Bill Malone's 'Don't Get above Your Raisin'' explores the deep connections between country music and the working-class culture from which it emerged. Malone, a pioneering historian of country music, combines broad historical analysis with intimate portraits of performers to show how the genre has expressed and shaped working-class identity. The title phrase captures a value central to this culture: don't forget where you came from, don't pretend to be better than your people. Malone traces how country music's themes of hard work, family, faith, place, and loss resonate with the experiences of rural and working-class Americans, even as the music has changed from acoustic string bands to Nashville pop to outlaw country and beyond. He profiles key figures from Jimmie Rodgers and the Carter Family through Merle Haggard and Loretta Lynn, showing how their personal backgrounds shaped their music and how audiences recognized their own lives in the songs. The book also addresses tensions within country music, including its complicated relationship with race and its oscillation between honoring tradition and pursuing commercial success. Readers interested in American music, class, and regional culture will find a deeply informed guide.