Hey all, I know this is a music-related post, but I think that the topic of discussion would be better suited for OT. Let's please try and keep this thread from getting political. 
I recently joined a country band. I listen to a lot of music; while I listen to a lot of rock, I've always dug country and have always been a huge Dwight Yoakum, Garth Brooks, and Travis Tritt fan. The first style of music I really played on bass was country. However, I kind of tuned out on country after the 90s. I respect the great songwriting and musicianship, but it became a little too Nashville pop for me.
Listening to and learning a lot of these tunes, I have to ask: When did the lyrical content of almost every single country song become an explicit affirmation of rural values? I think it's good to be proud of who you are and where you come from and all that, but honestly, some of it's taken to such an extreme that it's almost xenophobic towards anyone who doesn't fit into the "redneck stereotype." Case in point, I'm learning a song by Rhett Atkins called Kiss My Country Ass, and I am wondering if he's actually serious with the lyrics or if it's just Poe's Law in effect.
It's possible to write a song celebrating your rural background without being belligerent about it (e.g., Long Haired Country Boy, Sweet Home Alabama, etc.). I don't want to turn this into a new country vs. old country debate, but something that was great about Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, and Emmylou Harris is that their music had universal appeal. A lot of the new stuff out of Nashville just seems so alienating to anyone who isn't necessarily from that culture. I'm from the country and I find some of the almost ethnocentrism I hear in the lyrics off-putting.
I have a bit of a sociology background, so I have to think about Adorno and the commodification of culture. I'm just picturing some producer in a Nashville studio saying, "That song has a great chorus hook, but it doesn't have enough mention of God, guns, the American flag, and how small town values are infinity superior to the wicked people from the city. Even though this song is about you and your spouse reminiscing about your first date 35 years ago, rewrite the bridge to talk about how much people from the city suck."
On that note, I do really like the arranagements of a lot of modern country tunes and there are some nice bass lines in there.
I recently joined a country band. I listen to a lot of music; while I listen to a lot of rock, I've always dug country and have always been a huge Dwight Yoakum, Garth Brooks, and Travis Tritt fan. The first style of music I really played on bass was country. However, I kind of tuned out on country after the 90s. I respect the great songwriting and musicianship, but it became a little too Nashville pop for me.
Listening to and learning a lot of these tunes, I have to ask: When did the lyrical content of almost every single country song become an explicit affirmation of rural values? I think it's good to be proud of who you are and where you come from and all that, but honestly, some of it's taken to such an extreme that it's almost xenophobic towards anyone who doesn't fit into the "redneck stereotype." Case in point, I'm learning a song by Rhett Atkins called Kiss My Country Ass, and I am wondering if he's actually serious with the lyrics or if it's just Poe's Law in effect.
It's possible to write a song celebrating your rural background without being belligerent about it (e.g., Long Haired Country Boy, Sweet Home Alabama, etc.). I don't want to turn this into a new country vs. old country debate, but something that was great about Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, and Emmylou Harris is that their music had universal appeal. A lot of the new stuff out of Nashville just seems so alienating to anyone who isn't necessarily from that culture. I'm from the country and I find some of the almost ethnocentrism I hear in the lyrics off-putting.
I have a bit of a sociology background, so I have to think about Adorno and the commodification of culture. I'm just picturing some producer in a Nashville studio saying, "That song has a great chorus hook, but it doesn't have enough mention of God, guns, the American flag, and how small town values are infinity superior to the wicked people from the city. Even though this song is about you and your spouse reminiscing about your first date 35 years ago, rewrite the bridge to talk about how much people from the city suck."
On that note, I do really like the arranagements of a lot of modern country tunes and there are some nice bass lines in there.
