Quote:
|
But even if there are a lot of hybrid genres now, I don't think that necessarily eats in to bedrock of country establishment. I grew up a fan of country radio, I adored Dwight Yoakam and Patty Loveless and all that, and I really can't stand country radio now. It seems to me there are far more mainstream country songs associated stridently and unsubtly (to the point of lyrical clunkiness) with things like patriotism, uncultured-and-proud-of-it attitudes, I'm-just-a-small-town-boy/girl sentiments, etc. Not all of it is stuff that offends me or anything, but I did feel it's kind of an in-your-face "Don't mistake which side of the culture war I'm on".
|
As a fan of old country music and early 90's country music, I COMPLETELY agree with you on this. While I did enjoy Shania Twain and Garth Brooks, country music really changed directions after them, particularly in the late 90s, and then it changed again post-911.
I'm from a tribal community, and country music and rap were both huge here in the 80s and 90s, and it's probably one of the few places where rap songs would play right after country songs. And I think country music was very popular with Native people because it often spoke to our rural lives, our relationships, and our familial values, but the music then rarely ever had the nationalistic leanings that it now has today. The music I hear today doesn't really relate to my rural, country life, as a Native person, because these songs come primarily from a "white" small-town, nationalistic perspective. This music, as you mentioned, pits me against it, and excludes me culturally. The old country music didn't have the same political and nationalistic elements to it either that is so common now. If it did have patriotic elements to it, it wasn't done in a way that felt divisive or exclusive, or felt self-righteous. Songs like Time Marches On or Where the Corn Don't Grow have that same sense of humility and simplicity that I find always found endearing within the genre.
In regards to Taylor Swift, Kenny Chesney, Keith Urban, etc. I don't even touch that stuff. That's not country music, but I think most older country music fans recognize that to some degree.