Never Trust a Man Who Doesn't Like Country Music

To my generation Country music means Country and Western – Garth Brooks, Achey Breaky Heart, the Red Nex – all that. In truth, Country is the music of death, heartbreak and loss (with a few laughs along the way), not the soundtrack to a line-dancing lesson. It has kept old songs from the British Isles alive, and so provides a link to our shared heritage. It is George Jones, Patsy Cline, Dolly Parton and Willie Nelson. It is beautiful.

People’s resistance can be explained in various ways. It is seen as redneck and right wing, unsophisticated and crude. To a large extent this criticism is justified. Much of what is played on American Country and Western stations is dreadful, but (and remember this, this is important) to dismiss a genre due to the crimes of its worst exponents is a major folly. Secondly, the sound can take some getting used to. Rock and Roll has created a bridge with the Blues, and so is less challenging to the new listener. However, once you get over the twang, pedal steel and fiddle, there is no going back. If it’s too much for you then you may well be a blinkered fool, and possibly beyond redemption.

There has been some breakthrough into the (hip) mainstream. Possibly the most famous Country song, Crazy, by Willie Nelson and sung by Patsy Cline, is known everywhere, but simply as a great song, although the themes it covers are completely typical of the tradition. Johnny Cash has made considerable inroads amongst the young, his surly demeanor and black clothes easy to understand for a generation raised on rock. The cult of Gram Parsons is growing too. It is probably best to avoid these two latter artists as there is little cultural cachet to be gained in listening to them. Instead, go deeper, to Dolly Parton and Jimmy Rogers, Lefty Frizzel and Bill Monroe. The king of them all, of course, is Hank Williams Snr. One yearning, aching cry from him is worth more than everything produced by Garth Brooks, Billy Ray Cyrus and all the others who demean the good, pure name of Country music.
- posted by Alistair @ 10:23 PM