Lonesome Cowgirls and Honky-Tonk AngelsAmerican barn dance radio of the 1920s 1940s evoked comforting images of a nostalgic and stable past for listeners beset by economic problems at home and worried about totalitarian governments abroad. Sentimental images such as the mountain mother and the chaste everybody's little sister "girl singer" helped to sell a new consumer culture and move commercial country music from regional fare to national treasure. Drawing on personal interviews and rich