The killing country music part is downright funny. And the author is behind the times. There really hasn't been a topical, pro-military country hit since Toby Keith's "American Soldier" (and HE's a dem). Yes, there's an undercurrent, just as there is for christianity, but most of the time, it's not blatant.
Gretchen Wilson changed everything. Now all the artists in Nashville are trying to be the kind of "playful redneck" that she and her Muzik Mafia cohorts have portrayed.
But, living here, I can tell you that there ARE plenty of liberals in country music. But most of them work in the office buildings downtown. Except for Dolly Parton, and Willie Nelson, few artists have the clout to be openly liberal - and Dolly does it under the umbrella of liberal Christianity.
This author is full of it.
'There really hasn't been a topical, pro-military country hit since Toby Keith's "American Soldier"'
Self-correction: Trace Adkins had a beautiful, respectful tribute to our war dead called "Arlington" last year.
There's something else, too. His article implies that all country music all over the country is the same. Due to a bad-weather airplane flight re-routed to Atlanta, I had to drive through Georgia and Alabama to get to Destin, Florida in the middle of the night. I listed to country music as the stations faded in and out. Every play list was completely different. And I didn't hear any of the songs I regularly heard on my country stations in New England. Media giants? Consolidation? I didn't hear it.
Hey, everybody, listen up. This post came from _In These Times_ , a journal of opinion once associated with the Communist Party, U.S.A. With no more Soviet Union to cozy up to, In These Times has evolved into a kind of soft Marxism, like The Nation magazine. They believe that class determines one's politics, and are permanently baffled that working class and country folks tend to be overwhelmingly conservative and pro-American. They are always searching for `progressives' among the proletariat, just like this writer.
I live near Nashville, so the article is truly hilarious. These people actually think that The Revolution is just over the horizon, if we will all just try to `build a better world'.
Hey `comrades'! Marx, Lenin, and Mao are still dead!