The following is an excerpt of Cold War Country: How Nashville's Music Row and the Pentagon Created the Sound of American Patriotism by Joseph M. Thompson, which is now available wherever books are sold. Big Government CountryConnie B. Gay and the Roots of Country Music Militarization Connie B. Gay used country music to build a media empire in the 1950s. His ascent began with a job as a radio announcer in 1946 on station WARL in Arlington, Virginia, and a hunch that listeners in the Washington, DC, suburbs might tune in for what the music business...