River of Tears is the first ethnography of Brazilian country music, one of the most popular genres in Brazil yet least-known outside it. Beginning in the mid-1980s, commercial musical duos practicing musica sertaneja reached beyond their home in Brazil s central-southern region to become national bestsellers. Rodeo events revolving around country music came to rival soccer matches in attendance. A revival of folkloric rural music called musica caipira, heralded as musica sertaneja s ancestor, also took shape. And all the while, large numbers of Brazilians in the...

River of Tears is the first ethnography of Brazilian country music, one of the most popular genres in Brazil yet least-known outside it. Beginning in the mid-1980s, commercial musical duos practicing musica sertaneja reached beyond their home in Brazil s central-southern region to become national bestsellers. Rodeo events revolving around country music came to rival soccer matches in attendance. A revival of folkloric rural music called musica caipira, heralded as musica sertaneja s ancestor, also took shape. And all the while, large numbers of Brazilians in the...