A rich portrait of the community that is Arkansas, manifested in song, Our Own Sweet Sounds celebrates the diversity of musical forms and music makers that have graced the state since territorial times. Beginning with the earliest references to Quapaw and Caddo music as first reported by seventeenth-century European explorers and continuing forward to the "bizarrely named grunge bands" who will be stars tomorrow, Cochran traces the music and voices that have enriched the life of the "natural state.".

Originally produced as a museum exhibit, this catalog is published by the University of Arkansas Press for the Center for Arkansas and Regional Studies and the Old State House Museum.

With over seventy important photographs accompanying the text, Our Own Sweet Sounds becomes a loving tribute not just to the luminaries of folk, country, western, blues, jazz, gospel, and rock, but also to the common music that has filled local airwaves, lifted community gatherings to the level of joyous festivities, and enlivened the spirit of music lovers everywhere.