Tattooed on Their Tongues is Colin Escott's history of fifty years of significant change in country music through the lives, eyes, and careers of the independent record label owners, producers, stars, and sidemen who made this change possible. Escott draws on years of research, personal interviews, documents, and rare recordings to recover the stories of one-hit wonders, overnight successes, and riches-to-rags tragedies from half a century of country and early rock music.

Escott also reveals the origins of four record labels - from the birth of Decca Records (later MCA) in 1934 New York to the start of Hi Records in Memphis, 1958 - that signed and produced a number of country and rockabilly artists. Modern country artists who have made a particular effort to recognize their musical ancestors in their work are also part of Escott's book, including Dwight Yoakam, Marty Stuart, and Delbert McClinton.