I have been feeling my inner music-beat writer stirring a bit, as of late. Maybe, like Pete Townshend, I’m getting old. Then again, my East Tennessee home is a short drive from the birthplace of country music, and only slightly further from Nashville.
Thus, my eyes tend to focus a bit when I see this kind of headline in a blue-zip code elite newspaper, in this case the Washington Post: “Five myths about country music.”
Yes, this did run as a “perspective” piece in the Outlook section, so I am not looking at this as a news piece. Instead, I am simply noting an interesting chunk of this country-music flyover, since I would argue that it points toward a familiar news “ghost” in popular culture. I am referring to the prominent role that religion and religious imagery plays in country music and how that helps shape its audience.
Here is the overture of this piece by Jocelyn Neal, a music professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is the author of “Country Music: A Cultural and Stylistic History,” from Oxford Press.
Love it or leave it, country music — with its whiskey-soaked nostalgia and crying steel guitars, its trains, trucks and lost love — is a defining feature of the American soundscape. This fall, Ken Burns’s documentary series, along with an outpouring of Dolly Parton tributes on NPR, Netflix and the stage at the Grand Ole Opry, has trained a spotlight on the genre. Still, myths infuse many people’s understanding of country music — and some of them are integral to its appeal.
Something seems to be missing there.
Let’s turn to an alternative summary statement, provided by someone who knew quite a bit about this topic — Johnny “The Man in Black” Cash. Asked to state his musical values, he said:
"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."
Music writers should memorize that creed.
Now, the Post essay touches on five topics, starting with “Country is white music for white people” and ending with “Country singers write their own songs about their real lives.”
We are interested in this myth: “Country is red-state music.” Here is that whole slice of the essay:
When the Dixie Chicks sparked a backlash in 2003 by criticizing President George W. Bush, one radio programmer commented that the genre is "more on the right than on the left, and it's always been that way." The New York Times once encouraged liberals to tune in to country to understand "what lurks in the heart of a Red State voter." In 2018, Psychology Today tried to explain "Why Republicans Listen to Country Music and Democrats Don't."
But country music listeners aren't wholly conservative. A 2016 Nielsen survey revealed that "just as many Democratic voters listen to Country radio as Republican voters" in major radio markets. Throughout its history, the genre's strongly populist leaning has left ample room for a range of political perspectives: Country artists recorded both tributes to and parodies of the New Deal. Today, many country musicians quietly allow fans of all allegiances to assume they agree with them. As singer-songwriter Dylan Scott told The Washington Post in 2017, "Everyone's got an opinion. And as soon as you give your opinion, somebody's going to hate your opinion and not buy your music." Others, however, have declared staunch loyalties, including on the left. In 2008, for example, songwriter Gretchen Peters objected to Sarah Palin using her song "Independence Day" at campaign events, and she donated the song's royalties to Planned Parenthood. Last year, Willie Nelson headlined a Beto O'Rourke rally, where he debuted a new song, "Vote 'Em Out."
Surprise, surprise. This subject is locked inside a box marked “politics.”
OK, I get that. It’s a familiar theme seen here at GetReligion, as in, “Politics is real. Religion, not so much.” But take a second look at one political comment in there referencing that survey that showed, “just as many Democratic voters listen to Country radio as Republican voters.”
Well now. What kind of Democrats might those people be?
I would imagine that there are a few country-loving woke feminists and environmentalists. But I would think that we might be getting a hint at the number of Democrats out there who are still somewhat conservative in their cultural views. You know, labor-union Catholics and middle-class people who once, long ago, dominated politics in the Bible Belt. Even pro-life Democrats.
Lots of these people may even go to church.
Thus, faith-driven themes and images in country music may sing out to them. What was that soaring chorus in that classic song “Independence Day,” referenced above (turn this up at the 7:20 mark):
Let freedom ring, let the white dove sing
Let the whole world know that today, is a day of reckoning
Let the weak be strong, let the right be wrong
Roll the stone away, let the guilty pay, it's Independence Day
There’s lots of content there. Anyone see any religion?
Just saying.