the dixie chicks might resent that sentiment
post
Country music was ORIGINALLY rebellious music. They were against authority, company scrip, stood for the rights of the worker, picket lines and even unionization.
Much like hip hop, it was co-opted by the exploitative system and turned into more narcicistic, self indulgent & egoistic bullshit.
Reclaim what was lost.
No
And it is a shame. Country music used to be rebel music about outlaws and non-conformity. Now it is all god bless America the police protect us and boy the Army sure is cool.
also its done by rich millionaires mostly, Taylor swift was like that before she made it big. she comes from upper class, not poor, and adversity. thats why she still mesh with maga people, or at least she hangs out with them.
I tried to explain to my girlfriend, who is a big fan of Taylor’s music, that there is no such thing as a good billionaire. It didn’t go over well.
9/11 was a disaster for country music
9/11 was a tragic event, but it’s been milked for over two decades. I don’t give a fuck about 9/11 anymore and honestly when people grieve it nowadays I can’t help but think of them as sheep. Shit happens, move on, or use it as a foundation for a conversation that aims to do more than stir nationalistic sentiment.
I can't see anyone 'grieving' for 9/11 in current year being anything other than performative.
Like, are we still fucking mourning the Titanic? Come on.
Its always had plenty of both.
Depends on what era really. Compare Merle Haggard "Soldiers last letter" to something like "American Soldier" by Toby Keith.
Country music was never about conformity and licking the balls of authoritarianism. The army certainly used country since the 1950's for recruitment though.
For a genre that owes itself to guitars with "this machine kills fascists" stamped on it and men who "wear the black for the poor and the beaten down", modern country sure is a sad cesspool of media consolidation.
Jesse Welles has a great song that yall might enjoy - "Join ICE"
He also went on Joe Rogan, and has a similar song about the Epstein files.
Of course, all Joe needed to 180 yet again was to invite another conservative back on...
Love Jesse Welles. He was my top artist last year and I’m going to see him in March. Very excited. More people on Lemmy need to check him out, he really appeals to the politics here.
If you had to pick one for people to listen to, what song/album is your favorite?
The way I see it, he sort of has two sides to his music. There’s the Guthrie-style political protest stuff, and then the Dylan-esque poetic stuff. Both are fantastic.
For political stuff, it kind of depends on what you want to hear since he basically sings the news, but War Isn’t Murder, about the genocide in Gaza, and Red, about the Trump administration, are his top songs. The Great Caucasian God is probably my favourite though since it’s such a good dig at the stereotypical conservative rural American, even down to the style he chose to write in (more of a twangy hillbilly country style, unusual for him typically).
For more poetic stuff, my favourite that he’s published is Malaise, which does still have a couple digs, mostly at Musk (e.g. “will they measure mars in acres?”), but it’s not as outright protest-y as the first few I mentioned. But for his poetic side I actually prefer the stuff he hasn’t published and is just on his YouTube channel, namely Nothing which just came out less than two weeks ago, and Siddhartha. His guitar work on both is great and so are the lyrics.
Both Malaise and Great Caucasian God are from his album Devil’s Den (and he also released With The Devil on the same day, with all the same songs just in a different style, both are excellent), and that’s my favourite album of his. It’s not as political though (aside from the first song), for a more political album from him, Hells Welles is probably my recommendation. The first eight songs off that album are great protest songs, mostly done in a sarcastic manner which is his style (sing from the perspective of the person he’s criticizing).
If you like stripped down acoustic guitar, harmonica and vocals, and aren’t feeling overly political music, Patchwork is great. I’ve got it on vinyl, it’s awesome.
TL;DR check out War Isn’t Murder, Red, and/or Great Caucasian God for political stuff and if you like it check out his album Hells Welles. For poetic stuff, Malaise, and then Nothing and/or Siddhartha on his YouTube channel. If you just want stripped down acoustic music that’s more easy listening, his album Patchwork is great.
Oh man, I didn't know he did War Isn't Murder, fantastic song, thanks for the reccos!
A Century of Folk Musicians: "Are we a joke to you?"
No, but that energy has been mostly dormant in the public eye for decades. It's not the origin of leftist country, it's a revival.
Country music isn't "waking up," it's just that there are a number of established artists who aren't participating in the mainstream. They have always been there, and there are just as many of them now as there were in 1978. The mainstream of country is the same as any other genre. There are all kinds of Hip Hop artists that didn't get heavy airplay in the 90s because the industry didn't want it, and the country music industry is no different now. So insular. No messages, all money.
No, and I hate headlines like this
the sniff test of conservatism.
If it doesn't smell like shit I doesn't get to be a hit.
there was lots of antigov/antilawenforcment country. Wonder what happened there.....must have been some woke shit.
I have Vanilla Ice's "Ice Ice Baby" stuck in my head.
If you're not intending to slander the guy, say as much before you post a bunch of evidence to the contrary. If it's merely a funny coincidence, do yourself a favor and say as much.
(yes, you and I both know they're not the same person, but you're living in the times of heavy propaganda, so just do yourself the favor if your intent is just, 'lol')
I apologize, that wasn't my intent. I must admit I didn't read either article and didn't take the time to consider how it would come across, I merely saw them next to each other in my feed and thought it was a funny coincidence that they looked alike.
I hear you. It's not a bad joke/coincidence, they DO look similar, but you really have to understand how an, "lol" in a serious topic comes across. If it's just a superficial, "huh, that's funny", it's almost always worth describing that, "lol random" context explicitly.
Poe's Law, and all that. Yea, it's annoying sometimes, but luckily we all don't live in each others' heads.
Bryan answered by explaining in a post that the song “hits on both sides of the aisle”. He later added: “Left wing or right wing, we’re all one bird and American. To be clear, I’m on neither of these radical sides.” But this both-sides-ism felt incongruent with the song’s scathing message, heard in full for the first time on 9 January: law enforcement, ICE, and the onslaught of gun violence in America are contributing to the “fading of the red, white and blue”. (Bryan’s team declined an interview offer.)
It's a start, but it is so milquetoast.
all 38 comments