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The Honky Tonk World of Nashville

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The subjects of William DeShazer’s ongoing series are the Honky Tonk musicians of Nashville who are trying to keep alive the traditional musical stylings of the genre. It’s a notable documentation of an important facet of music history. As William tells us, “The music, the sound, the outfits…it’s all a part of country music history that they don’t want to see die.”

The subjects themselves have the authentic grit and soul you would expect from musicians of this genre.  DeShazer begins each sitting by lighting the subject with one octabox directly overhead, combined with one hair light and one gridded light on the instruments. The real artistry happens in post where he spends a lot of time in photoshop enhancing the grit and adjusting the color. It’s what really gives this series its distinct look and uniformity and pays tribute to the character of its subjects.