The Destruction of America’s Distinct Musical Dialects
In early October, a 92-year-old retired engineer named Bobby Hogg passed away in the little town of Comarty, Scotland. The death was significant because Mr. Hogg was the last speaker of a local dialect called “Comarty fisherfolk” that now only exists in a few brief audio clips. Many of the villages of northern Scotland have distinct dialects, and as time goes on, they become lost forever as elders pass away and the younger generations slowly drop their native accents in place for the more common pronunciations.
When President Obama won re-election last Tuesday, he said in his speech that what makes America strong is not that it has the greatest wealth in the world, or because it has the strongest military, or because its culture is the “envy of the world.” Obama cited America’s diversity, and the bonds that hold that diversity together as the reason the United States remains the most powerful nation on the planet.
But where the greatest diversity of culture exists in America, especially when it comes to dialect and musical styles, is in the rural states and counties; that red area that Obama didn’t take in the election. Cities and suburbs are much more likely to be gentrified to the more common American culture spread by popular media and entertainment than rural areas are, obviously with some exceptions.
In fact when you look at the culture of America’s rural areas, it’s is usually lampooned by the rest of the country’s culture, especially the dialect. “Rednecks” and people from the country have been a mainstay of comedic fodder for over 50 years. And now, entities like CMT, who are supposed to be for people of the country, by people of the country, are themselves formulating television series around making fun of “rednecks” in shows like Redneck Vacation and Redneck Island.
Meanwhile the negative connotations in media about redneck culture are making many people in rural areas flee from their native habits to adopt customs more indigenous to urban locales, giving rise to country rap with artists like Colt Ford. Jason Aldean’s country rap “Dirt Road Anthem” was the best-selling song in country music last year for example. At the same time, the power of pop country is causing similar gentrification in suburban and urban zones as it encroaches into areas it is not indigenous to either.
I’ve always found it perplexing how Americans generally look at the varying cultures of the rest of the world with interest and appreciation for their diversity, but seem to be unwilling to do so in their own country and community. Our differences are something that need to be resolved, whether by promulgating our political or religious beliefs on other people, or trying to promote our products or culture to people who it might either be foreign to or downright unhealthy for, usually for the purpose of financial gain.
Similarly there is a demonstrative focus on preserving rare or endangered animals and plant species, or historic buildings or artifacts. We will stop the whole of human progress for concerns over an endangered strain of the titmouse. But those rednecks living out in the rural part of the county need to understand that the old-school agrarian life is gone and they better contemporize or risk being branded closed-minded. Yes, many racist, judgmental customs should be a thing of the past, but not at the sacrifice of what makes these people and their customs unique.
When the American South was populated, many times by native Scots and Irish that brought their folk instruments and musical learnings with them, a vibrant tapestry bloomed all across the Southern region with distinct musical dialects representing the geographical and genealogical makeup of the areas where they were founded. As people moved West during the gold rush and the Depression, they carried their musical cultures with them that then intermixed with the landscapes and labor they found there, giving birth to even more individual musical dialects.
Many of these varying styles and dialects would come together at institutions like the Grand Ole Opry, and this in part was how the big umbrella of country music was formed. But the differences in styles was something that was always celebrated instead of something that was attempted to be resolved to increase the economic potential of the music. They understood that the loss of the diversity may result in long-term decay of the musical format, even though it may garner short-term financial gain.
Ironically, it is not the mainstream, nationally-focused musicians that say they want to destroy the diversity in American music. Many go out of their way to tell you how country they are, citing very specific artifacts of rural life to prove it, many times to take the sting away of the actual music itself being more rooted in rock or hip-hop modes. It is the roots-based musicians who do not have the benefit of the country genre’s industrial machine that tend to speak out and say that genres don’t matter any more; artists in the loosely-defined “Americana” world.
Meanwhile radio may be the the most-obvious place where our differences are disappearing. When Clear Channel cut hundreds of local positions at stations in rural media markets last year in favor of nationally-syndicated programming, this also disproportionately effected the rural/red zones that are so rich with cultural diversity. Just like rainforests and wild areas around the world that are held back from development in conservancies cited as being vital to ecological and economic sustainability, America’s rural areas as robust cultural generators are just as important in sustaining the overall health of the greater cultural landscape.
Things are always evolving, changing, and coagulating together, and wringing your hands over it in some respects is foolish. At the same time, if the “melting pot” theory of how America became the greatest nation on the planet is true, then there’s nothing more important than protecting that diversity for the long-term preservation of the world’s greatest economic engine and mouthpiece for freedom. And this would also be true in protecting the diversity of any country or region for them to live up to their greatest potential.
In other words, the destruction of America’s distinct musical dialects is not just a musical problem.
November 12, 2012 @ 11:05 am
To the extent that anything can still be called authentically “American,” it is either rural, Southern, or both. But the people of New York and Boston will say: “We have culture, and a better culture than you. We have art galleries, the ballet, theater, cuisine, etc.” This is true. They have all of these things, but these are all imitations of European culture, and very pale imitations, at that.
Trigg, Historians Grady McWhiney (now deceased) and Forrest McDonald explored the Celtic nature of the South and authored the defining scholarship on this topic. Their research is very interesting, if you ever get the time.
November 12, 2012 @ 11:16 am
Excellent, excellent point, and one I was going to make up top, but I knew it would come out in the comments section. Without question there is great diversity in cities, a lot of which is born out in the international makeup of the populations. But this represents the rest of the world, instead of contributing to the rest of the world what is unique about American culture.
Do other countries attempt to stamp out their indigenous culture as backwards, lampoon it and use it for comedy? Or do they celebrate it as what makes them unique from the rest of the world?
November 12, 2012 @ 1:45 pm
This might be true regarding music, but I strongly disagree with your assertion when it comes to our founding values. Let’s face it: the South was founded on slavery and a race-based caste system. Because of this, the South received very little immigration after the 18th century, and lost any melting pot character it may have once had. The Middle states (New York to Pennsylvania) were founded on religious freedom, tolerance and diversity. In fact, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania were the first true melting pots in the world.
So I’ll ask this: which region better represents authentic American values historically?
November 12, 2012 @ 1:48 pm
I can always count on you, Eric, to reply with the public school textbook version of the history of the United States.
November 12, 2012 @ 2:02 pm
Do you agree that Southern society was based on slavery and a race-based system? Do you agree that the South received far less immigration than any other part of the country after the 18th century, and became by and large a closed society?
November 12, 2012 @ 2:41 pm
By saying Southern culture was “based” on slavery seems to imply it is the underlying foundation of the entire culture. And with that, I fundamentally disagree. Many of the Irish and Scottish immigrants who brought their native instruments and music to the Appalachian and Southern areas were fleeing persecution themselves and never owned slaves, and these are the people most fundamentally influencing the formation of country music, for example. So were the slaves and former slaves who are responsible for Gospel and blues that also go into the foundation of country music.
November 12, 2012 @ 4:12 pm
I agree with you that the South has contributed disproportionately to American music. In fact, almost all American musical forms originate in the South. However, culture involves societal values as well. In that sense, historically Southern values (such as slavery and a race-based caste system) did not dominate the American value system, and thank goodness for that.
I also agree that the vast majority of whites in the Upland South, especially in Appalachia, did not own slaves. However, slavery was widely supported by whites in the Upland South (maybe not specifically in the mountain areas, but in western Virginia, western North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, Southern Missouri, Northern Arkansas, North Alabama, etc. in general). Furthermore, the Upland Southern states, along with the Deep Southern states, remained segregated until the 1960s.
November 12, 2012 @ 5:25 pm
Slavery was an integral part of the southern economy but to say the whole society was based around it is just silly and misinformed.
November 14, 2012 @ 3:36 pm
I don’t think there can be much dispute that the plantation system dominated Southern High Culture through the Civil War, and for at least another 30 or 40 years. But how does that make them here were slaves in Virginia before the Yankees landed at Plymouth Rock (and they of course had slavery, though not on as large of a scale for the next 150 years.) At the time of the Declaration of Independence slavery was legal in 12 or the 13 colonies and it remained legal in 8 of the states when the Constitution was ratified, and of course it remained in 6 of the states until after the Civil War. Slavery was permitted by the US Constitution and protected by the US government for the first 78 years of its existence.
We can all agree that slavery is an unfortunate part of our country”™s history, but it”™s still our history and the fact that the Southern states happened to have it longer does not make them any less “American.” Do George Washington and Thomas Jefferson not represent “authentic American values” because they owned slaves?
Secondly, it is true that less Euorpean immigrants settled into the South (this was probably because slaves and later sharecroppers filled the South”™s need for cheap labor, not due to any Xenophobia, if anything common prejudice against blacks made it easier for white ethnics to assimilate in the South). However, how are immigrants any more “American” than the descendants of the people who signed the Declaration of independence, fought in the Civil and Revolutionary War, and cleared the wilderness? I am not saying this to insult people whose family who didn”™t come on the Mayflower (or I guess to be more specific,The Susan Constant), but the implication of your argument is that WASPs are somehow less American.
What you are doing is defining “American Values” to mean racial egalitarianism and support of immigration and then saying because the South has not been as progressive on those issues is somehow less American.
November 17, 2012 @ 2:25 am
“What you are doing is defining “American Values” to mean racial egalitarianism and support of immigration and then saying because the South has not been as progressive on those issues is somehow less American.”
That is exactly what I was suggesting. When it comes to issues of race and cultural tolerance/openness, the values of the South have historically been less “American” and more European that those of any other region.
It’s important to remember what differentiates America from Europe. The key difference is that America has always been an open society built by mass immigration and defined by cultural fluidity, whereas European countries, until just about a few decades ago, were by and large closed societies where ancestry and culture were inseparable and a premium was placed on maintaining the ancestral cultural tradition. In this respect, the South for the past 200 years has been closer to Europe than to the rest of America.
November 12, 2012 @ 11:38 am
RD, you’re quite wrong about the culture from American cities being a pale reflection of European culture. There are ample examples of unique artforms from the American city, notably the Comic book/comic strip (very urban, very American). And certainly musical sub genres like rap and go-go (indiginous to the DC area) are urban based forms that are in no way imitations of European culture. Would Jazz ever developed w/o the American city? Or abstract expressionist painting? Tap was invented in NYC’s now gone Five Corners. I can go on and on. There’s still unique and uniquely American stuff coming from our cities. Always has been and always will.
I suspect the “mono genre” Mr. Triggerman talks about is largely a product of this interconnected world of ours. That has it’s good points and bad points, and they can be argued. But there’s really no way one region or area that can lay exclusive claim to “authentic” American art. Just not happening.
November 12, 2012 @ 11:56 am
I agree, we cannot discount or overlook the large, and sometimes vital contribution of American cities, and cities in the North have made to the overall American culture. New York has played a huge role in folk music for example, a point of fought NPR on a while back: https://savingcountrymusic.com/new-yorks-folk-legacy-forgotten-by-npr-a-rant
But what defines “American” culture I still think disproportionately comes from rural, Southern, and Western areas. Yes, Jazz originated in the cities, but it also originated in the South, along with that majority of American musical art forms.
The point of this article was not to instigate a regional fight, but to point out why it is important to celebrate our differences, rural and urban, Southern and Northern, instead of attempting to resolve them for some slanted view of equality.
November 12, 2012 @ 12:24 pm
I would “like” pouguemahone’s post 10 times if I could. The mono-genre comes from the uninspired and the unimaginative. Geography and region, while serving as inspiration for an art, have nothing to do with the ability to create something unique. As someone who grew up rural and now lives in the city,…this is hogwash.
November 12, 2012 @ 4:54 pm
Well put point about the mono-genre, Butch. It is uninspired and several other uns as well. I heard my first Taylor Swift song the other day, and it was pure pap. On of the weird thing about culture American or otherwise, is it sometimes takes years and years for the good stuff to be recognized, while relative @#$% is celebrated.
Look, for American Culture, I’d put Jack Kirby or Carl Barks at the same height as Hank (i’d actually place Barks higher, but I would argue he is the most important artist in any genre of the twentieth century. Feel free to argue). One thing we need to do is keep our ears, eyes and minds open to the good stuff.
I recall years back going into a record store and buying Dwight Yoakum’s “Guitars, Cadillacs” and Trouble Funk’s “Drop the Bomb/Live from DC” in the same purchase, much to the amusement of the clerks, who seemed to think I was either insane or deaf (half right on the last one, actually). Too bad. They were both pretty great. I’ll crank ’em up on the morrow, one after the other.
The one absolute I’ve found is that the good stuff is everywhere. So is the crap, and there’s more of the crap. A lot more. I’ve quoted Sturgeon’s Law on this board before (90% of everything is crap). I remain assured that the Mono-genre isn’t some new version of some fifties scifi monster slowly taking over everything, but just a the same old crap delivery system in a brand new box. It has been around forever. Think Pat Boone. But the good stuff is still out there.
November 13, 2012 @ 5:50 pm
thumbs up for the carl barks mention. ive been a fan since the gold key/whitman reprints in the late 70s.
November 12, 2012 @ 4:19 pm
I absolutely agree with you about the West being central to American culture. The West is, in a way, America on steroids. In my opinion, the West was to the East what America was to Europe. It was the ultimate melting pot region, as is easily shown if one looks at Census results from the late 19th century. It also contributed fundamentally to the American ideal of individual liberty.
The South, however, is a very different case, for the reasons that I have mentioned above.
November 12, 2012 @ 11:44 am
Anyone ever notice that the more diversity is extolled, the less there actually is, in this country?
November 12, 2012 @ 11:58 am
Exactly.
Just like the people who preach to you how open-minded they are tend to be the most closed-minded people you meet.
November 15, 2012 @ 12:10 pm
Same is here in Belgium Trig ,so,nothin news under the sun,not even on the other side of the world
November 12, 2012 @ 11:57 am
“Comic book/comic strip (very urban, very American)” – I don’t regard that as culture or art. Are video games art?
“Would Jazz ever developed w/o the American city?” – Jazz is Southern music. Where is jazz today?
“Or abstract expressionist painting?” Abstract painting is decidedly European, primarily German. Like nearly everything Americans have done in the last 100 years, they cheapened and commercialized it.
November 12, 2012 @ 6:46 pm
I would absolutely consider comic books art, and a strong case could be made for video games as well. And I always though abstract expressionism started in New York in the 40’s or 50’s.
November 12, 2012 @ 12:05 pm
The sky is not falling, Chicken Little. Linguistic research is finding that the differences between speech patterns across America are becoming greater, not less over time. We are more diverse, not less so.
The same statements regarding the “mono-genre” of music could have been made at nearly any point in the 20th century. What could be more “mono-genre” than Bob Wills? Jazz, Blues and Country rolled into one amazing think called Western Swing…and it’s all part of country music history today.
Rockabilly was mono-genre. The Nashville sound was mono-genre. Count-Rap is mono-genre. In the end they will have an affect each other but as long as there are new and evolving audiences for any style it will survive.
Regarding Clear Channel: Who cares? They are on the gentle end of a soon to be steep down hill ride. “Radio” as we have known it will be a thing of the past. You can find more diversity and better choices on the new formats…XM and the interweb.
If you want Country music to go the way of other dead or nearly dead musical forms like Classical and Jazz, just keep them in their isolated little box. In time fewer and fewer will give a damn. It’ll be pure alright, but who will care?
November 12, 2012 @ 2:28 pm
Nobody is claiming the sky is falling. I’m simply pointing out that if as others say the strength of America is based on its diversity, then celebrating what makes us different in America is more important that trying to resolve it.
I understand this article hits on similar topics to my “mono-genre” theory, but they’re really two different issues, and that is the reason I didn’t mention the term. Rockabilly and Western Swing aren’t “mono-genre” simply because they combine multiple genres. The mono-genre theory states that all popular music is coagulating into one big genre. Rockabilly and Western Swing existed right beside many other popular genres in their time. Additionally, as my friend Don Maddox of the Maddox Brothers & Rose has explained to me, country, rockabilly, and rock and roll really came into existence all at the same time.
And I am not a country purist. Never have been. I completely agree the music MUST evolve, but MUST also keep its tie to the roots for long-term viability.
November 12, 2012 @ 12:36 pm
Great article triggerman. This is completely off topic but have you had a chance to listen to Andrew Combs “Worried Man” album yet? You should give it a spin, it would be interesting to hear you’re take on it.
November 12, 2012 @ 2:19 pm
Not yet.
November 12, 2012 @ 1:05 pm
So true, that the ones that preach the holiness of “diversity and open mindedness” are the very ones that are the most intolerant. After all was not the whole pop country/rap country argument based on so called “inclusiveness” and acceptence of “diversity”.
November 12, 2012 @ 1:52 pm
Personally as a card-carrying member of the “loosely-defined “Americana” world” I do think that genres matter. If for no other reason it makes my job of classification and ranking easier.
But from the production side, the musicians, the sentiment s more aligned to what Jim Lauderdale said at the Americana Music Awards last October, “Borders are for Cowards.” I applaud that sentiment evens as it makes my job harder.
I think the distinction here is one of industry and culture. The social mash-up of culture is always more organic and interesting than the focus-group tested, low-risk product cranked out of Music City for maximum market adoption.
Diversity in the former is when a band like Trampled By Turtles tuns out Bluegrass inspired tunes with a rock feel while closing their shows with a pixies cover. Diversity in the latter is like bad country spliced with bad rock or rap to appeal to a broader demographic of younger consumers. It’s mediocre on purpose.
November 12, 2012 @ 2:35 pm
Please don’t get me wrong, this is in no way an attack on Americana. It just happens to be that folks in those ranks, specifically Jason Isbell and Chris Thile have recently said that genres don’t matter, or that they’re even harmful.
Nobody can make the case Americana doesn’t invite diversity and specifically lends to it in the overall musical landscape, despite how inclusive they might be generally. In fact, their diversity is where their definition problems originate.
November 12, 2012 @ 2:46 pm
“In fact, their diversity is where their definition problems originate. ” Oh brother you’re not kidding. (Cohen Brothers pun intended)
Americana is a branding nightmare. I even has a major Americana writer reply to my Facebook Petraeus send up of “I want a CIA investigation” with “To find the true meaning of Americana?”
After much gnashing of teeth and hoisting of flags I’m taking the approach put forth by the great Zen master and soinger/songwriter Darell Scott ” I love that Americana is so hard to pin down. As soon as it gets too easy to understand, it may detract from the wonderful music that it is.”
http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/dc9/2012/01/qa_darrell_scott_tries_to_pin.php
November 13, 2012 @ 9:14 am
Nice interview.
Read this quote today on Rolling Stone from my favorite music artist Richard Thompson, which echoes some of the same sentiments:
“…in September, the Americana Association bestowed Thompson with its Lifetime Achievement Songwriting Award. “I was surprised, because I don’t think of myself as Americana,” Thompson says, “but then, I think Americana is more about roots music rather than American music. So I was quite honored that they would think of me, especially because I’m a foreigner.”
November 16, 2012 @ 10:51 am
Jack, as I’ve argued before (http://www.twangnation.com/2012/09/14/americana-music-awards-2012/) there is the organic Americana genre and then there is the Americana brand promoted by the Americana Music Association out of Nashville.
My problem isn’t of a dilution in the Americana brand because of geography, it’s one of copying other brands in a quests to gain “authenticity.”
Though Richard Thompson has folk roots in folkand an argument could be made for him being Americana, Bonnie Raitt and Booker T Jones were also lifetime rep in the AMA awards and they are quite well- established in the formal blues and soul genres receptively.
I’m hardly a purist, covering Americana doesn’t allow that conceit, but there has to be general guidelines to allow people, like me, to draw similarities and distinctions and guide fans.
November 12, 2012 @ 1:57 pm
“Diversity in the former is when a band like Trampled By Turtles tuns out Bluegrass inspired tunes with a rock feel while closing their shows with a pixies cover. Diversity in the latter is like bad country spliced with bad rock or rap to appeal to a broader demographic of younger consumers. It”™s mediocre on purpose. ”
Exactly. Like the difference between a local chef using various influences from his world travels to create a unique new dish, and Cheesecake factory offering a few bland, sanitized renditions of 15 different styles of cuisine.
November 12, 2012 @ 2:47 pm
Man what I wouldn’t give for an edit function on this!
November 12, 2012 @ 4:00 pm
Tell me what you want changed Baron and I’ll do it up.
November 12, 2012 @ 4:06 pm
Can you make me a better proof reader? HA!
November 12, 2012 @ 3:28 pm
I agree with this statement. I’ve noticed over the years the authenticity of accents have disappeared in music. It seems that when you turn on the radio you can no longer distinguish who is singing. In the past, you could easily tell when Willie, Cash, Strait, Conway were singing. Now those that have accents seem to have been told by their labels to change their voices to eliminate their distinct accents. Here is my list of the most unique and distinct southern female voices in country music:
Jaida Dreyer
Sunny Sweeney
Ashley Ray
Ashley Monroe
Elizabeth Cook
To me I am drawn to those with distinct voices. That’s what drew me to artists like Ryan Bingham, Hank III, Biram, etc.
On a side note, I was in Nashville over the weekend, in which I proposed to my girlfriend on the stage at the Ryman and had a great time. Seen Sunny Sweeney, The Grascals, The Time Jumpers, Vince Gill, etc. perform during the Opry Show. We also of course spent most of our time at Layla’s. It’s so refreshing seeing tourists come in and and over hearing them say that they had been up and down the strip and no one compares to those artists performing at Laylas ie Sarah Gayle Meech, Hillbilly Casino, etc. Also I wanted to mention that the Nashville clogger stopped in. I was not aware of this guy, but it was cool to see this guy doing this old style of dance.
Not only is distinct dialects slowly fading away but so are traditions like dance.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCj4FeUCbOA
November 12, 2012 @ 4:05 pm
Congratulations Chris!
November 13, 2012 @ 7:56 am
Thanks!
November 13, 2012 @ 8:23 am
Thank you thank you thank you Chris!
Made my day.
I get worried that no one gets it anymore.
Have a super week!
November 13, 2012 @ 8:34 am
Lol, not sure about Ashley Ray, that must be an acquired taste! Am sure she is a lovely gal.
November 12, 2012 @ 4:12 pm
“Yes, many racist, judgmental customs should be a thing of the past, but not at the sacrifice of what makes these people and their customs unique.”
Could you clarify this statement a bit? I don’t want to attack you for defending racism in favor of tradition because I don’t think that’s what you intended.
November 12, 2012 @ 4:56 pm
Yes, I can see now how that could misleading.
Let me say it like this: Yes, racism should be omitted from Southern culture. But ALL Southern culture shouldn’t be eliminated just because it has included some racist elements in the the past or present.
In other words, don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.
November 12, 2012 @ 5:10 pm
Fair enough!
November 12, 2012 @ 5:39 pm
Max,
I’m not picking on you, but you gave me a chance to bring it up. Can we please have a conversation about music, specifically Southern music, without bringing racism and slavery into it? It has absolutely no relevance and only serves as a bludgeon to further beat the South into submission. Slavery has been practiced from time immemorial. Most great civilizations practiced slavery, including Greece, Rome, Egypt, , the Mayans, ancient Chinese, ancient Europe, etc. It was practiced accross all of Africa, where it is still practiced. It was practiced in the North until the industrial revolution, and the payment of sub-human wages was more economically feasible than feeding, clothing, and sheltering slaves.
Are we to believe that the pyramids, the Coloseum, the Great Wall, the Pantheon, the Acropolis, etc. don’t count because their cultures involved slavery? So, unless you want to eliminate all contributions that all civilizations have made to posterity, then cool it with the slavery bit. Its tiresome.
November 12, 2012 @ 6:48 pm
Slaves in the fields in the deep south communicated with call and response that went on to be the basis of gospel,blues,jazz and rhythm and blues. Depending how far you want to go back with the history of southern music, how can you not bring up racism and slavery?
November 12, 2012 @ 10:28 pm
The only reason that slavery is being discussed here is because you asserted that Southern culture was the basis of general American culture. If you had been specifically discussing music, there would have been no dispute. However, if you are going to argue the general case of culture, it’s very important to remember that slavery was an essential aspect of Southern culture, and fortunately it did not become part of the general American culture.
There is really no comparison between slavery in the North and slavery in the South. Slavery was never significant in any point in the North’s history, as slaves never made up more than 10% of the population of any Northern state. Even in the peak of slavery in the North, slaves made up less than 5% of Pennsylvania’s population and less than 2% of New England’s population. By 1805, long before the Industrial Revolution, every Northern state had passed laws abolishing slavery either by immediate or gradual emancipation, and by the time the Civil War started, slavery and slavery-based indentured servitude were completely extinct in the North. Most Northern states had even granted blacks a full spectrum of legal rights by this time.
In the South, by contrast, 40% of the population were slaves at the time of the founding. Even in Kentucky, the most “upland” of the Southern states and the one most heavily populated by poor frontier white farmers, 20% of the population were slaves (with 17% of the population remaining slaves by the time of the Civil War). Slavery only became more powerful and entrenched in the South throughout the course of the early 19th century. By 1860, slaves constituted half of the South’s entire wealth. A full 25% of Southern whites owned slaves (and it’s not much of a stretch to assume that most of the other 75% aspired to own slaves). Even after slavery was abolished, the strict race-based social system that slavery had created lived on for another century throughout the South in the form of segregation, denial of voting rights, and systematic racial violence, ending only in the 1960s when civil rights were forced on the South.
November 13, 2012 @ 6:53 am
While I think Eric’s points above are fairly accurate, I think it is also accurate to say that the main reason slavery didn’t take hold in the North is that it didn’t make sense given the nature of the Northern economy. Also, it’s not like the North boycotted Southern agriculural products during slavery’s existence.
November 12, 2012 @ 5:57 pm
Woah, no one mentioned slavery yet you just typed an entire diatribe defending it. To answer your question, yes, cultures built upon slavery should be looked down upon. Are you serious?
November 12, 2012 @ 6:00 pm
Sorry, should have been a reply to RD
November 13, 2012 @ 7:33 am
I don’t think he was defending slavery.
What popped into my head when reading RD’s statement was the sentiment expressed in this Patterson Hood (a self-professed Southern liberal) lyric from the Drive-By Truckers song The Three Great Alabama Icons (one of the icons being George Wallace):
“Racism is a worldwide problem, and it’s been like that since the beginning of recorded history and it ain’t just white and black, but thanks to George Wallace, it’s always a little more convenient to play it with a Southern accent.”
November 12, 2012 @ 7:46 pm
So the impending “mono-genre” of music is also reflective of the loss of rural cultural diversity? Hmm….
I tend to agree with you about popular music becoming the “mono-genre” but with the rest of the nation following in California’s footsteps demographically I believe that the root core will eventually be mariachi music…
November 12, 2012 @ 8:56 pm
Destruction is a harsh word. It seems to be fading rather, as you cannot destroy what is already accomplished. It’s what a new order world would seem to want, poprapcountrywesternswingrockabillyrockandroll. No genres just music for money, money for your soul . . . hang on to your 45’s ladies and gentlemen. Youre gonna get what you payed for.
November 13, 2012 @ 7:49 am
In high school (central FL, mid 2000s) every self-proclaimed “redneck” had a jacked up truck and listened to Puff Daddy through those pestering bass thumping speakers. It was then that I realized no folks of this redneck breed would ever care about true southern music and that’s about the time I joined the ranks of the underground within the country/southern music civil war.
In a case similar to pop and rap being accepted as country, I also see a shit ton of college hippie chicks playing ukulele and calling it folk music, assumingly having no clue as to who Woody Guthrie even is.
November 27, 2012 @ 9:16 am
We’ve got some things in common , BCM . I went to Kathleen High School in Lakeland , FL in the late 80’s , and I witnessed the very thing you mentioned in its infancy . There was nothing more popular than the “redneck” that blasted 2LiveCrew from the speakers of his skyjacked truck . This seemed to me to be a cheapening of our culture , and what I largely blame for what we’re suffering today in “country” music .
I also share a distaste for the recent trend of the girl trio clad in 1930’s dresses and sporting hairstyles like the ones seen in silent movies . In my opinion it’s newest gimmick/angle thrown at those who don’t realize they’re being had .
November 13, 2012 @ 4:25 pm
Understand this, the folks who came up with the slogan “Diversity is our strength” use it to attack anything White and do not believe in the literal translation of the slogan. Try and to include anything overtly White or Southern (Confederate) in their mosaic and wait for their response, it usually starts with the cry racism.
November 13, 2012 @ 5:32 pm
I completely agree with this. Though, I completely disagree with some of the comments. I am a ‘country girl’ as you might say, and I take great pride in that. I do not think that our entire culture is based upon the southern regions, but there is a large amount of our culture that is because of our country people. They bring out the unique part of our country. Though, the south and even music is not necessarily about being different, or slavery. There were plenty of people who thought it was wrong to have slaves. I completely disagree with the notion saying the south is based upon slaves, as that is in no way true. I believe the south is based upon family. As with southern people, I have found that they are much more welcoming and kind than others you might find around the country. The thing about southern people, is that they do not care what others might say about them, they care about having a good time and being together. This goes the same for music, as most country music is based upon having a good time, and being with friends or family.
November 18, 2012 @ 4:53 am
“At the same time, the power of pop country is causing similar gentrification in suburban and urban zones as it encroaches into areas it is not indigenous to either.”
Interesting idea. However, I would argue that pop country is very much indigenous to the suburbs. Suburban women have been the primary fan base of pop country since its outset. The only change over the years has been in the core age demographics. Initially, middle-aged suburban housewives formed the primary audience for pop country, but the rise of Taylor Swift shifted that to a younger audience that was still primarily suburban and female.
May 14, 2013 @ 11:42 am
AMEN. This mono effect is also a never ending loophole. The reason we have laundry list and Pop Country songs in the first place is because Southerners and their ways are considered ignorant. The laundry list crowd has taken this and turned it around, proclaiming how “proud” they are of their apparent ignorance and the Pop Country crowd is essentially jumping ship. People also don’t seem to realize that most Southerners are independent, hard-working and resourceful folk. I’m not proclaiming to be a redneck or be a focal point for one, but I’m pretty sure that if there’s some catastrophe that renders the world’s countries helpless, these “ignorant rednecks” will be going strong like nothing ever happened.