Ghost Riders in the Sky…
… And on the air. From July through September, Friday-morning early-risers have heard spirits of Americana wafting from their clock radios, thanks to the NPR series "Honky Tonks, Hymns & the Blues." The complete 11-part history -- which examined the diverse people and issues that shaped the creation of America's musical traditions -- is now available on the Web.

Presented by Paul Brown, the weekly segments on the "Morning Edition" show featured oral histories, historic performances, rare archive tape, and interviews with artists from various roots musics -- the rural sounds that are the building blocks of America's popular music -- including country legend Merle Haggard, bluesman Honeyboy Edwards and fiddle great Mark O'Connor.

The main web site also offers an extraordinary array of reference, audio, music and media sources: online archives, journals, books, discographies, record labels, live music outlets, public radio stations featuring rural music, places to purchase the harder-to-find items.

• Part 1 Honky Tonk Women: The Changing Role of Women in Country Music
• Part 2 Country Guitar: The Music Meets Technology and Changing Times
• Part 3 Country Music & the Moral Message
• Part 4 Thomas Dorsey: From 'Georgia Tom' to Father of Gospel Music
• Part 5 The Rise of the Blues
• Part 6 Jimmie Rodgers: Birth of the Country Superstar
• Part 7 Riding the Rails to Stardom: The Maddox Brothers and Rose
• Part 8 Musica Nortena: Accordian on the Texas Border
• Part 9 Country Fiddling: From Back Porch to Big City
• Part 10 Lone Star Swing: Bob Wills & the Texas Tradition
• Part 11 Black & White: Crossing the Border, Closing the Gap

Visit the main Series site  or the Series page on the NPR site, with links to other NPR music documentary series and interviews

In addition, the site holds a web-only feature that was not broadcast on radio. Part 12 - The Carter Family on the Air: Border Radio and Country Music - explores the influence of the powerful Mexican radio stations of the 1930s and 1940s, and one of country music's "first families."