. Such estimates of music venues reflect, to some extent, the accumulation of production infrastructures, the raw number of active musicians, and the continuous recording of a relatively dense cast; in other cases, such associations are created as part of media campaigns and local marketing strategies, "invented traditions" (Hobsbawm, 1983) that have become central to the tourism industry and the music economy (Atkinson, 1997; Cohen, 1997; Gibson and Connell 200
) . The term "country" resonated with those who benefited from its commercialization because it was important that the name be associated with rural areas and evoke nostalgic (white) identities. In some cases, the connections between music and place coalesce into a definable "sound", such as the output of the music industry at different times in New Orleans, Seattle, Liverpool, Detroit and San Francisco. , wagon tracks, tough men, hats. during the second war because of its communist meanings' (Hemphill, 1970) which has since remained a term used in connection with specific forms of acoustic music apparently related to left-wing politics
PRESS
C . "Country music" only became a general description of country music in the 1950s, when the scope and nature of the genre was recognizable, the most popular physical appearance of the performers was understood, and the characteristics of the audience were understood (Peeter - poeg, 1997, p. Tamworth was the most successful in this regard, building on the success of the annual country festival in a way that strengthened the city's image in the music industry and created more permanent markers of place linked to the music style. Country music has also been closely tied to American national identity, seen as "our peculiar art, [whose] inspiration comes from the heart of the nation" (Peterson, 1997, p. and Beef Week, Casino, both in NSW) are also popular in Australia (see also Bessiere, 1998).
