New at Reason

Tim Cavanaugh | January 16, 2006

If you think you've figured out the complex politics of country music, Jesse Walker will put a boot up your ass.

Comments

|1.16.06 @ 3:52PM|#

So libertarians are allowed to like country music, but not baseball? That's it. Cancel my subscription!
:-)

Mike Laursen|1.16.06 @ 3:56PM|#

Looks like Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson are on Kinky Friedman's campaign bus:

http://www.mysanantonio.com/opinion/stories/MYSA010806.1H.kinky.1bcb4390.html

Warren|1.16.06 @ 4:07PM|#

Meh. I can't be bothered to care because I can't stand country music to begin with. For that matter, I don't care for the whole country culture. I've met too many stereo-types. Trailer house, appliance rusting in front yard, pack of mutts in back, Stetson headed, boot footed, pick-up driving, gun caring, drunk all Saturday, in church Sunday, high school drop outs... and that Gawd Danged Awful one chord shit-kicking noise they call music.

So not every redneck wants to know Who Would Jesus Kill, well cover me in cornbread and fry me in earl. Color me no less disgusted.

R C Dean|1.16.06 @ 4:10PM|#

Trailer house, appliance rusting in front yard, pack of mutts in back, Stetson headed, boot footed, pick-up driving, gun caring, drunk all Saturday, in church Sunday, high school drop outs

I score somewhere north of .500 on Warren's Redneck meter.

Just got Dwight Yoakum's new all-acoustic album, too. Fine stuff.

But I practically never listen to country music. I'm more a techno guy.

|1.16.06 @ 4:19PM|#

We're rednecks, we're rednecks
We don't know our ass from a hole in the ground
We're rednecks, we're rednecks
And we're keeping the niggers down

|1.16.06 @ 4:19PM|#

From Dunn we move directly to Sara Evans, a family-values Republican who has little to say about foreign policy and a lot to say about the Lord.

She may not, but her husband sure does -- he runs a PAC dedicated to electing Republicans. Not even conservatives -- Republicans. I had to displeasure of meeting him when my wife got comped tickets to one of her shows through a work-related thing.

Warren, "one chord shit-kicking noise?" You've never actually, um, heard country song, have you? Nor do you apparently realize that it's one of the two or three most popular radio formats around, so some -- a lot -- of that "country culture" is Howard Dean-voting latte-swilling Volvo-driving etc. etc.

Jesse Walker|1.16.06 @ 4:25PM|#

Phil: The PAC's just part of it -- he runs for office, too.

Yogi|1.16.06 @ 4:26PM|#

I gotta admit, the first time I heard, "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue" I thought it was one of those radio DJ compliations they do as a joke. Man, was I wrong.

|1.16.06 @ 4:27PM|#

Hey Warren,

Watch the movie "Walk The Line" about Johnny Cash and I guarantee you'll start listening to country.

Warren|1.16.06 @ 4:30PM|#

Warren, "one chord shit-kicking noise?" You've never actually, um, heard country song, have you? Nor do you apparently realize that it's one of the two or three most popular radio formats around, so some -- a lot -- of that "country culture" is Howard Dean-voting latte-swilling Volvo-driving etc. etc.

I've heard far more than I care to. And since relocating to the Southernmost tip of IN, I keep hearing more. I have no doubt that it's popular. When it come to music the popular=crappy paradigm generally holds (except of course for the arena-rock of my youth. RUUUUUSH). I take your point about country music being embraced beyond rednecks.

I will say that I very much like the Ray Charles country covers. But of course when he does em they swing.

Jesse Walker|1.16.06 @ 4:34PM|#

Haggard swings, too. Check out his Bob Wills tribute.

Warren|1.16.06 @ 4:36PM|#

AJTALL,
In the years leading up to his death, and of course after he died, I learned a lot about JC. I have a good deal more respect for him for it. I've heard good things about Willie Nelson too (anyone screwed that hard by the IRS gets props from me). And for all I know there are a hundred other heroic stories enshrined on the Nashville Network. None of that changes the way I feel about the music.

|1.16.06 @ 4:43PM|#

He goes on to defend his song "Holy War," a track that raised eyebrows by conflating the fundamentalists of America and Afghanistan.

I just looked up the lyrics on 2 different lyrics site (just to be sure) and the song doesn't even begin to do that.

There's some (sort of) indicting of people who blindly follow 'prophets', but it makes no comparison between the "fundamentalists of America and Afghanistan." In fact, the song seems completely about (and directed too) American fundamentalists.

The only time it even comes close to referring to Islam is the use of the word 'infidels.'

|1.16.06 @ 4:46PM|#

Otherwise, good article, Tim. I personally dig country and wish some of the alt and genuinely creative stuff made it onto country stations more often.

As it is I gotta settle for occassionaly Alison Krauss and Steve Wariner, who I both love. And it's a CRIME that Lyle Lovett is not heard at all.

The Owner's Manual|1.16.06 @ 4:47PM|#

From the article--
"I'd argue that the most important reason for the divorce was the postwar red scare, which made the phrase folk music radioactive in certain circles."

I'd put the divorce prewar, ie, Depression times when folk music meant Sovietophiles singing about how bad America was.

Where three communists meet, the fourth one ought to be a guitar player.
--Woody Guthrie

slightlybad|1.16.06 @ 4:51PM|#

"Country" is really broad. I love the classic Hank Williams and the '70's outlaw stuff. When it comes to new country, about the only thing that I can listen to is some of what might be considered "alt country" -- Robert Earl Keene, Towns Van Zandt, the Old 97's, etc. And I freakin' love Steve Earle, despite what I consider to be some odious political opinions. Hell, everybody needs to own "Shut Up and Die Like an Aviator" if only for the name. But most of the new music that gets played on country stations sucks like an Electrolux. It's just warmed over top 40 crap with a twang and a cowboy hat, and it was lame when the Eagles did it in the Seventies.

|1.16.06 @ 4:56PM|#

If the South woulda won we'd a had it made
I'd probably run for President of the Southern states.

|1.16.06 @ 5:02PM|#

I'm surprised Tim left out mention of the David Kent and the Honky Tonkers for Truth song "Taking My Country Back."

|1.16.06 @ 5:03PM|#

Steve Earle does rule.

I can remember when Copperhead Road came out--got played on all the corporate grit rock stations of my youth. Luved it.

Then he vanished. Never knew why...
I didn't understand...

/just bought the album on itunes.

slightlybad|1.16.06 @ 5:06PM|#

I think the main reason Steve Earle vanished for while is because he became an honest to God, living on the street crackhead and junkie. After he got cleaned up is when he started really spouting some crazy political stuff.

|1.16.06 @ 5:09PM|#

What strikes me as stange about some of the top 40 country that slightlybad so rightly derides is that it sounds like eighties hair-metal at times (e.g. Shania Twain).

And Warren, if you're coming to a music fight looking to tear down country music, it's best not to bring up Rush as an example of quality. Ugh...

|1.16.06 @ 5:14PM|#

it's best not to bring up Rush as an example of quality. Ugh...

I like(d) Rush back in my college days and still have a warm spot for them. Warren may be attracted to the drummer's politics...he's an Ayn Rand fan and dedicated 2112 (still a great album in my book) to her.

|1.16.06 @ 5:16PM|#

"I can remember when Copperhead Road came out--got played on all the corporate grit rock stations of my youth. Luved it."

Copperhead Road is just Freebird for people with ADD.

That said, I love Copperhead Road.

|1.16.06 @ 5:20PM|#

Hey, I'm shockin' y'all.

Jesse Walker|1.16.06 @ 5:21PM|#

Madpad: The lyrics to "Holy War" are obscure, which is part of why they became controversial, but Dunn's defense of the song -- recounted in considerable detail in Willman's interview with him -- is that he was trying to draw a parallel between the Taliban and our homegrown Christian fundamentalists. (By the way, I'm the guy who wrote the article, not Tim.)

Owner's Manual: The folk/country divorce doesn't come until the Cold War, though. Before that it was all "hillbilly music," whether you were listening to Woody Guthrie or the Carter Family.

B.P.: Country music of the '90s is where the rock music of the '70s went to die. If you liked Journey, you were in the mainstream, and if you liked the Clash, you were "alternative."

|1.16.06 @ 5:27PM|#

Warren may be attracted to the drummer's politics...he's an Ayn Rand fan and dedicated 2112 (still a great album in my book) to her.

Nice, a kindred libertarian drummer. If only Rush were good.

|1.16.06 @ 5:28PM|#

Jesse, thanks for the response and the explainer. Sorry for confusing you with Tim. I should've known it wasn't Tim. You guys write nothing alike.

|1.16.06 @ 5:28PM|#

You're allowed to dis Rush on this forum? Although anything after Hemispheres sucks.

|1.16.06 @ 5:34PM|#

I'd rather have the trots than listen to Steve Earle. That is one obnoxious dude. Anybody who could make me hate a record with Del McCoury on it is someone I never want to hear again, for sure.

Warren|1.16.06 @ 5:36PM|#

Re:Rush,
I was showing that I am not immune from the disease. It's totally true too. In my teenage years I listened to the classic rock station and learned to love what they played. Years ago I switched over to classical music and these days I'm into jazz. Every now and then I'll hear something I used to listen to back in the day, and it still grooves me.

BTW, would anybody agree with this?
Worst elements of Rock, Country, Hip-hop = Chris Rock
Best elements of Rock, Country, Hip-hop = Cowboy Troy

|1.16.06 @ 5:41PM|#

Warren - Try Loretta Lynn's duet with Jack White "Portland Oregon". A celebration of casual sex and drunkenness. What's not to love? Got her a grammy and air-time on the kinds of stations that play The White Stripes. Did any CW format stations play that?

|1.16.06 @ 5:43PM|#

except of course for the arena-rock of my youth. RUUUUUSH

By outing yourself as a Rush fan you have lost all music criticizing privileges.

|1.16.06 @ 5:48PM|#

How many C&W singers does it take to change a light bulb?
Three - one to change the bulb and two to sing about the old one.

What do you get when you play a C&W record backwards?
You get your wife back, you get your dog back, and you get your pickup back.

"C&W music isn't as bad as it sounds."

|1.16.06 @ 5:52PM|#

Chris Rock = funny bastard

Cowboy Troy = musical abortion

|1.16.06 @ 5:57PM|#

and that Gawd Danged Awful one chord shit-kicking noise they call music.

So, I take it you're not a fan of punk music either?

|1.16.06 @ 6:00PM|#

If you don't like the way I'm living,
Just get in line and kiss this good old country boy's behind!

|1.16.06 @ 6:05PM|#

What has 400 legs and four teeth?
Front row at a Willie Nelson show.

As long as we're doing lame country music jokes I figured I'd throw that one in.

You can twist it for any music you want to make fun of:

What has 400 legs and 4 pubes?
Front row at an NSYNC show?

What has 400 legs and no penis?
Front row at a Melissa Etherege show.

What has 400 legs and no pussy?
Fron row at a Rush show.

What has 400 legs and no ears?
Front row at a Ashlee Simpson show.

What has 400 legs and no job?
Front row at a Bon Jovi show.

What has 400 legs and multiple warrants?
Front row at a 50 Cent show.

|1.16.06 @ 6:22PM|#

Worst elements of Rock, Country, Hip-hop

That reminds me. I was channel-surfing over the weekend and caught part of a country video called "Honky-Tonk Bodonkadonk." Let's see more merging of country music and hip-hop slang.

I'm generally not a fan of country music. I do like that video where Shania Twain is riding a horse in slow motion in that dress. I also think there was some music in it too.

|1.16.06 @ 6:40PM|#

"Honky-Tonk Bodonkadonk."


...

Gimme Back My Dog|1.16.06 @ 6:41PM|#

Portland, Oregon is the best song about a one night stand between a seventy year old woman and a thirty year old man ever.

And let me reinforce my libertarian cred by pointing out that drugs were not responsible for Steve Earle dropping off the map, the years he spent in prison for drug use were.

|1.16.06 @ 11:04PM|#

I must defend Rush here by pointing out that Vapor Trails, the CD that ended their long hiatus after the aforementioned drummer sadly lost his wife (cancer) and daughter (auto accident), is a stunning return to form.

And some of you guys will be happy to know that the guitarist has avoided jail time stemming from the incident in which police in Florida went berserk on him when he tried to pull his son away from them at a New Years celebration. The police got awfully high-and-mighty about how "we treat everyone the same," but you have to wonder how competent they are when they need that much force (punches, Tasers) to bring down a tipsy guy in his early 50s. Let's just say I wouldn't want them working crowd control at a typical NFL game.

Country music has the occasional oasis of excellence (Emmylou Harris' work with Daniel Lanois, Big & Rich's Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy, Hayseed Dixie), and I'm astounded and how much skin they can show on CMT. Like hip-hoppers, they're selling a lifestyle -- and I've got to give them credit for selling one that seems more fun and more affordable than the one the hip-hop guys are selling. But yeah, it's still a limited genre, to put it kindly. Some bands fare well with a slight country influence, but on its own, it's not much.

|1.16.06 @ 11:13PM|#

good country equals a band like the Silver Jews -- good shit

Swen Swenson|1.17.06 @ 12:02AM|#

"Like hip-hoppers, they're selling a lifestyle -- and I've got to give them credit for selling one that seems more fun and more affordable than the one the hip-hop guys are selling."

Haven't priced a Stetson or a pickup lately, I take it. ;-}

I've got to agree with the posters who've noted that top 40 C&W is horrid schlock (I'll argue that '90s country is where '70s pop went to die -- John Revolta in a cowboy hat springs to mind). Some of the new 'roots' music is good stuff though. Check out James McMurtry and Ray Wylie Hubbard (as well as the previously mentioned Robert Earl Keen). These guys write the sort of ballads that Robert Allen Zimmerman would have written 30 years ago if he hadn't moved to NYC and changed his name. (What is it with the three names though?)

The Wine Commonsewer|1.17.06 @ 1:26AM|#

I'd rather have the trots than listen to Steve Earle

Oh God Yes, he couldn't *EVEN* do Six Days On The Road right. And he's a fargin' commie bustard.

The Wine Commonsewer|1.17.06 @ 1:30AM|#

Copperhead Road is just Freebird for people with ADD

LOL Media. I like it too.

My buddy Col Hogan sez country is Music For Dumb People

I think he's wrong, but it still makes me smile.

My friend Autumn threatens to kick his ass for saying that.

|1.17.06 @ 6:39AM|#

Murphy, you're an ignorant slut. There are a hundred years of recordings of country music covering everything from hideous crap to the work of virtuosos. The music is really only limited by what musicians are willing to try & audiences are willing to accept. Why don't you educate yourself a little about what's happened in the music & get back to us with your pronouncements -- I'd say ten years or so of serious listening ought to be about enough time. See you then.

|1.17.06 @ 8:59AM|#

That line about "can still acknowledge that the five albums he released from 1995 to 2000 are one of the best artistic winning streaks in pop history" irks me due to the word "acknowledge" implying that it is something indisputably true. I expect that kind of writing from that vain, pompous, pathetic jackass windbag piece of shit Cavanaugh, but I don't see it so much from Walker.

I hate you with the strength of a million suns, Cavanaugh. I just want you to know that.

|1.17.06 @ 9:18AM|#

Why no love for Commander Cody and the Lost Planet Airmen ? They wwould seem to be pretty good examples of Jesse's argument.

Lee|1.17.06 @ 9:59AM|#

I'm surprised there was no mention of the fact that two of the best country artists currently working - Dwight Yoakam and Robbie Fulks - have expressed libertarian sympathies:

http://www.theadvocates.org/good/a0295.html

http://www.theadvocates.org/celebrities/robbie-fulks.html

|1.17.06 @ 10:57AM|#

99 percent of country sucks
99 percent of rock sucks
If 100 percent of rap doesn't suck, I haven't stumbled across the good shit, but I'm tryin' real hard to keep an open mind.

|1.17.06 @ 3:01PM|#

Haven't priced a Stetson or a pickup lately, I take it. ;-}

True! But if you watch a hip-hop video, you may find yourself pricing gold chains, authentic retro sports jerseys, swimming pools and the occasional helicopter.

My gym sometimes has CMT and MTV on neighboring TVs. Even if you're not listening to either (you need headphones to plug into the receiver at your machine), it's fascinating stuff.

Murphy, you're an ignorant slut.

I suppose the two possible responses are:

1. What will my wife think?

2. Lighten up, Francis.

Geez -- if I'm listening to Emmylou Harris' work with Daniel Lanois and the occasional member of Luscious Jackson, don't you think I have a decent idea of the genre's possibilities beyond the honky-tonk? Yeah, you can find decent stuff, but are you going to find the variety that compares with an old rock station playing everything from Ramblin' Man to Roundabout, with LaGrange somewhere in the mix?

Warren|1.17.06 @ 3:27PM|#

Twba,
I'd say 90% of everything sucks (music, movies, books, you name it). For a rap that doesn't suck I nominate "Baby Got Back", but that's just me. One might also hold it responsible for a lot of horrible subsequent videos.

BTW whats in your iPod?

|1.18.06 @ 3:50AM|#

Murphy, you're just a rock fan who thinks he knows what country is. Crack the books and come back when you know something.

|1.18.06 @ 4:10AM|#

Well, I know nobody cares, but I was a die-hard country hater in college and High-School, and now I simply can't get enough of it. This comment has nothing to do with the politics of country music; can you figure out the politics of any musical genre (folk being the obvious one you can). Anyways, I suppose one has to distinguish between "Contemporary" Country (which basically is piles of shit scooped onto a CD), and classic country i.e. Louven Brothers, Hank Williams, Cash, Lorretta Lynn, Buck Ownes, etc. Some of that stuff is extreme shit-kicking stuff, but it sounds good. It's just not overproduced like todays stuff

|1.19.06 @ 11:57AM|#

BTW whats in your iPod?

I have no iPod.