern Metal scene. In this project, I define the musical elements and scene ethos of Southern Metal as they relate to a wider, more mainstream American audience and describe how these identities and cultural forms are produced, negotiated, and embodied.
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