why does Country Music tend to be conservative ?

[JI7]

i know not all country artists and listeners are conservative and not all in other areas are liberal. but compared to most other areas of music including classical it seems the country music area is much more conservative. has it always been this way ? i think i remember reading how country use to be more liberal decades ago by challenging many of the positions of the country but in more recent decades it has become more conservative with the whole flag thing and loyalty to country no matter what and all that other right wing stuff.

[Fenris]

1. Target audience primarily white, rural, and conservative

[redstateblues]

5. That Is True- But Also Clear Channel Controls Radio And

They are one of Bush's biggest backers. In spite of The Dixie Chicks huge popularity, which continued even after Natalie's comment about Bush, Clear Channel made sure their records didn't get played. Their sales are still good but without airplay, no country act can last too long. There is a group in Nashville called Music Row Democrats that has provided a haven for those of us in the business that are disturbed by the rightward trend. They have had some good events- Janet Reno spoke at one recently.

[madrchsod]

6. beer or whiskey

drinking man or women chaser's,homewreakers,and above all truly sorry the next morning..other things may include-dogs,trucks/cars,mountains,coal, steam trains,love of god,etc,etc but not a hell of alot about politics-them are fightin` words....

[MUSTANG_2004]

25. Your list reminds me of the great Johnny Cash quote

"I love songs about horses, railroads, land, Judgment Day, family, hard times, whiskey, courtship, marriage, adultery, separation, murder, war, prison, rambling, damnation, home, salvation, death, pride, humor, piety, rebellion, patriotism, larceny, determination, tragedy, rowdiness, heartbreak and love. And Mother. And God."

[vetwife]

59. I know a little something about this....

My vet before becoming disabled and who has a guitar in the hall of fame was a professional musician.
I tell you why they are so called conservative. (They aren't) they are just hippocrites. No one can outdrink or as morally low as some of those folks !..One.....Grand Ole Opry is owned by a huge corporation known as Gaylord Entertainment and they are tied in with Clearchannel. By the way..Kentuck is right about country music being Hijacked !

2...They are tied in with every Fundy group such as they started out most in Fundie churches and got their break..then became drunks but still go to church on Sunday.

3. Their audience is mainly white...conservative and bigoted.

There are exceptions but generally they are Joe Six Pack and they know their audience !
I know for a fact that they come off as being soooooooooofull of family values and will cheat at the dop of a hat and get drunk or high even faster !

[AntiCoup2K4]

120. So the "Joshua Tree" was a country album?

other things may include-dogs,trucks/cars,mountains,coal, steam trains,love of god

Not sure about dogs and trucks, but I do remember lyrics about climbing the highest mountain, something about a coal mining town, a steam train, and - like most of their albums - a few references to God. And they did wear cowboy hats on that tour, now that I think about it. :evilgrin:

[kentuck]

2. Because those pointy little boots squeeze their feet too tight ..?

And they got a guilt complex from killing all the roaches in the corners?

[stevedeshazer]

3. It's not conservative

It's been highjacked by the right.

REAL country music is not the crap that's played over the radio today.

The roots of country, folk, bluegrass, honky-tonk go way back to the working class. These current "country" stars are so far removed from the reality of the working class that they have become an embarrassment for a whole lot of country music fans like me.

I played for seven years in a working honky-tonk band, and I can tell you that these fans of country music are generally not conservative.

Country music began with working folks who played for the love of the music, not for the big bucks that these posers get.

Who is closer to the message of the working class? Willie Nelson or Daryl Worley? Okay, rhetorical question. :)

[kentuck]

4. Stepford Country ?

I play country music also, and it is nothing like this crap that these folks play. They have sabotaged country music just like they have sabotaged the Republican Party. Neither of them are real.

[sendero]

7. So true....

... the real country artists of yesteryear, Johnny Cash and Hank Williams for example - were anything but conservative. Johnny Cash, the Man in Black, in particular.

It's too bad that all of the artists have left country to the likes of Toby Keith and others. Its just a business now, just like rock 'n' roll.

[Zen Democrat]

51. Merle Haggard's on our side. n/t

[JI7]

8. like Johnny Cash ?

Johnny Cash is one whose music i really like and he was a huge liberal. i can't remember the article i read but when it talked about how country music use to be i thought of Johnny Cash. but then i see some of these other modern day country singers and many of them are conservative and Bush supporters.

and you are right none of that crap country music today seems to be about the working class, but more about worshipping the leader (bush) and worshipping the flag and attacking anyone who is "different".

[madrchsod]

16. i saw johnny in 1962

in a small threate. i was 16 at the time and he was the baddest looking guy i`d ever seen..and looking back he was really fuck`n cool ,kind`a like a country beatnik...

[carnie_sf]

111. That's right

It even made it into his music. Check out Vietnam talking blues, or the Man in Black sometime

[redstateblues]

9. Daryl Worley's music will not be around long- Willie Nelson

however is another matter. Daryl Worley is already gone as a matter of fact. "Crazy" however, will be played for many many years to come

[bandy]

20. Speaking of Willie (one of my favorites)...

He was on a Randi replay (probably yesterday, Fri). He is far from conservative and so am I.

[imax2268]

10. money money money...

the ones who play this over the top patriotic country music are in it for the money...after 9/11 we got a slew of songs from these people...exploiting memories to make a buck...

[gatlingforme]

17. My thoughts exactly. Toby Keith comes to mind.

[Momof1]

68. and the really sick thing is that Toby is a democrat n/t

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

83. No Way!

How do you know he is a democrat?

[Momof1]

91. CMT interview a while back, plus I got a link

He did an interview just about the time the war started taking a nose dive. He told Dan Rather that when history looks back at this war, it will probably be considered a mistake.

Here is something else I found:

Snip:
But Keith has a confession to make. "People don't realize that I'm a registered Democrat," he says. "They automatically assume that I'm a chest-banging, war-drum-pounding Republican with my military stance." Keith goes on to compare himself to Senator Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut: "a conservative Democrat who is sometimes embarrassed for his party."

http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/archives/6995

But how many democrats identify themselves with Lieberman?????

[carnie_sf]

112. Actually Johnny Cash

started out as a rock and roll guy on Sun records in the 50s. He was part of the million dollar quartet (Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, and Jerry Lee Lewis)

[kentuck]

116. Although "I Walk the Line" did not seem to be the same type of music...

at the time. It had not gone over to the rock and roll sound like Jerry Lee and Elvis, for example. Then he came out with "Ballad of a Teenage Queen"...Rockabilly Country would be what I would call it...

[Momof1]

117. Nobody can put Johnny Cash into any category

You just can't do it. He is in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Country Music Hall of Fame,& the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

http://www.johnnycash.com/Cashcareer.htm

Snip:
He has placed 48 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 Pop charts, about the same number as the Rolling Stones and the Beach Boys.

He has tallied more Pop hit singles than Barbra Streisand, Michael Jackson (including his Jackson 5 hits), the Four Seasons, David Bowie, the Supremes, Elton John, Billy Joel, Kenny Rogers, the combined totals of Art Garfunkel, Paul Simon and Simon & Garfunkel, Martin Gaye, B.B. King, Roy Orbison, Kool & the Gang, Linda Ronstadt. Diana Ross, the combined total of all of the Osmond Family, Jerry Lee Lewis and the combined total of Lionel Richie and the Commodores.

People forget just how hot Johnny Cash was, when his sales career was at its zenith. In the fall of 1969, Johnny Cash was the hottest act in the world, selling around 250,000 albums per month of his Folsom Prison and San Quentin albums. At that time, he was even outselling the Beatles.

Unsnip:

On American IV he went from singing "Hurt" to "In My Life" to "Personal Jesus" to "I'm so Lonesome I could Cry"

They broke the mold when they made Johnny. And if I hear Clint Black introduced one more time as "The New Man in Black" I think I might puke.


(He was introduced that way within 3 mos of Johnny passing away at the Grand ole Opry.)

(sorry, I get emotional about Cash...lol)

[jbm]

19. exploiting emotions also..

I'll never understand why people will pay big bucks to hear a song that makes em cry, but delivers no meaningful message. What's that all about? If some new enlightenment also touches my emotions, then that's one thing, but that 'make em cry and make a million' stuff is bullshit.

[carpetbagger]

11. Pining for the 1950's.

That is what sells.

Of course, neither society nor country music was as conservative in the 50's as it appears to be through the lenses of nostalgia, but there you have it.

Add to that corporate control of the Nashville scene, and you've got most of the story.

Here in Texas, country music is more liberal.

[AndyTiedye]

12. Where are the Dixie Chicks Getting all their Fans Then?

I don't think ANY of their music was written for the
crazy white trashconservative white male demographic.

[Digit]

93. Love the Dixie Chicks

I noticed that on 8/4/2004, the Dixie Chicks have announced a concert tour called: The Vote For Change Concert Tour
http://dixiechicks.launch.yahoo.com/news.asp?id=91

[AndyTiedye]

105. Swinging Through All Those Swing States, I See

Go Chicks!

And pleaae come back to California some time after the election.

[PurityOfEssence]

13. It's the celebration of the familiar

Cultural homogeneity (heh-heh, he said homo) breeds conservatism; cosmopolitanism fosters liberalism. That's why the heartland, with great social and ethnic similarities tend to be suspicious of the "other". This, coupled with being engaged in less changing business activity, tends to make those in rural areas more agitated by change and difference. Since "country" music is based on rural themes and feelings, it expresses nostalgia and personal emotions, and does it in a very direct and recognizable way.

Just as farmland will tend toward conservatism, a coastal city with foreign trade, many races and cultures, constant change and high contact with many different individuals will tend toward liberalism. Lefties recognize that people come in a broad range of types and habits, and the sheer number of people dealt with tends to nudge a person that way.

Religion is just another buttress against the change and the different, and we have to remember: for all the bluster of being successful and a go-getter, Americans are just people, and people are fragile, conflicted, alone and increasingly disoriented. Country music is as reassuring to some people as Peter Gabriel or Joni Mitchell are to me, and in times of peril and rapid change, there's lots to be said for a feeling of security.

[misanthrope]

127. Not so fast there...

...not all port towns are cosmopolitan. Mobile, Alabama is one of the nation's oldest maritime cities (once the fourth busiest port in the country), yet still highly conservative.

My bet would be that there are plenty of conservative sea towns on the Gulf Coast and the Atlantic Seaboard. I don't think Galveston, Corpus Christi, Tampa, Jacksonville, Charleston, or Savannah are likely to be fonts of progressivism.

[PurityOfEssence]

132. Point taken, but

I think you get the gist of my point.

I remember a few years back when I was working briefly in Mobile being puzzled by why such a great port didn't have a larger population. When chatting with one of the locals, he snorted that it's because the town was run by a very few families, and always had been. He said that anyone with any gumption who wasn't part of this elite left as soon as he/she could.

Beats me whether his characterization has any basis in fact, but that was his steadfast assumption.

To defend my point a bit, think about this: are these cities more or less progressive than the nearby hinterlands? I can't speak for the other ones, but there's certainly some leftism nestled in Tampa. Friends claim that Savannah has some non-trog life, too, but I've never been there. As for the other ones: even if still mighty conservative, aren't they less so than the nearby inland areas that don't have such cosmopolitan traffic? Methinks so, and I'd say that this illustrates the basic point.

Nonetheless, your point is quite well taken: being a port of trade doesn't necessarily bring the joys of multicultural bliss.

[madrchsod]

14. when the dirt band recorded

"will the circle be unbroken" back in the early 70`s every country star and them some played or sang on this album-all but one-bill monroe-he refused to play with the "long haired hippies" well ol`e bill changed his mind later in life. he was a conserative but that he realized that that this country music was changing..why hell they even got long hairs and negroes in the bands now....

[Robin Hood]

15. Outlaw country is liberal.

Nelson, Cash, Haggard, Christopherson etc... That is real coutry music. today's country is pop music with a twang. Britney spears with rhinestones. It's crap.

[kaitykaity]

18. It's corporate crap.

They take the same cookie cutter formula and plug
another new face into it.

Yuk.

If you want liberal country, listen to k d lang. Now
that woman can belt out a country song.

[HuckleB]

22. What?

Waylon, Willie, Kristofferson, etc... are "corporate crap"? Sorry, but you really need to look into the history of the music. It's anything but that.

Sheesh.

:eyes:

[kaitykaity]

57. Not them, the other stuff.

What I gotta draw a map or something?

:eyes:

[HuckleB]

108. You responded to a post about "The Outlaws."

:eyes: Indeed!

Sheesh.

[kaitykaity]

114. I responded to this quote.

"Today's country is pop music with a twang. Britney spears with rhinestones. It's crap."

Go get your reading comprehension goggles, dear.

[HuckleB]

122. Now that's funny.

The main point of the post was about the Outslaws, with the last bit that you now claim to have responded to as an aside. It appears that you are the one who needs to get a clue when it comes to reading comprehehension. Your post -- as noted by more than one poster on this board -- clearly slammed Outlaw country, out of context and out of a lack of comprehension. If you intended something different, then you need to realize that your post was written poorly.

Like I said, your condescension is funny, however.

[Robin Hood]

87. Huh..

Go look at what most of these people had to go through to get a record contract. They often had to strike on their own because country black lissted them. Cash is a great example of outlaw country.

[HuckleB]

109. You talking to me?

Or to kaitykaity?

[greekspeak]

23. k d lang can sing just about anything beautifully

Country, sure. But also pop, and even old standards from the 40s and 50s. I heard an old favorite of mine with this dusky but clear gin joint inspired voice singing it. The voice truly captured the essence of the song as well as any voice could. Whose was it? k d lang.

As for "country music" today, it has become part of the wierd amalgam of ideas and values of American Neo-Conservativism. So much of it has become as jingoistic and hateful as a Murkin's bumpersticker. A lot of it has no depth, and follows a formulaic style. Like most music produced, country music has become a product and nothing more. Artistic expression? What is that?

[Selwynn]

66. k d lang is considered country?

*blink*

[Momof1]

69. Alt-Country n/t

[carpetbagger]

27. I disagree. It IS the counterculture here in Texas.

And there is no cookie cutter that Kinky Friedman's face will fit in. None.

[Lithos]

62. Sorry

But you are confusing "Hat" music which is indeed formulaic, with singer songwriter musicians. People like Willie Nelson, K.D. Lang, Jerry Jeff Walker, Doug Sahm, and Johnny Cash are extremely liberal.

L-

[tuvor]

81. k.d. raised a stink about beef years ago

This was just before she became "huge" but in Alberta (her home province) about 1990, she did a commercial sponsored by some vegetarian group, and the campaign was called "beef stinks". Trust me, if you're from Alberta, that's not the kind of thing you do to sell albums.

Man, I remember seeing so many cheap photocopied handbills for her shows at the Sidetrack in Edmonton in the mid-80s. Not a surprise that she's done so well for herself.

[HuckleB]

24. Damn straight. You're right on the money.

And I'll add Emmylou Harris, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Steve Earle and Alejandro Escovedo to the list those who play real country music.

[tuvor]

82. Lone Justice! Rank and File!

There ain't no denial!

[Zen Democrat]

53. Don't forget Steve Earle and Lucinda Williams. n/t

[QC]

70. And Iris DeMent! Let's not forget her!

http://www.irisdement.com/

I challenge anyone to listen to "Wasteland of the Free" and then declare that all country music is conservative or "corporate crap."

[Bjornsdotter]

75. Oooooh I love Iris Dement...

....especially her song "Our Town". It makes me cry every time.

I also like when Iris and John Prine sing together..."In Spite of Ourselves" comes to mind.

Cheers,
Kim :toast:

[QC]

88. I love that song, too.

Also "Sweet is the Melody" and her cover of "Mom an Dad's Waltz." She really is wonderful.

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

85. I totally agree.

Country music used to be good about 20 years ago. I can't stand country music that's played on the radio anymore.

[HuckleB]

21. That has always depended on what you call country music.

Much of the Nashville scene, which is the primary portion of the genre aimed at conservatives has always been a toned down, Pat Boonified version of what many consider to be true country music. This trended to a Pat Boonified version of pop music that remained under the same banner, and now trends to a Pat Boonified version of pop-rock that continues to remain under the same banner. It's spoonfed music for those who love to be spoonfed in everything, including their politics.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

26. Both glorify swaggering machismo and stepford wives.

Not all, of course. But, there sure don't seem to be many Hank Williamses around any more.

[PROGRESSIVE1]

48. Hank Jr. is a Right Wing Swine Bag!

[Selwynn]

67. He didn't say JR.

[QC]

89. Are you aware that there was another Hank Williams

before Hank Williams Jr? That man was--believe it or not--the father of the current Hank Williams, and he was no corporate product.

[bandy]

28. Am I the only oldie who remembers

David Allen Coe (sp)?

[HuckleB]

30. No.

And you're not that old!

:)

[bandy]

32. Wish I wasn't but

he was Jimmy Buffet before there was a Jimmy Buffet.

[HuckleB]

33. Yeah, though they're close to contemporaries, only six years apart in age.

[eridani]

146. And KD Lang, for heaven's sake! n/t

[kentuck]

42. I remember moe bandy..

:)

[Momof1]

71. huh? Did you say the perfect country & western song?

WELL, I WAS DRUNK THE DAY MY MOM GOT OUT OF PRISON
AND I WENT TO PICK HER UP IN THE RAIN
BUT BEFORE I COULD GET TO THE STATION IN MY PICKUP TRUCK
SHE GOT RUN NED OVER BY A DAMNED OLD TRAIN

CHORUS:
AND I’LL HANG AROUND AS LONG AS YOU WILL LET ME
AND I NEVER MINDED STANDING’ IN THE RAIN
NO, A’ YOU DON’T HAVE TO CALL ME DARLIN’, DARLIN’
YOU NEVER EVEN CALL ME
WELL I WONDER WHY YOU DON’T CALL ME
WHY DON’T YOU EVER CALL ME BY MY NAME

[Bjornsdotter]

76. Nope..

..I remember him too.

Cheers,
Kim :toast:

[theboss]

139. He's still around

And he will still kick your ass.

He's played the State Theater in Falls Church, VA (ten miles from DC) at least twice in the past year. His fan-base is a little on the scary side though. Pack heat.

[HuckleB]

29. Great piece -- "Getting Out The Music Lovers" -- On Kerry & Country Music

Getting Out the Music Lovers

John Kerry can already wow an audience with ‘Ring of Fire.’ Now a group of industry leaders is trying to convince Southern country music fans to support the senator in November
http://www.newsletters.newsweek.msnbc.com/id/4542018/

"The MRD, which is currently recruiting members—500 to date, and counting—is working closely with Kerry’s national co-chair, Tennessee Rep. Harold Ford Jr., (D-Memphis), who spoke before an impassioned crowd of more than 350 members at an MRD meeting in Nashville earlier this month. "The common perception is that people who play country music and their fans all are Republicans, but that is not the case," says Ford. "There was a huge and very enthusiastic crowd at that meeting. The message here is that big belt buckles and rhetoric will not win the South. John Kerry fought in a war, he's about creating new jobs, he's a gun owner and hunter, he's for better healthcare and education. If anyone should be ashamed to meet Southern farmers and ranchers, it should be George Bush."

Can music influence Southern voters? Apparently so. In 2001, Dave "Mudcat" Saunders, a rural Democratic strategist, helped Democrat Mark Warner win over conservative rural voters and get elected governor of Virginia—in part by writing new lyrics to a classic bluegrass tune familiar from "The Andy Griffith Show."  The song, which became Warner's campaign anthem, caught fire and was broadcast everywhere from Virginia radio to CNN.  "That song was a way of getting to the rural culture. Kerry can do the same types of things," says Saunders, who subsequently raised money for John Edwards and then, briefly, for Florida Sen. Bob Graham's short-lived presidential run. Saunders now supports Kerry. "Music is so much a part of the Southern culture," he says. “"These Nashville cats are the most powerful folks in country music. They can get this done."

Or can they? Problem is, many country artists now shy away from talking politics. Ever since the much-publicized bitter feud last year between the Dixie Chicks and Toby Keith over negative comments made by the Chicks about Bush and the resulting ban by various country radio stations of the Dixie Chicks' music, many country artists—especially the younger stars—are holding their tongues when the subject of politics is raised. Although the MRD has gotten support from a few artists such as Rodney Crowell and Hal Ketchum, and is expecting assistance from historically liberal country stars such as Willie Nelson, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Kris Kristofferson, Kathy Mattea and Emmylou Harris, several country performers contacted by NEWSWEEK declined to go on the record with their political views."

http://www.newsletters.newsweek.msnbc.com/id/4542018/

[PROGRESSIVE1]

49. Good Read.

[Iris]

31. Because it's basically about hating change of any kind.

Think about it. Most country songs yearn for the past - or at least the past as the narrator remembers or imagines it.

I thought about this when I was in a book club. We were talking about various books we'd read and how they all involved a female character in the process of a momentous life change. One member said of course that's what happens in books we read. After all, who would want to read a book about people sitting around doing the same thing day after day?

The next week, I started thinking about country music and how that's what most of the songs are about - basically living in the past, doing the same stuff day in and day out, doing what your parents and grandparents did, or at least trying to even if it is totally unrealistic.

I don't know if this makes sense, but every time I hear a country song, it's about not wanting things to change.

Of course, the trick is, the Republicans have convinced people like this that they don't want change - and they don't for people. Big Business, on the other hand, is a whole other story.

[Swamp Rat]

34. I don't think music can be "conservative" or anything else but what it is:

Art in the form of sound waves flowing through time.

The designations "conservative" or "liberal" have everything to do with the people involved. So called "Classical" (nothing but a marketing stereotype like "Country Music") music has been used by fascists, monarchs, etc. to promote ideas completely unrelated to the sounds, until associations are made. These symbols created and disseminated can then be used to manipulate people in one way or another. Today, the Corporatist has at his disposal and wields stereotypes and genres to generate capital in a continuous cycle of consumption. Political propagandists are symbiotically connected to these corporatists in the entertainment industry, each feeding off the other and the unsuspecting populace. In a way, they are cannibals.

From a musical perspective, "Country Music" often is conservative: 'I-IV-V' over and over again. Simple song forms and lyrics that share clichés almost verbatim. The trick (which is what makes a song a classic) is to inject personality into the music and to evoke an emotional response in the listener. Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, and Woodie Guthrie are masters of songwriting just as were Franz Schubert and medaeval troubadours named Anonymous. "L'homme armé" ("The Armed Man") was a ditty popular throughout Western Europe. It was sung in many taverns and town squares to recruit men to go stop the Turks at Vienna and keep them from invading the rest of Europe.

Toby Keith is like the troubadour that works for his monarch, spreading propaganda for personal financial gain, with only superficial concern for the plebes.

[drdigi420]

36. Country 'music' isnt about music, its about lyrics

the 'music' is extremely simplisxtic and unimaginative, and requires the lowest level of skill and understanding to compose, similar to rap 'music' in that regard.

obviously some artists labeled as country or rap can break away and display some skill (willie nelson and whodini spring to mind), but most stick with the same tired formula

[drdigi420]

35. Because Rednecks are usually conservative

the right wing reinforces their hate and blaming of others for their lot in life

it panders to the same low IQ

[neebob]

37. Um, because it's simple?

It's all right to be little bitty.

[NEDem]

38. education or lack thereof.

[sampsonblk]

131. Not exactly music for intellectuals here...

I like some country music. But let's be real, this ain't exactly deep-thinking music. The topics and themes of country music are generally not the stuff of Plato. There is a target audience, and it ain't college professors.

On edit: I still love Reba though. Beautiful voice. She should sing blues or jazz instead.

[Bridget Burke]

135. So, which music is the stuff of Plato?

Some Classical might qualify (in the larger sense, not just the narrow Classical period), but you didn't mention it. Jazz? Wonderful stuff, but the lyrics are not that important. Blues? Also great--I have vivid memories of numerous shows by Lightnin' Hopkins & Mance Lipscomb, but I doubt either had read Plato.

Have you ever heard about Bill Malone? He's a professor at Tulane & a scholar of country music; the definite biography of Bob Wills is among his works. Folklore & Southern studies are actually academic fields, taught at real colleges & universities. There's lots of knowledge out there, for those who want it.

But ignorance is so much easier.

[sampsonblk]

141. I agree, I think

Jazz and classical. I'm a jazz man myself.

Are you suggesting that country music . . . What ARE you suggesting? I missed your point, I think. But I am always up for learning something new, especially regarding music.

[Radical Activist]

39. It's rural, has roots in gospel music

the Conservative movement has been targeting rural areas and white evangelical Christians, while Democrats have been ignoring or insulting those groups of people. Country music moving to the right is a reflection of that.

No, it wasn't always that way. The Democratic Party is partly to blame for chasing after suburban voters for years and being led by people from urban areas. Ignoring rural areas and populist politics for a couple decades has consequences.

[JI7]

55. ignoring or insulting them ?

is reaching out to people who are not white evangelical christians ignoring and insulting them ?

i'm not white , evangelical christian, or from a rural area. but i do find many of them to not so accepting of people who are different in terms of race ,religion or some other things.

the one group of evangelicals that is strongly democratic is african americans. but i find them to be much more accepting of people who are different than the white evangelicals. i think this shows much of it has to do with racism rather than ignoring anyone. and it's not the fault of the democratic party.the african americans in the south are strongly democratic. i commend the party for reaching out to those who are different and which is why most minorities support democrats. but why do white evangelical christians get offended at reaching out to those who are different.i'm not christian(or jewish or muslim)but i don't get offended with politicians mostly reaching out to them when they do reach out to people in religious terms.

[Radical Activist]

77. There you go again

In your post you just made a sweeping generalization that white people from rural areas are generally prejudiced. That's exactly what I'm talking about. How often do we see negative characterizations of Christians and rednecks on this board? Pretty frequently and I also see that attitude in liberal elitists on both coasts.

East coast urban liberals are out of touch with rural populism, which can be very progressive if you address their issues. Remember how 2000 was supposed to be the year of the suburban soccer mom? Rural white voters have been ignored and/or written off for years by too many Democratic leaders.

If we allow Republicans to control the debate in rural areas it will be about gay marriage and the liberal attack on Christianity. As Howard Zinn wrote, every bigot has something they care about more than their prejudice. The trick is to find out what that is. When the Democratic Party pursued the DLC path of attracting suburban voters it also abandoned efforts to address whatever rural voters find to be more important than Republican wedge issues.

[JI7]

78. so why do black evangelicals from the south vote democratic ?

and the rural white voters voted on things like guns, and because bush is a good moral man or some other cultural type issue. when has bush addressed the issues you claim democrats aren't speaking of ? he doesn't, but they vote for him because of cultural issues including race.

and what's wrong with reaching out to suburban soccer moms ? i'm not a soccer mom, i'm not black either. but i see nothing wrong with reaching out to these voters. they matter also.

and kerry is controlling the debate by speaking more on religion and backing off of same sex marriage even though he isn't really against it. so far he is doing well in many of the southern states just as he did in the primary. but there are many liberals who are NOT from east or west coast or even from democratic states who attack him for not speaking to the base more.

but it still comes down to them being prejudiced since they mostly oppose gay rights, and what exactly is a liberal attack on christianity ? is accepting other beliefs a liberal attack on christianity ?

[Radical Activist]

80. They are courted by the party

The Democratic Party spends a lot of time talking about and addressing issues of concern to African-American voters. Maybe it doesn't spend enough time actually legislating on those issues, but efforts are made to reach out. That's the difference.

I don't see anything wrong with reaching out to soccer moms either, but the problem is that this was done to the exclusion of reaching out to some other groups of voters. It became too much of a fixation.

There is a vacuum created when Democrats fail to talk about economic issues and other concerns of rural and southern voters. Factories are still shutting down and moving to third world nations thanks to NAFTA/WTO, and what does Kerry have to say about that? A few changes in the tax code doesn't cut it. I know that voters in the rural south would care more about a candidate who will do something about the jobs we lose to faulty free trade policies than they care about gay marriage. Yet, Kerry and Clinton can say very little about the top concern of many southern rural voters because they supported the policies that caused those problems. The issue vacuum left by Democrats allows Republicans to fill that void with divisive social morality issues.

The liberal attack on Christianity is a constantly repeated theme in evangelical churches and Christian radio. It is a twisted viewpoint of a world that is out to persecute protestants. That viewpoint is allowed to flourish because it frequently goes unanswered.

Edwards is occasionally a welcome departure from this trend, but I think his efforts are the exception rather than the rule.

[JI7]

84. and it still comes down to prejudice

because bush and other republicans are far worse on issues of economics and trade yet they still vote for them because of "moral" issues which are usually things like abortion, guns, religion.

and black people vote democratic not just because of efforts at reaching out to them but because they HAVE done better with democrats in office than republicans.


and none of the candidates really reach out to people like me specifically in terms of race and/or religion. but i don't get offended or angry with candidates reaching out to others. and i don't feel a need for them to reach out to me specifically to vote for them either.

[jdj]

100. it has it's roots in bluegrass and folk.

folk and gospel overlap somewhat.

I think the same phenomenon that happened in country music 25 to 30 years ago is happening today in pop music. Look at who is being uber-marketed, it's Britney Spears and Jessica Simpson (and also being hyper-marketed is her sister Ashley). Both Simpson and Spears are republicans, and both are being marketed to the exclusion of most other talent in the industry. Ashlee Simpson has already gone platinum, unbelievably and based soley on marketing.

For country it can be traced back to the Reagan years, that is where and when country lost it's footing, and I would guess that corporations decided who would be popular, and who gets to be popular seems to be coincidentally related to who supports the politicians that support the corporate types.

The conservative bent has something to do with the mentality of owning land yet not being rich, around here we call it "land-poor". It seems to make one paranoid and desperate, and vulnerable to manipulation by politicians. Clinton touched on this at his speech at the U of A last year when he said that Bush and republicans appeal to "the sense that some country people have that someone is always trying to take advantage of them". I was so glad he said that, and that he is aware of it, democrats need to pay alot more attention to things like this.

[Radical Activist]

113. There you go

Clinton understood rural voters. People wonder why Southerners want one of their own on the ticket. Its not just out of love of their region. Most politicians from other areas don't understand the issues and mentality of rural voters, or how Republicans use certain wedge issues to manipulate their vote. Clinton knows how to appeal to those voters, and I think Edwards does too. That's one reason Clinton won, but those efforts are still the exception to the rule. Democrats don't have the kind of massive effort to reach rural voters like Republicans do.

[kentuck]

119. Much of country music has always been fake.....

From the time they recorded AP Carter and Jimmie Rodgers in Bristol Va back in 1927, there were a certain group of people that thought they were too backward and "hillbilly" and did not want to associate with them. So they went to Nashville and started the Grand Ol' Opry. They could legitimately look down their noses at those that played hillbilly music. They themselves would mock the hillbillies with characters such as Homer and Jethro and Minnie Pearl and Stringbean. They were always someone to laugh at. Of course, once bluegrass became an acceptable music, they became accepted at the Opry. ANd they are today. But there was a time they looked down their noses at the "real" country music, bluegrass.

[jdj]

126. which is just ulster traditional music.

[Bridget Burke]

137. With a strong African influence.

The Carter Family, Jimmy Rodgers, Hank Williams, Bill Monroe & Bob Wills were all taught directly by African-American musicians. Of course, the other roots came from folk music of the British Isles, religious music & parlor music of the 19th century.

[kentuck]

138. Maybe a touch....

in its roots...But a lot of originality in bluegrass also.

[dogman]

40. Many play to B$$$'s base.

It's Guns, God, and Gays.

[DeepModem Mom]

41. The music disturbs me because it glorifies a life of low expectations...

so often. It's fine to appreciate the simple things in life, but many country songs seem to emphasize being satisfied with one's lot in life -- and not striving for a better education, a better job, a chance to travel and experience different things, a more sophisticated worldview. I can't help wondering if this serves the corporate conservatives, as exemplified by George H.W. Bush who was, or pretended to be, a fan of country music and pork rinds. If people are satisfied with limited lives, and have no desire to achieve something more, all the goodies are left for the fat cats.

[stevedeshazer]

46. It tells the truth about people lives

Sometimes, that really needs to be said.

With all due respect, you must not listen or be a fan. Country music has been around for hundreds of years, long before Poppy Bush made pork rinds popular.

Or perhaps you are speaking of the faux-country music played today. I can then see how such an impression as yours would be formed.

[DeepModem Mom]

47. I am definitely speaking of faux country music --

I grew up in the South and know the rich tradition of music rooted in Appalachia, and, before that, across the sea. An example of what I'm saying might be a song about coal mining. A father in an old song might be proud of his work in the mines but know the toll it takes on a person's life; he might not wish his son to follow him into those mines. (And why did I just think of Tennessee Ernie Ford singing about owing his soul to the company store?) There doesn't seem to be much of that anymore. Whatever one's lot in life is seems to be glorified, and there doesn't seem to be discontent with much, or higher hopes and dreams. Johnny Cash was so discontented, and sad about the world, he dressed himself in black. Hank Williams had a serious integrity in his troubled soul. It just seems like a lot of posturing now, yay-hooism, and jingoism.

On edit: I know why I thought of "Sixteen Tons" -- kentuck has a thread going with a line from it as the subject line!

[stevedeshazer]

73. Fair enough

The awful poison of diminished expectations.

Sixteen tons, and whaddya get?

Another day older and deeper in debt.

Looks like you see it pretty much the same way as me.

[redstateblues]

103. Listen To The Song"I Hope You Dance"

[DeepModem Mom]

107. That song has a good message...

I did qualify with the word "often" sends messages of low expectation and limited lives -- :)

[JNelson6563]

43. I can't believe you have to ask

Ugh.

[AngryAmish]

44. Country and folk music was the same

Then during the red scare, there was a split. Country = patriotic, folk = commies. Look it up.

[Yavin4]

45. Two Words: Willie Nelson

Before people pile onto country music, please consider Willie Nelson and others like him.

[J Williams]

50. And Woody Guthrie, and Arlo, and Emmie Lou ....

They, and NOT Tobie Keith, are the true artists.

[enigmatic]

52. The crap on radio is NOT country music..

it's corporate garbage taking the worst of pop/rock and countrypolitan and combining it to make a souless black hole of "product". Perfect music for neo-cons...

[Zen Democrat]

54. Don't forget Lyle Lovett, -- and the late, great TOWNES VAN ZANDT!!!!!!

[enigmatic]

56. I love both...

and Steve Earle, Richard Buckner, Uncle Tupelo, The Gourds....

Lots of good country and alt-country music out there; tons, really..

[Gregorian]

58. Here's my explanation-

I've noticed that university towns don't just tend to be, but are, liberal. In fact, most metro areas are liberal. It has everything to do with education and experience.
Country music comes from the country. Originally. The genre comes from the country. And it is the antithesis of metro/university areas. Inexperienced, inbred (if you will), uneducated.
Conservatism is the lowest common denominator.

[TWiley]

60. There are a lot of confederate flags flying in country music

The type of "patriotism" (or is that hatetreiosm?)and "heritage" these dimwits refer to goes back to the racism of slavery and the early days of the confederacy. It is from this "heritage" that the neocons philosophy of fascist imperialism seems to have sprung. There has been a huge growth in conservative hate groups through-out the "bible belt" since the neocons took control. States that have the most are Texas and Florida, home of the bushwads. (see tolerance.org)

Duh'bya grew up in a neighborhood where the Texas rangers were king and photo's all the way into the 50's show them smiling and standing beside rows of hung black or Mexican men and / or women.

Most of their victims had no legal representation, no official charges, no trial, just simply execution at the hands of the rangers.

Does that not sound like the bushwad policy of today?

Country musicians are merely cheerleaders from the perverted culture they grew up in. Musicians who are different are soon estranged.

Long live the Dixie Chicks!

[bandy]

61. Most of you'al are missing the point

country music is neither right or left! country is a tradition, not what you hear today. My 9 yr old granddaughter picked up country on her own by association. She has heard it here and she took a shinin to it, in spite of her "whatever is popular" today. She has more country then pop cd's. A lot of my family (not me) are musically inclined and never taught (it comes naturally) in country music. Blue Grass is a specialty. It's a tradition of folk music. It's been good family fun and I love it.

[Waverley_Hills_Hiker]

63. yeah, the fans can be either left or right....

...same with the peformers.

bluegrass has conservatives and liberals in the fanbase, but they both like the music.

[redstateblues]

104. Thanks for your post!

[kwolf68]

64. Good responses

Generally speaking Country music is Conservative the same way Punk Rock is Liberal.

[Momof1]

65. Alt-Country is more liberal, and more to the roots of true country

music.

Cash, Haggard, Kristofferson, and Willie made it big before the crap manufacturing machine went into full tilt production.

But if you look at the Alt- artists... You have Rosanne Cash, Rodney Crowell, David Allan Coe, Steve Earle, etc.

These people couldn't pay money to get their songs on Clear Channel, you have to go out and physically by the CD, or download it. These people are turning out great music. Like this song that will be released on the 24th. From Steve Earle

F the CC

I used to listen to the radio
And I don’t guess they’re listenin’ to me no more
They talk too much but that’s okay
I don’t understand a single word they say
Piss and moan about the immigrants
But don’t say nothin’ about the president
A democracy don’t work that way
I can say anything I wanna say

So fuck the FCC
Fuck the FBI
Fuck the CIA
Livin’ in the motherfuckin’ USA

People tell me that I’m paranoid
And I admit I’m gettin’ pretty nervous, boy
It just gets tougher everyday
To sit around and watch it while it slips away
Been called a traitor and a patriot
Call me anything you want to but
Just don’t forget your history
Dirty Lenny died so we could all be free


You have to LOOK for real country music. It won't be found at Wal-Mart or on your radio.

(on edit...needed to delete that last paragraph)

[Bridget Burke]

72. Good show on CMT this month, for those who like real country music...

And a good beginning education for those who are totally pig-ignorant of the genre (of whom there appear to be quite a few on these boards). Lost Highway was produced by the BBC & previously shown on TRIO TV. Lyle Lovett narrates four episodes that will be repeated a few times in August.

www.cmt.com/shows/dyn//lost_highway_the_history_of_american_country/series.jhtml



The link has a few video clips from the show. Elsewhere at CMT.COM are a few surprises, like a video of young fiddler Andy Leftwich doing a version of "Minor Swing" that has more to do with the Hot Club of France than Tootsie's Orchid Lounge.

[Dr Fate]

74. Most of the old stuff is politically neutral - and great too...

Just slice of life stuff...

[DemVIctory]

79. Old Lynard Skynard

This band is now associated with rednecks and the right. However before half of the guys died in a plane crash in the 70's they actually wrote some very progressive songs.

[Enraged_Ape]

95. "Saturday Night Special"'s one of the most pro-gun-control songs ever

I think Ronnie Van Zandt was a very progressive guy. The original Lynyrd Skynyrd produced some great music advocating some good, clean, down-home values--which just happen to fall on the left side of the equation.

[JohnOneillsMemory]

145. New Lynyrd Skynyrd: ugly racism on their road cases in July 2001.

I worked with them once down in Orange County in July 2001 and we dreaded their arrival for days. They wanted to put a big Confederate flag up at the festival stage. Big management battle to successfully prevent it from happening.

And their equipment road cases were covered with the nastiest racist slogans on HANDWRITTEN stickers, not commercially printed.

'Sweet Home Alabama' lyrics say it all to those who listen.

[LiberalTechie1337]

86. It caters to an audience of Southern racist hicks

just like the GOP

[QC]

90. Nothing intelligent to add to the discussion, eh? n/t

[Momof1]

92. Here's some country for you

From Steve Earle, being released on 8/24.

F the CC

I used to listen to the radio
And I don’t guess they’re listenin’ to me no more
They talk too much but that’s okay
I don’t understand a single word they say
Piss and moan about the immigrants
But don’t say nothin’ about the president
A democracy don’t work that way
I can say anything I wanna say

So fuck the FCC
Fuck the FBI
Fuck the CIA
Livin’ in the motherfuckin’ USA

People tell me that I’m paranoid
And I admit I’m gettin’ pretty nervous, boy
It just gets tougher everyday
To sit around and watch it while it slips away
Been called a traitor and a patriot
Call me anything you want to but
Just don’t forget your history
Dirty Lenny died so we could all be free


What Ever Happened To Peace On Earth - by Willie


There's so many things going on in the world
Babies dying
Mothers crying
How much oil is one human life worth
And what ever happened to peace on earth

We believe everything that they tell us
They're gonna’ kill us
So we gotta’ kill them first
But I remember a commandment
Thou shall not kill
How much is that soldier’s life worth
And whatever happened to peace on earth

(Bridge)

And the bewildered herd is still believing
Everything we’ve been told from our birth
Hell they won’t lie to me
Not on my own damn TV
But how much is a liars word worth
And whatever happened to peace on earth

So I guess it’s just
Do unto others before they do it to you
Let’s just kill em’ all and let God sort em’ out
Is this what God wants us to do

(Repeat Bridge)

And the bewildered herd is still believing
Everything we’ve been told from our birth
Hell they won’t lie to me
Not on my own damn TV
But how much is a liars word worth
And whatever happened to peace on earth

Now you probably won’t hear this on your radio
Probably not on your local TV
But if there’s a time, and if you’re ever so inclined
You can always hear it from me
How much is one picker’s word worth
And whatever happened to peace on earth

But don’t confuse caring for weakness
You can’t put that label on me
The truth is my weapon of mass protection
And I believe truth sets you free

[Bridget Burke]

94. Harsh words from the metropolis of Plainfield, Indiana.

Interesting facts:

• Black race population percentage significantly below state average.
  
• Hispanic race population percentage below state average.
  
• Foreign-born population percentage below state average.
  
• Institutionalized population percentage above state average.

Several institutions of higher education are in the region (near Indianapolis), but Plainfield itself boasts PJ'S College of Cosmetology.

www.city-data.com/city/Plainfield-Indiana.html

But, hey, it's not the South!

[QC]

97. Plainfield in the News!

PLAINFIELD, INDIANA: A black man returning to his home in Plainfield, Indiana, found that a racial slur had been spray-painted on his garage door. Three other racial slurs were found painted on the back of the house. In addition, a flammable liquid was thrown onto the roof of the house. Some windows were broken and some window screens were slashed. The house's heat pump was also vandalized. (The Indianapolis Star, 8-3-02)

http://www.jbhe.com/rrr/rrr_aug02.html

But at least he's not in the South--too many racist hicks there, you know!

[Enraged_Ape]

96. Johnny Cash was liberal when liberal wasn't even a word

Cash stuck up for the working man and the many disenfranchised (such as the Native Americans) when it just wasn't cool to do that. And his records always sold like hotcakes. Everyone knew they had a voice in Johnny Cash.

His daughter Roseanne is also fiendishly talented, and like her dad, she is also on the political side of the angels.

God, I love and miss Johnny Cash.

[DaveSZ]

98. Willie Nelson is more liberal than me

:)

[cosmicvortex20]

118. Dont count on that... hes about as anti-tax as it gets...

Believe me your not going to hear him asking for many program expansions.

[Radical Activist]

121. Willie Nelson endorsed Dennis Kucinich in the primary

and in 2000 he endorsed Nader. So, I'm about as liberal as Willie Nelson. Liberals can be anti-big-government too.

[Momof1]

99. Watch CMT on the Anniversary of his death

They are repeating a few shows, and they are debuting a show "Johnny Cash vs. Music Row"

About his fights with the corporations during the 1980's

Rosanne's ex-hubby Rodney Crowell is on a fund raising committee for the dems in Nashville.

They also have a few CD's coming out. He was recording music all last summer.

[Enraged_Ape]

101. I'm looking forward to it all

I had no idea Rodney was on our side as well. He's written some great songs, too.

There is a lot of good, progressive country music out there. I have a feeling Alan Jackson's on our side as well. His song "The Little Man" is about as nakedly progressive as you can get.

[Elwood P Dowd]

102. What ever happened to Charlie Pride?

He was the first black country music star back in the 60s. He had a live album from Texas, and there was this ass-kicking version of Kawliga on that. He use to joke at his concerts about people who had heard his music on the radio and didn't realize he was black.

[Bridget Burke]

106. Thanks for mentioning Charlie Pride.

I was about to create a snappy comeback but a bit of Internet research revealed some interesting facts.

Charlie Pride was one of 11 children born to a sharecropping family in Mississippi. He heard country music on the radio & started singing & playing guitar but decided baseball was the best alternative to picking cotton. He played in the Negro Leagues & Minor Leagues (& worked other jobs, did his military service, got married) & played music in his spare time. Then, Pride tried for the last time to play for the New York Mets. Charlie bought six bats and engraved his name in them. He sent the bats along with a telegram to the Mets camp at St. Petersburg. The manager didn't like Pride because he thought Charlie Pride was trying to fit in with the country people. So Charlie sent a telegram saying "I'm not a black man singing white man music, I am an American singing American music. I worked out those problem years ago, and everybody else will have to work their way out of it too."

So he went to Nashville & became a very big star with many hits & awards. Elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2000, he's now one of the "older" artists who doesn't get much airplay. He tours constantly, nationally & internationally although, as a good businessman, still married to his first wife & lacking any history of substance abuse, he probably doesn't need to. My guess: he's ripe for a young producer to present him to a bunch of new fans, as happened to Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard & Loretta Lynne.

www.topblacks.com/entertainment/charlie-pride.htm
www.charleypride.com/

He also appeared on the CMT-TV show "Waiting In The Wings" about African-Americans & Country Music. (Yes, they were there at the beginning & no, they are not fairly represented in today's Country Music Industry.)

www.cmt.com/shows/dyn//waiting_in_the_wings/series_about_special.jhtml

[Elwood P Dowd]

123. Thanks for the info on Charlie

I have a couple of his albums and CDs. I don't listen to the new country
junk, but the old stuff is great. I still play Charlie, The Circle Album, Cash, Waylon & Willie, Patsy Cline, and other oldies.

[Elwood P Dowd]

124. If you want one single Charlie Pride album or CD

try this one. It's live from Panther Hall in Texas in the 1960s. There is some classic stuff when he talks to the audience, and it's an excellent recording.


In Person
Charley Pride
Average Customer Review:
Out of stock

Amazon.com
Recorded live at Fort Worth's Panther Hall in 1968, In Person is one of the better concert albums in country history, as much because of the intense artist-audience connection it captures as anything else. Running through a 12-song set, Charley Pride offers impressive versions of his own early hits.

[Maestro]

110. I despise what country has become

but the good old days are still around, especially here in Texas if you look hard enough. Honky-tonk/rock-a-billy/folk music abounds, but it is not on the radio. Joe Ely comes to mind first, but there are many more great little known artists out there who are definitely not conservative. However, the contrived made for clear channel crappola definitely has a right wing flair.

[Name removed]

115. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[69KV]

125. Too many replies missing the point

Okay there are some great replies but I'm seeing way too many replies like this: "It's because country is music for southern racist hicks and it's all about nostalgia for the past."

No it's not. Today's phony corporate country is but that's not real country music in my book. You can dislike country music and that's your choice but don't stereotype it, please. What about:

Johnny Cash
Kris Kristofferson
Dixie Chicks
Steve Earle
Waylon Jennings
Willie Nelson
Merle Haggard
that's just a few. Unabashedly liberal, all of them. Most country music especially 30 and 40 years ago was anti-establishment, and some of it today still is.

Kristofferson did an entire album supporting the Sandinistas and opposing Reagan's Central America policy, Johnny Cash did prison albums where he took the side of the inmates, Willie Nelson endorsed Kucinich, and we all know about the Dixie Chicks. Even Merle Haggard is on our side. "Okie From Muskogee" was a parody.

Please don't dis all country music because of a few assholes like Darryl Worley, and don't dis rural and small town working class people. I could just as well dis all rock music because of a few assholes like Ted Nugent. For that matter, Oingo Boingo and the Ramones were pretty right wing too..

[Union Thug]

129. I agree with you...

I think you can link this to the manipulative forces of the repukes during the 80's and 90's, when, through a little presto-chango (and with democrats too stupid or scared or god knows, to fight back with a true liberal spirit), the 'working class' were hoodwinked into believing the conservatives were on their side.

Thank god for Willie Nelson.

On a side note, I was flipping through the radio channels driving home the other day and stopped on a local country station. Suddenly, a series of Bush quotes were strung together (we shall not falter, blah blah) and the DJ said something like, "now we celebrate american patriots with the national anthem..." and some country chick started singing, "OOOOH say can you, etc..."

Nice to know that Bush is such a great american patriot. I turned the channel quickly.

[69KV]

133. I think you've just pegged it

I think you can link this to the manipulative forces of the repukes during the 80's and 90's, when, through a little presto-chango (and with democrats too stupid or scared or god knows, to fight back with a true liberal spirit), the 'working class' were hoodwinked into believing the conservatives were on their side.

I think you've just pegged what's wrong with country music today. The Repukes have pursued a culture war strategy. The Repukes learned a lesson that us liberals learned in the 1960s, and that is to try to get popular culture on your side. What we missed was that in the 1960s, a lot of country music was *already* on our side, and we ignored it in favor of the Grateful Dead/Jefferson Airplane/CSN&Y axis. Rock was on our side too but back then there was too much of a hippies-vs-hard hats mentality. I'm still seeing some of that mentality in this thread. It's precisely that hippies-vs-hard hats way of thinking that the right wing has been able to exploit.

I'm bothered by some of the responses in this thread, which struck me as classist and anti-working class. Country music being music of "uneducated", "hicks", "rednecks" etc is NOT the problem with country music, and I really wish people would get away from that kind of thinking. Country music is one of several kinds of music that emerged from the working classes. Soul, blues, and folk are three others, and rock came about with a combination of all the above influences. Liberals dis or ignore the cultural expressions of the common people at our own peril.

That is not to say that much of today's country music isn't just another corporate commodity. The big music biz thinks in terms of market segments, target markets, and killer apps or the next big thing. The same could be said of rock, pop, and just about any other kind of music. That's part of the problem. Somebody in the marketing department decided that country music's target market is conservative, so they have created phony "artists" to market. Still, there have always been many country artists who understand the full implications of country music's working-class roots.

[Union Thug]

134. you're right...

"I'm bothered by some of the responses in this thread, which struck me as classist and anti-working class. Country music being music of "uneducated", "hicks", "rednecks" etc is NOT the problem with country music, and I really wish people would get away from that kind of thinking. Country music is one of several kinds of music that emerged from the working classes. Soul, blues, and folk are three others, and rock came about with a combination of all the above influences. Liberals dis or ignore the cultural expressions of the common people at our own peril."

You are DEAD ON. I didn't like country music when I was younger; my dad listened to it relentlessly. But I've changed my tune a little as I've gotten older. Now I know why my dad liked Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson - cuz they captured the spirit of the working people. Funny you should mention the Dead... Jerry Garcia crossed over to the bluegrass scene all the time.

I also agree with your assessment of the hippie vs. hard hat baggage. That needs to be discarded immediately.

We need to work to show that liberalism is truly the ideology of the working class in a capitalist nation. The war is clouded by the term 'culture'. What we need is to focus on the war as defined by 'economy'. Until we do this, we'll remain ineffective.

[mvd]

128. I think the religion factor has a lot to do with it

Also, many country singers have gotten rich and they lose their humble roots. Still more of it might be the rugged factor found in some states they come from. BTW, some mainstream country is good, and some is bad. I've listened to it a lot, and I've come to this conclusion.

[tedzbear]

130. Willie Nelson just recorded a duet with Joni Mitchell...

...and we know where she stands on the issues!

[Zomby Woof]

143. he campaigned for DK

And sang at the Dem convention. Always has been a liberal!

[WoodrowFan]

136. because they both SUCK!

Sorry Country music fans but I had to say it. ROCK RULES, country makes me quesy.

[MadHound]

140. Well, nice to see you dissing your own

I mean, after all, half of rock's roots run straight down to country. C'mon, wake up and hear the pedal steel!

[blitzen]

142. If you say "Country Sucks" you're an ignoramus.....

It's like saying "America Sucks," when you really mean that GOP-ers and Freepers suck....

There is a LOT of left-wing country...a whole lot....

What sucks is the Nashville corporate pop-music scene....

I won't mention any of the old-time and classic country lefties...just a very few still active artists that come to mind:

Jerry Jeff Walker, Billie Joe Shaver, Willie, Merle (yes, don't doubt it!), Dwight Yoakum, Robert Earl Keen, Jack Ingram, Chip Taylor, Terry Allen, Iris Dement, Guy Clark, Jim Lauderdale, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Greg Trooper, James Talley, Ray Wylie Hubbard, too many others to mention, etc, etc, etc....


and by the way, if you say that the "music" is not good but the lyrics are okay, you're also an ignoramus--meaning simply that you've never had the occasion to hear real county....these folks play music that kicks *#$

[LiberalPersona]

144. I don't consider it conservative

Why does everything we do have to have some kind of politics attached to it?

[daligirrl]

147. Ice-T made an interesting observation

in an interview a few years ago. He said that country music and rap have much in common because it is the music of the disenfranchised. I agree, even though the two main groups of listeners, for the most part, probably would not.