Tim McGraw’s “Sundown Heaven Town” Has Racist Connotations
On Thursday, April 3rd, Tim McGraw announced that he will be releasing his 13th studio album, and his second with Big Machine Records called Sundown Heaven Town on September 16th. After years of struggling under the repressive thumb of Curb Records, who took the stance later in Tim’s career of releasing new albums only once every five years, McGraw looks to spread his wings and release new music in consecutive years for the first time in over a decade.
However there are a couple of questions that linger around the Sundown Heaven Town announcement. The first is, why is Tim McGraw making this announcement so early? Though announcing the specific date of an album release six months ahead of time isn’t completely unprecedented, it certainly is strange, especially from a major label. Usually a label would wait until about six weeks to two months before a release to make an album announcement to try and stir up anticipation for the album in a shorter time span, buffered by the release of a new single or singles. Potentially Big Machine is looking to use the ACM Awards transpiring on Sunday, April 6th, as the springboard for their release cycle.
But that is not the biggest concern about the Sundown Heaven Town, and it’s not even close. To the apparent cluelessness of Tim McGraw’s team and his label Big Machine Records, the title of McGraw’s new album has very, very strong racist connotations that directly refer back to the segregation and lynching of black people in American history. In fact the oversight seems so obvious, and the parallels so easy to draw, I hesitated posting about this for a few days, thinking it must be some April Fools week joke, or something else was amiss.
Verifiable by taking to any search engine of your choosing, the term “Sundown Town” refers to segregation, and the lynching of black people in American history, and to noting else. As Wikipedia defines the term, “Sundown Town” means “A town, city, or neighborhood in the US that was purposely all-white. The term came from signs that were allegedly posted stating that people of color had to leave the town by sundown.”
The etymology of the term “Sundown Town” refers to sayings that would be posted at the city limits of such towns, including one just outside of Hawthorne, California symbolizing the phenomenon that read, “Nigg**, Don’t Let The Sun Set On YOU In Hawthorne.” The term “Sundown Town” has also been used previously in the title of books, and the title of of movies and documentaries on the subject.
The inclusion of “Heaven” in the album title arguably doesn’t help, but hurts. Though it is pretty rare, Saving Country Music was able to find a few instances in literature where some Sundown Towns were referred to using “Heavenly” in the term such as “Heavenly Sundown Towns” or “Sundown Heavenly Towns.” Adding “Heavenly” seems to imply the Sundown Town is idyllic, divine, or purified. The little white/black segregated sun used for the “O” of the title seems especially unfortunate. Unless this is a concept album meant to call out Sundown Towns, the oversight is inexcusable.
Please don’t get me wrong, I am in no way accusing Tim McGraw or Big Machine Records of racism whatsoever. I can’t imagine any scenario where a mainstream country artist or a major American label would want to field the backlash a purposely racist album title would create in 2014. Nor can I see any benefit or motive for McGraw or Big Machine to want to underhandedly make a dig at America’s black population by the use of this term in an album title. It simply seems to be an innocent oversight of the vetting process when choosing the album’s title.
Nonetheless, the connotations seem so clear cut, I can’t imagine how or why the title of the album would not be changed. It must be changed. Or the backlash it will receive at some point in the album release process will pale in comparison to the cries of a concerned journalist.
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****NOTE: The comments on this article are being heavily policed. Disagreement is encouraged, but attacks or insults towards others, insensitive language, or off-topic tangents will be deleted.
April 5, 2014 @ 12:00 pm
Are fucking kidding me? This is quite a stretch on this one. What a bullshit piece. What pisses me off more is I’m defending McGraw….FML…
April 5, 2014 @ 12:14 pm
Don’t think it’s a stretch whatsoever. To reiterate once again, I am not calling Tim McGraw or Big Machine racist, or that they are trying to make a racist statement here. I am simply saying that “Sundown Heaven Town” as a title has very obvious racist connotations, and if something isn’t done about, entities with much bigger teeth than Saving Country Music are going to make a huge stink about it. Trust me.
April 5, 2014 @ 12:06 pm
Sounds like its possible, but shouldn’t we get Tim’s comments before reporting on it? Based on what’s posted, its hard to argue that’s its a coincidence, although to be honest I had never these terms before. I grew up in predominantly white areas where derogatory terms were thrown around about, well, everybody but I never heard it.
But to a bigger point – what’s the purpose of this article?? Seems pointless.
April 5, 2014 @ 12:23 pm
“Sounds like its possible, but shouldn”™t we get Tim”™s comments before reporting on it? Based on what”™s posted, its hard to argue that”™s its a coincidence.”
Actually, I’m arguing that it very likely is coincidence. Tim McGraw’s comments? What is going to stimulate them unless someone raises the question? My guess is, Tim McGraw is completely clueless of what “Sundown Town” means. If I had his digits, maybe I would have texted him about it, with a frown emoticon.
“But to a bigger point ”“ what”™s the purpose of this article?? Seems pointless.”
Unfortunately a lot of people are going to take this as me saying that Tim McGraw is trying to make a racist statement, and are not going to read deeper into what is going on here. The point of posting this was to avert some public embrolio with claims of racism over this album title, that could hurt the public perception of country music as a whole, and once again smear country as a hotbed for racism.
April 5, 2014 @ 2:27 pm
How are you averting it when your starting it? I think perhaps adding Heaven into it was his attempt to break the connotation and not enforce it. Again, not being familiar with this term, but without Tim’s word about the album’s name why stir the shxt for no reason? I completely agree we should work to remove racism from the country stereotypes, but don’t overreach unnecessarily.
April 5, 2014 @ 6:21 pm
Actually, Engine 135 picked up on this yesterday before Trig did. I thought the term “sundown town” was fairly well known so I’m surprised nobody at Big Machine realized that this could be taken the wrong way.
You’d think somebody at the label would do a quick internet search to make sure nobody’s used that name for an album yet and find what sundown town actually means.
April 5, 2014 @ 7:21 pm
I was just about to point this out. Saving Country Music was by far the first outlet to make this connection, or to show concern about it. I simply took the time to attempt to explain why there was concern.
This is from Engine 145’s news update from Friday:
http://www.engine145.com/arthur-smith-passes-away-johnny-cash-tops-charts-nickel-creek-plays-tonight-show/
Tim McGraw will release his new album, Sundown Heaven Town, on September 16. Does Tim McGraw know what a “sundown town” was?
I also saw numerous people raise the question Thursday on Twitter right after the announcement. There are many other people showing concern about this right now.
April 5, 2014 @ 10:59 pm
I think it’s pretty obvious how he’s attempting to avert it, unless you missed the countless times he repeated that he’s not accusing Tim or ANYONE of being racist, and is just trying to help avoid giving anyone an easy excuse to claim racism further ridicule southern/rural culture.
If he was saying Tim or his label needs to apologize, your comment would make sense, but apparently you can’t read or have difficulty grasping simple concepts like this.
April 5, 2014 @ 1:07 pm
what’s funny is that his wife is a proud liberal. reckon she didn’t notice or she’d have said something
April 7, 2014 @ 12:11 am
Not necessarily! A lot can be done unwittingly if you are not inclined to know, or have a deeper sense of history. I myself have never heard what had been revealed here. And, I find the reporting of such a connection to have done with a great deal of care and thought.
April 7, 2014 @ 10:12 am
So you think any sefl-respecting Republican who “noticed” wouldn’t say anything?
April 7, 2014 @ 2:29 pm
well that escalated quickly. I was just noting that it was funny nothing else.
April 5, 2014 @ 1:30 pm
Thank you, thank you, thank you for writing a historically-informed and culturally-aware piece, Trigger. Before more people jump on Trigger for this article, I want to point out how important this will be when/if controversy starts to arise on the internet. Like Trigger says, he is NOT accusing McGraw or the label of racism, but ignorance does not continue to be a sufficient excuse after one is confronted about this kind of slip-up. If/when this begins to stir significant discussion, I believe the most graceful thing that can happen is that McGraw/the label will realize their mistake, apologize, and hopefully rename the release (ESPECIALLY since it’s not too late to do so).
I think I understand why this happened, though. “Sundown Town” (minus connotations) is kind of catchy, and the addition of “Heaven” suggests a humble sort of paradise. Really, I understand why this probably seemed like an appealing title. But history matters. I would like to see the country music industry make a sincere attempt to be more inclusive to minority listeners. There are many African American people (and others) who do NOT find the Brad Paisley/LL Cool J song to be beneficial to race relations in this country. And you know what happened when these folks tried to express that? A lot of angry people pushed back. That’s not how you make progress. If the song/album/whatever media in question involves a historically dominant group as well as a historically oppressed group, it might be good to actually listen to what members of that historically oppressed group have to say about it, considering that its their/our ancestors’ pain we’re talking about here.
I say this because the “Accidental Racist” fiasco shows how little things have changed for minority listeners of country music. The moment we have an issue with something, we’re apparently being too sensitive or overly-PC when, really, we just want respectful representations of our people, cultures, and histories. I’m afraid similar issues will spring up in the case of this album once promotion begins to circulate with more frequency.
Anyway, I’m not looking to argue on this comment thread. I’m just trying to express appreciation for what Trigger is trying to do here, as well as plant a seed of thought on these comment boards where there are some distinguished, intelligent music fans. The album name is a mistake (regardless of the label’s realization of this) and it would be an encouraging gesture if it were changed out of respect to African American people and their history, especially given the South’s historic prominence in racism and the country music industry.
April 5, 2014 @ 2:30 pm
“sundown heaven town” is a line from his horrific song “looking for that girl”.
April 5, 2014 @ 2:54 pm
Personally I can see what you are saying here, but having the word “heaven” in between those two words kind of makes sure it doesn’t take that direction in my opinion. If that word wasn’t in there it would look more inappropriate, but this is obviously a track on the album. Saying it with “heaven” in the middle makes makes it no different than any other album title in my opinion.
April 5, 2014 @ 3:17 pm
It’s actually a lyric in the chorus of Tim McGraw’s current (horrendous) single, “Lookin’ For That Girl,” which is written by Mark Abramson, James Slater, and Chris Tompkins:
Lookin’ for that girl, that girl, that girl
Sundown heaven town, drivin’ ’round, hitting the bars,
Shooting the stars, rollin’ up on every party wonderin’ where you are
The name of the album is also the name of McGraw’s upcoming tour.
I think the problem is pretty simple and as Trigger described it. It’s not that Tim McGraw or the songwriters or Big Machine is racist. It’s that they’re unintentionally using a phrase here that embodies an incredibly painful historical memory for African-Americans. D.T.’s comment above is right on point.
The horse is out of the stable when it comes to the song. But I totally agree the appropriate thing to do to change the tour and album title (which exist in isolation, with no context) as a matter of respect.
April 5, 2014 @ 4:28 pm
We’ll that explains it. I can only make out about 5 words in that whole song the few times I’ve heard it.
April 5, 2014 @ 5:45 pm
Yeah this makes the good Trig off on this one.
April 5, 2014 @ 6:10 pm
I guess that explains it. After reading the article, I wondered if the title referred to a different song that maybe addresses the history Trig was talking out; too bad that’s not the case.
But yeah, “Lookin’ For That Girl” — that doesn’t surprise me. It was like the writers just strung a bunch of words together that they thought sounded good, regardless of sense.
April 5, 2014 @ 6:12 pm
* talking ABOUT
April 5, 2014 @ 3:15 pm
Really? It’s sickening that everywhere we turn these days, people are still trying to turn everything into a race issue. This is probably nothing more than a shitty song about having a beer on a tailgate with your whore girlfriend dancing while the sun goes down. Simmer down.
April 5, 2014 @ 4:27 pm
Nobody needs to simmer down, because nobody is worked up aside from the folks coming here thinking people are worked up about it.
This is not a race issue, this is trying to avoid a race issue. You think I’m making too much of it? Wait till Al Sharpton and the NAACP get wind, which they eventually will if nothing is changed.
Look, I totally understand that whenever race is brought up, people get very worked up and resort to age-old arguments and bitter feelings. I understand that the trappings of broaching a subject like this. But I really encourage everyone to try and understand the fundamentals of this issue, and what will happen if it’s not nipped in the bud. Fair or not, Tim McGraw has his flank open on this issue, and he should take the issue out of the hands of people who look for any and every opportunity to cry “racism!” by changing the name. In my opinion.
April 5, 2014 @ 4:48 pm
So what if the NAACP and Al Sharpton get a hold of it? What does it matter? I couldnt care less about those idiots. Those fools take anything and everything that doesn’t benefit them directly and say its racist. I expect that from them, but that doesn’t mean we have to go around tip toeing about everything so we don’t upset them.
April 5, 2014 @ 7:25 pm
I think it will matter for Tim McGraw, Big Machine Records, and potentially the perception of country music. If it doesn’t concern you, that’s your prerogative. But just because it doesn’t concern you doesn’t mean it doesn’t concern anybody.
April 7, 2014 @ 6:08 am
If people have to be reminded to be offended, then its not offensive. Who cares what is/was meant by the term “Sundown Town?” The bigger issue is people today with their politically correct rose colored glasses, looking back on a different era and chastising those people for what they chose to do and believe. Why did “Sundown Towns” exist? My guess is that they existed because people wanted to live in a safe, peaceful community and were more comfortable being around people who were more like themselves. This is why city states / countries exist in the first place. People who were hereditarily and culturally French wanted to live amongst those who were also hereditarily and culturally French. If you want a safe and peaceful community of those like you, then it would be wise and prudent to exclude those who are not safe and peaceful, and not like you. Judging from crime statistics and common sense, blacks would be the first group you would exclude. Of course, this all makes too much sense, and doesn’t fit the multicultural narrative of our current low ebb, so I will likely be denounced as an evil bigot. Thanks in advance.
April 5, 2014 @ 3:27 pm
I’m calling BS too. You’re taking an obscure historical anomaly that 90% of the population never heard of and making the title of a pop country album into a racial debate. Sundown Heaven Town is just a catchy rhyming title. That’s it. And if anyone gets outraged over this, chances are they were already mad about something and they are just looking for a reason to bray about racial injustice. Plus, this doesn’t help country music by cherry picking information and taking things out of context. I’m so tired of country music fans feeling guilty and insecure about every little social thing. That’s why we have rap and EDM in our beloved genre. Musicians are afraid to be labeled too rural or closed minded. Finally, Sundown Heaven Town is probably going to be a crappy album anyway. So who cares?
April 5, 2014 @ 5:43 pm
“You”™re taking an obscure historical anomaly that 90% of the population never heard of…”
Now THAT is offensive. Really, really fucking awful. The ugly racism behind a policy that was part of the repression of millions of people is not “an obscure historical anomaly.” Jesus. And sundown towns were invitations and preludes to ugly and awful and widespread violence.
P.S. TRIG – I think the “heaven” changes it almost completely. I disagree with you here.
April 5, 2014 @ 7:29 pm
“Sundown Heaven Town is just a catchy rhyming title. That”™s it.”
I agree, but to some people’s perspective, it may mean more. The point of this article was to explain why.
“I”™m so tired of country music fans feeling guilty and insecure about every little social thing. That”™s why we have rap and EDM in our beloved genre.”
I totally agree. Country music is always feeling like it has to make excuses and apologize for itself. If this becomes a big issue, country will feel like it has to go in that direction even more.
April 5, 2014 @ 3:39 pm
This title could be partially inspired from sundowning which makes people more active at night. Which would fit well in with the Bro Country trend. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9sGU4FoBd4 There is also a local bar in my area named Sundowners. https://www.facebook.com/sundownercountry. Not everything is black and white. Anything can be twisted to be offensive. Maybe this website is racist because the majority of the artists it covers are white. Maybe S.C.M should be demanded to start covering hip hop, just to keep things PC. You bring up about KKK lynching from 1900, but neglect to talk about the Rodney King riots, or the George Zimmerman uproar that was just recent.
“According to Zimmerman’s father, George Zimmerman received death threats after the shooting and was forced to move out of his home.[262] The New Black Panther Party offered a $10,000 reward for the “capture” of George Zimmerman;[263][264] this was condemned by the city of Sanford.[263]
In parts of the U.S., various acts of vandalism, assaults and crimes were connected in part to alleged revenge for the shooting of Trayvon Martin.[265][266][267][268]
Film director Spike Lee retweeted to his 200,000 Twitter followers an address in Sanford, Florida, erroneously purported to be Zimmerman’s, which forced a family out of their home to avoid harassment after they received hate mail and unwanted visits from reporters.[269][270][271] Lee was criticized for his retweet[272] and he later issued an apology for having tweeted the wrong address. Lee also “settled financially” with the Florida couple for an undisclosed amount.[273] ”
Both sides of the discussion need to shut up, mind their own business, and stop blaming other for their own flaws.
April 5, 2014 @ 7:35 pm
“This title could be partially inspired from sundowning which makes people more active at night. … Not everything is black and white. Anything can be twisted to be offensive.”
Once again, I am NOT saying that Tim McGraw is attempting to be racist, or that any connotations were meant by the title. I can’t stress this enough. I believe it is completely coincidental, and there’s NO reason to think otherwise.
“You bring up about KKK lynching from 1900, but neglect to talk about the Rodney King riots, or the George Zimmerman uproar that was just recent.”
Because this is not a treatise on racism in America, and there’s no need to give equal time to a topic that is not relevant. The mentions of lynchings and segregation were simply stated to create context of why some might find the term offensive.
April 5, 2014 @ 4:17 pm
Do you also write for Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, or the naacp? This is straight out of their playbook for God’s sake.
April 5, 2014 @ 7:41 pm
This is a stupid comment that proves you did not read the article, or at least didn’t understand the information it attempted to convey. Comments like this don’t help whatever stance it is you’re trying to lobby for, it makes the people with that stance look ignorant and spiteful.
Am I personally offended my the term “Sundowner Heaven Town”? Absolutely not. All I was attempting to do here was set a historical context of why some people might be. If you feel like people shouldn’t be offended by the term, then I respect that. But it doesn’t mean they won’t be. So the next question is, what are you going to do with about that?
April 6, 2014 @ 12:23 am
Yeah, the “Al Sharpton” and “NAACP” comments here are a wee bit *obvious*…
April 5, 2014 @ 4:46 pm
Trigger is 100% right of this one. It’s not a stretch at all. If a phrase has an accepted, documented, historic meaning then that’s it. If one doesn’t know the story that’s then it just too bad. Even if it might just sound like a nice little phrase with a rhyme. My guess is just cluelessness. For example “The Final Solution” is the English translation of the Nazi phrase for the Jewish extermination. You could use it as a slogan for your rustproofing company (to make up an example) but it would be a pretty ignorant thing to do!
April 5, 2014 @ 7:30 pm
Before this “controversy” erupted I had never heard of the term “sundown town” let alone it having historical racist meanings from the past, and I live just south of Hawthorne, California (which these days is full of black and Latino residents). In fact it’s the white people that wisely leave Hawthorne before sundown these days for reasons of personal safety! (lol)
I’m so glad the female duo “Sweethearts of the Rodeo” wrote their hit radio single “Midnight Girl in a Sunset Town” rather than using “Sundown Town” as it might have never made it on the radio!
I loathe every facet of political correctness and this type of controversy fits the bill. I think Tim should consider changing the title to “Sundown at the Confederate Plantation” just to be on the safe side…
April 5, 2014 @ 8:56 pm
Tim McGraw’s 18 X-rated Hits
April 5, 2014 @ 9:40 pm
I read the article alright, and I repeat if one thinks that the title of his album has any racist connections their mindset is exactly like Sharpton, Jackson or the loons at the naacp. They see things that aren’t there to promote their warped mindset. I know why they do it, but I don’t get why you do, unless any shot at modern day country regardless of how silly is something you think is worthwhile. It’s a non story.
April 5, 2014 @ 10:45 pm
“I read the article alright, and I repeat if one thinks that the title of his album has any racist connections their mindset is exactly like Sharpton, Jackson or the loons at the naacp.”
Ronnie, but your response right here proves that you didn’t read the article. As I said in the body of this article, and about a dozen times by now in the comments I AM NOT SAYING THAT THE TITLE HAS RACIST CONNOTATIONS [This is stupid, I clarify below]. I am saying it was done inadvertently, accidentally, and they probably had no prior knowledge that the title could be taken in a racist way. Nonetheless, I am saying that this is the way some could take it, and have taken it, and will continue to take it, even if this article had never been written. There were people and websites drawing the parallels between Tim’s album title and Sundown Towns days before I decided to take the time to explain in detail why. Even if I had not written this article, the issue would still exist.
You may think that any and every cry of “racism” in America is bullshit. But each specific issue must be understood in its own proper context, and that is why I wrote this story, to put the issue in context. I greatly encourage people to swallow their reactionary stances based off of buzzwords like “racism” and really delve into the specifics of the issue before commenting.
April 7, 2014 @ 2:37 am
Trig, I like the article. But “I AM NOT SAYING THAT THE TITLE HAS RACIST CONNOTATIONS” is not exactly consistent with the article’s title “Tim McGraw’s “Sundown Heaven Town” Has Racist Connotations,” to say the least. Maybe change the latter?
April 7, 2014 @ 11:45 am
Yes, I should have definitely said that better. What I meant to say there is that Tim McGraw did not knowingly create the title to have a racist message or even racist undertones. I understand that may be the way some will take the title, but I’m tired of changing titles and pandering to people that don’t want to take the time to actually read the stories and attempt to understand what is trying to be conveyed. The job of a title is to get you to read the story. This Facebook mentality of just reading the title and reacting to it has got to stop or true journalism is doomed.
June 28, 2022 @ 5:54 pm
News flash. It is 2022. True journalism is dead.
A lot of it has to do with the kind of knee-jerk “That’s racist!” that met the title of this CD. The rest of it had to do with turning “white” into the last acceptable slur with even “whiteness” a term meaning “anything bad.”
You people back there in 2014 won’t believe this could ever happen to your beautiful country, but sadly, it did. Now anything a white or conservative/traditional person does (the kind who listens to real, not “Nashville” country music) is “whiteness” and therefore “bad.
We’re tryin’ to save it, but the election got stolen from us in 2020, and the country is being dismantled right before our very eyes, so it doesn’t look like it’s going to happen.
A lot of us sure wish we could go back to 2014 when all we had to argue about was “are some people going to take needless offense at the title of a country song because everything is racist?”
Now we argue about $5 a gallon gas, a dementia patient as front man for the office of the president while an illegal cabal of globalists really runs things, and that cabal really hates the American middle-class and is “culling” the population by means you wouldn’t believe if I told you.
It all started with little things like giving in to song titles and stuff. Now they’re burning churches and tearing down statues like the American Taliban cos everything’s racist.
You’re gonna be really sorry you let race become such an issue when it really wasn’t. There are people sitting in jail who did nothing but show up in DC and protest the rigged election– and they’re still there over a year later. It’s a rough world in 2022.
April 5, 2014 @ 9:45 pm
It is not those who are racist that encourage racism, but those who look for racism in the completely innocent that do. To dig this deep to expose a “racist connotation” to an undoubtedly innocent action only encourages racism where there is none. Not only was there most definitely no racist intention, this type of attention may cause a large amount of negative attention and unnecessary work on both the artist and the label’s part. This was an absolutely pointless article that only promotes an unnecessary hate and has absolutely nothing to do with the reason you state for starting your so called movement.
April 5, 2014 @ 11:23 pm
“To dig this deep to expose…”
Did I really dig that deep in this article? I cut and pasted the first two sentences off the Wikipedia page on Sundown Towns and posted the first two images I found when doing a Google image search for “Sundown Town.” The whole thing took me about 90 minutes to compile.
And what exactly did I “expose”, especially if as you say there’s nothing here to begin with? Did I go sleuthing around the Big Machine offices looking for the committee minutes from the board meeting when they decided the name of this album? Were any deep throat informants involved? Sources cited?
“Not only was there most definitely no racist intention, this type of attention may cause a large amount of negative attention and unnecessary work on both the artist and the label”™s part.”
You, along with many others, seem to be under the misguided impression that the alpha and omega of this issue is my story on it. This issue was out there over 48 hours before I said anything about it. It was out there pretty much immediately after Tim McGraw made his announcement about the album. I’ was not the first to draw the parallels. I probably wasn’t even be the 20th. I wasn’t even the first in the media to raise the issue. And I certainly don’t think I will be the last, even if I hadn’t run my story. All I did was take the information, and explain to people why there is concern. If you don’t think there should be concern, that’s fine. But that doesn’t mean everyone feels this way. Screw me for trying to explain the situation more in-depth to hopefully erode some of the misunderstanding about it.
If someone by their own deductions decides that Tim McGraw is making a racist statement by his album title and takes to Google to try and determine if it’s true, they will likely pull up this article and determine from the information that I have given that it was in all likelihood just a coincidence. If that’s somehow promoting racism, then I’ll eat my hat.
Your principled, reactionary, form replies to anything to do with “racism” don’t apply here, and only work to confuse the issue.
April 5, 2014 @ 9:47 pm
Pretty sure Tim and Faith are huge Democrats and were avid Obama supporters. Which means they’re probably not racist, and also means that Al Sharpton wouldn’t go after them, no matter what stupid thing they said.
The article was very informative. I have never heard of the phrase before, and my guess is that neither have most people who aren’t old enough to have a personal memory of segregation-era bigotry. Either way, knowing what it means/meant now, it makes the everyone involved looked stupid. I’m sure it’s too late to rename anything without taking a massive hit financially/ publicity wise.
April 5, 2014 @ 9:56 pm
That’s just what I was thinking. Democrats are excused by the mainstream media from charges of racism, whether justified or not. Even former U.S. Senator and former KKK member Robert Byrd got a pass. But if Tim were a Republican I’m sure he would be feeling the heat for this title, even if the title were not intended to have anything to do with race.
April 5, 2014 @ 10:56 pm
I don’t think this issue has a political dynamic whatsoever, nor will it moving forward. Tim McGraw and Faith Hill are in no way seen as political animals in the public eye. They may happen to vote for one side and donate money, but I’ve never known either to play political fundraisers or in any other way stump for candidates or flaunt their political affiliations.
Furthermore, I really don’t appreciate seeing type of other-party finger pointing on my website. It’s not helpful here, or anywhere for that matter.
April 5, 2014 @ 10:15 pm
I’m not sure why people are getting worked up over this post. All you’re saying is that Tim’s team should have googled their proposed album title before announcing it publicly, which is true. I had never heard the term before, but no doubt there are parts of the country where it could be an issue.
April 5, 2014 @ 11:17 pm
Trigger I’m just not sure the majority of your readers are able to fully comprehend what you are trying to say. You maybe should have two separate blogs,one for reviews of songs and another for serious discussions. Most country fans,especially fans of real country, are still your older white conservative men. The word racism just stirs something in them that makes their head explode. Even stating over and over you aren’t claiming racism isn’t going to stop them from losing their minds.
Even if only a small percentage of people make the connection I wouldn’t think it would be worth the bad publicity that would come from the title. I’m sure it was just a matter of time before this was brought to light by somebody so why not you.
Keep up the good work, I for one enjoy hearing your point of view on these matters.
April 6, 2014 @ 9:09 am
“Trigger I”™m just not sure the majority of your readers are able to fully comprehend what you are trying to say. ”
I don’t know, Brad. I think the people that comment on article are a extremely small percentage of the people who read it. Another metric that might go against your point might be the comments here that have a high number of “likes.” I do think there are some topics that are bound to get a number of reactionary comments on this site (e.g., racism, Dixie Chicks, Eric Church).
April 6, 2014 @ 11:22 am
I agree that a company as big as BMR should have made the connection. I won’t even finish writing a song without Googling chorus lines and titles, and I am just one guy – McGraw has an entire team of people. Personally, in an age where people seem to be increasingly emotionally immature, preferring to smother or demand altering of things they find offensive (whether it was intended or not), I would like to see Tim and his team stand their ground and say “No, we aren’t making a racist statement. We are keeping the title.” But this is pop music and that is a no-no for sure.
April 6, 2014 @ 11:40 am
Yawn… Its a stupid coincidence. I’ve been to parts of Mexico where gringos aren’t allowed after sundown. Its their town. They make the rules. I’m not complaining.
April 7, 2014 @ 7:01 am
Trig, please let this comment show. I really need to call out RD for being an ignorant racist. He’s an ignorant racist. Read all his comments, man. He’s a racist.
April 7, 2014 @ 7:11 am
If you don’t like this comment, read the one I posted above.
April 6, 2014 @ 1:14 pm
I’m with trig. I do not thing Big Machine or TM did this on purpose but it does need to at least be adressed. I live in SC and I can assure you that the african american population knows the term. They also have heard of TM and would know this album was dropped. Adding “heaven” may not make people think of the term in a bad way at first but it will eventually dawn on them.
my $.02.. what a stupid name any way. It sounds like the album is gonna be more about beer, girls and auto tune…hehe
April 6, 2014 @ 1:24 pm
One almost wonders if this is deliberate? In this day and age of google and focus groups I can’t imagine anything on a Big Machine Record gets out without lots of research. McGraw’s latest records haven’t exactly been setting the world on fire I believe so why not have some added controversy?
April 7, 2014 @ 6:17 am
Unfuckingbelievable
April 7, 2014 @ 10:12 am
I see your point, but there’s no way. Racism is the ultimate kiss of death in today’s world. Everything from the Paula Deen fiasco to the Trayvon Martin story! racism will end your life if it makes to the court of public opinion.
For the record, I don’t believe Tim McGraw or BMR are racist.
April 7, 2014 @ 11:49 am
I agree. Doing a country rap could be controversial and create interest. Being called a racist hasn’t done good for anyone’s career. Just ask Paula Deen.
April 7, 2014 @ 6:56 am
This is not a journalistic piece. This is a sensationalized speculative article with a, once again, misleading title.
Maybe you need to seek out more resources before you start compiling opinions for articles like these. This style of writing and relentless bird-dogging of the comments section paints you as a muckraker with an inflated sense of self.
April 7, 2014 @ 11:56 am
What resources did I need to seek out? What is the information missing from this article that would have made me better informed?
And I’m not bird-dogging comments. From day 1 at Saving Country Music, I have made it a priority to put the views of commenters at the forefront to illustrate that everyone has the right to an opinion and a right to share it. I understand it is an unusual approach, but it is also one of the reasons SCM has one of the most vibrant and healthy comment sections as anywhere you will find on the internet. Just because I may disagree, doesn’t mean I don’t have respect for everyone’s opinion. I read every single comment posted on this site, try to gleen understanding from the things said, and replying to them when I have something to say I think shows that respect.
April 7, 2014 @ 12:29 pm
I don’t work in the media, so maybe I don’t understand why some articles get to copy and some don’t. But, these types of articles seem to me the equivalent of a fluff piece on the local nightly news. There doesn’t seem to be any point to this article.
It’s as if you’re trying to evoke racial commentary. Whether that’s the point of your article or not, with a title like,”Tim McGraw”™s “Sundown Heaven Town” Has Racist Connotations” it’s bound to happen and you know it. I don’t think this is anywhere near news worthy, especially when the release is in such a distant future. The content seems sloppy and lacking any sort of value to the reader.
This is the paragraph where your point of view is apparent and the direction of the article becomes clear:
“But that is not the biggest concern about the Sundown Heaven Town, and it”™s not even close. To the apparent cluelessness of Tim McGraw”™s team and his label Big Machine Records, the title of McGraw”™s new album has very, very strong racist connotations that directly refer back to the segregation and lynching of black people in American history. In fact the oversight seems so obvious, and the parallels so easy to draw, I hesitated posting about this for a few days, thinking it must be some April Fools week joke, or something else was amiss.”
You are drawing a lot of conclusions here. I am with a couple of the other commenters in thinking that the word Heaven in the title changes the meaning completely. Maybe Tim McGraw thought Sundown Town had a good sound to it and it worked well with other phrasing in a song or concept. When he or someone close to him realized what its historical meaning was they changed it. Who knows? But, I think it’s clear that there is no message of ” the segregation and lynching of black people” in the title. You may be reading too far into this one. I just don’t get it. You’re basically reporting on something that could eventually turn into a story…but it isn’t yet. This is why I often bring up in the comments section that you could be spending more time on artists that we care about. Who gives a flying fuck what Tim McGraw is doing?
The popular “country” music industry is going to morph into whatever the bean counters want. The people that are fans of Goddamn Gallows, Hank III, Wayne Hancock, Ray Wiley Hubbard, Lydia Loveless, Scott H. Biram, Sturgill Simpson, etc couldn’t care less. This does not affect people who are going out to shows, buying merch, and supporting these artists. If Hellbound Glory or Sturgill Simpson get national radio play it will not be on a Clear Channel country station.
Also, I do appreciate the comments section of this site. I read frequently and comment occasionally. The fact that you care about the comments section is apparent, but you seldom if ever take criticism, constructive or otherwise.
April 7, 2014 @ 3:31 pm
The problem when it comes to a subject like this is that everyone is so dug into their side of the “race” issue, it doesn’t matter what I say in response to comments. Most of the comments I’m responding to here are people saying that I am accusing Tim McGraw of making a racist statement. Aside from any disagreements of opinion, it is imperative of me to clarify my stance so that if someone takes to Facebook or somewhere else and accuses me of something that is incorrect, at least there’s a paper trail of clarifications to explain the true heart of the matter.
“The content seems sloppy and lacking any sort of value to the reader.”
See, I think this illustrates the dug-in divide that this topic created.
Here’s what another commenter said about it:
“Thank you, thank you, thank you for writing a historically-informed and culturally-aware piece, Trigger.”
So how could two people draw such disparate opinions from the same article? It’s because they come from two different perspectives.
The reason I wrote this article was because I saw many others talking about it, and felt it would be helpful to explain why the title of the album could be a problem. If you disagree with that premise for an article, that’s fine. But clearly many people, including multiple people who piped up in the comments section, found it very helpful and informative.
April 8, 2014 @ 10:58 am
If you do a Google search for “Tim McGraw racist” there is a link to this article and a bunch of links to the recent song “Accidental Racist” media.
If you do a Google search for “Tim McGraw sundown town” there is a link to this article and a bunch of links for positive press concerning his “SUNDOWN HEAVEN TOWN” release.
Your article is the second search item that shows up in both occasions. Where are all the people talking about this?
You’re making news out of nothing, and the worse part is that you’re inciting very strong reactions from tons of people about something that hasn’t happened. If that isn’t muckraking I don’t know what is.
April 14, 2014 @ 3:14 pm
Well first off im a huge Tim Mcgraw fan. When i first heard the album name i was excited. Its a catchy name thats fun to say which i think was the purpose. If anyone knows anything about Tim Mcgraw its that he isnt racist. He has sings with Ne-yo and Nelly. Ne-yo has even been invited over to write songs with Tim and he said Tim and Faith were great Hosts. And the title name certianly isnt because he hasnt had recent success. See Two Lanes of Freedom which produced 3 number one hits and a top 10 hit in Truck Yeah. I do not think the title name will keep it from being a huge success which i think it will be. I havd read reports where radio critics were raving over a couple of songs off the album already. And you should never question Tim Mcgraw on when hes going to release his album. He has already said that he is in the unique position of being able to tour first and debut new songs to fans first then have the album released. He knows what hes doing. Youn dont have a 20 plus year career with numerous acomishments if you dont and for that reason he would never put something out there that would hurt him. Again he knows what hes doin case clolsed.
April 7, 2014 @ 4:19 pm
My first reaction was similar to your reaction, Matt. But I think it’s interesting to know. The fact that the term is part of our history of segregation makes it fair game. Whether it’s an actual hot button may be questionable.
The song itself is full of words new to me and when I heard sundown heaven town I thought it was an odd phrase. It makes me wonder where the song writers heard it and though I know it’s difficult to imagine that the song was conceived at all, I’d like to know how those words came about for the song writer. Where would a young writer have picked up a phrase that has a history to it that seemingly few have heard? I haven’t heard it before. I’m certain I read or heard and interview with Tim where he said the lyric name made him think of the excitement at dusk before the music starts which is how it became the tour name. I’ve looked for it, but haven’t found it yet.
As far as the album release date – it was actually announced in February that the album would be released in May. I think the mixed, mostly negative reaction from older fans to the first single may have changed the game plan. They are going to introduce songs to the fans online throughout the tour. They must think they need to do that. It’s curious, perhaps, but not headline material to a fan.
April 7, 2014 @ 11:20 am
Until Tig reminded me I had forgotten the meaning of sundown towns. I grew up being taught the history of African Americans. I am sure that McGraw, who has never in any way hinted at being a racist,( unlike some other country singers), did not mean this to mean anything more than a catchy label for a cd that will be below par anyway- as all his music seems to be today. The problem that Tig points out is deeper than a simple country song. Young people, white and black, know very little about past racial struggles in this country outside of Rosa Parks and Dr. King. On some levels we should be proud that our country has moved so forward that we no longer jump to racist overtones at the mere whisper of the language of that day. But without that knowledge we as Americans suffer, as any culture would that fails to respect and acknowledge its history. My point is that racism lingers on in many ways in many parts of the country. Should country music be more alert? And why? Is rap or hip-hop any more alert?.
But oddly enough I was told, and then read, that high school Jason Aldean attended was a segregation school- those are Southern schools set up so that white children didn’t have to attend school with black children. Maybe it changed when Alden was there. But it did strike me as odd.
April 7, 2014 @ 2:42 pm
Aldean did attend a well known segregation school. His school provided pre-school through high school education so he likely would have started attending around 1980. At that point in time, many segregation schools still didn’t take in minority students so it is possible that his parents sent him to that private school system to keep him out of desegregated schools. Though it is possible that, since the school was in a larger city (Macon), the school did begin to accept minorities earlier than some other schools in more isolated areas.
I also need to say, I don’t want to accuse Aldean’s parents of being racist. I know absolutely nothing about them. But, considering he was raised only by his mother, attending private school must have been a huge financial burden. She might not have made that decision if avoiding minorities wasn’t important to her.
April 7, 2014 @ 7:03 pm
I’m surprised that you seem to overlook the classic Waylon song; “Don’t Let the Sun Set On You in Tulsa.”, apparently written, and originally performed by Wayne Carson–As I recall, the singer is castigating a man who abused a woman that he likes. It has nothing whatsoever to do with race.
That song immediately came to mind when I saw the McGraw title. I’ll assume McGraw might be making that allusion.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0M7JaPymtg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bENNlxOAQbI
April 7, 2014 @ 8:30 pm
The title is taken from a line of his recent single “Lookin’ For That Girl” that I can guarantee was not inspired by “Don”™t Let the Sun Set On You in Tulsa.” I think it was incidental and coincidental and they had no clue what “Sundown Town” meant.
April 7, 2014 @ 8:58 pm
Witch hunt.
April 9, 2014 @ 9:01 am
Knee jerk.
April 8, 2014 @ 10:46 am
The title isn’t “Sundown Town”. It is Sundown Heaven Town. Taking something out of context to twist it into something racist doesn’t make it racist. Just shows that the one making the observation is looking at everything through a “Could this be viewed as racist” lens.
Your chosen username rhymes with a racist word. What’s the difference?
Close doesn’t make it so.
Then again, you love to make something out of nothing so I’m not surprised.
April 8, 2014 @ 10:50 am
This was all explained in the article above. I found some specific instances in literature where the term was expanded to be “Sundown Heaven Town”. But fine, everyone keep saying I’m making a mountain out of a molehill and resist my desire to nip this thing in the bud. We’ll see if the NAACP sees it your way when they catch wind.
April 8, 2014 @ 11:13 am
The NAACP are some of the biggest racists alive today. Jesse and Al, both of whom are absurdly racist, would call you a racist for having a name that rhymes with a racist word. They’d say you are racist for assuming Tim’s title is racist, meaning you obviously have racism boiling up under your skin. We agree about the NAACP believing it’s racist (holy shit, twice today we agree).
Whatever, I disagree that the name of the album is racist. Context means a lot.
Was high cotton a racist song? Come on, you can make anything racist. Homeboy?
Seriously, anything can be racist if you want it to be. Get over it.
April 8, 2014 @ 11:19 pm
The funny thing about clowns is that they’ll always reveal themselves as clowns. Are you REALLY trying to say that this title doesn’t have racist connotations, even if it is an obvious oversight and not the result of true racism?
I know old white people who treat black people wonderfully but still let the N word slip out now and then. Are they truly racist? No, they don’t understand the power of the word. But should they be held accountable for it? Yes. It should be worked out of their vocabulary.
In that same sense, Sundown Heaven Town should not be accepted as an album title. It may not be born out of racist tendencies but it is very unfortunately brimming with racist connotations.
There’s that whole concept of “thinking before you speak.” Don’t ignore that just because of intention. Trigger isn’t accusing Tim McGraw and his managers of being racist. He’s saying they have a really stupid album title, and it’s true.
Think about it this way, what if you led a group of people and when you spoke your call for silence was Hitler’s straight arm gesture? Don’t you think that would potentially be slightly offensive, and that you may need to think about a different gesture? Just like this album title, it would need to be changed.
April 9, 2014 @ 6:50 am
The power of the word?
Most black people throw the word around like it’s a hot potato. It’s only offensive to them when it’s convenient.
Equality works both ways.
April 8, 2014 @ 11:20 am
You folks that think this is an obscure reference that no one has heard of obviously didn’t grow up in or around a former “sundown town”. It’s real and not that far removed from where we are today. The simplest thing to do is change the name. Oh, and don’t buy it due to the fact it won’t be worth listening to.
April 8, 2014 @ 11:23 am
Btw, can’t we all just get along? ðŸ˜
April 8, 2014 @ 3:08 pm
It will always baffle me how so many people in this country don’t understand the power of words. This album title is NOT being blown out of proportion. Trigger is doing his due diligence in order to bring to light an obvious oversight by McGraw and his team. There’s nothing wrong with that. It would be a REAL problem and a horrible criticism against our country and against what our country very unfortunately calls “country music” if this album were to be released with this title. Now, I would love for there to be negative connotations about this current pop trend, but we all know that all the country haters would apply it to EVERYTHING that has ever come out of the genre. That’s. Not. Good. You should all be commending Trigger for doing his job and for putting forth the effort to protect the integrity of the genre we all love.
April 9, 2014 @ 6:52 am
Suck a little harder.
Trigger is no better than the hate mongers who spend their days hoping to see something they can construe as racist. Bitching and moaning makes them feel important.
April 9, 2014 @ 11:15 am
For your information, the N word that you say black people use all the time is a-ending N word, a completely different, read that twice, DIFFERENT word. I don’t like either form, but as a Caucasian American, I have no right to tell African Americans that a word that is often part of their dialect is the same word that was used against them for years. They made a small change to the original word and made it an affectionate term. What’s wrong with that?
You’re probably just a bitter middle aged to old white person who has no clue what truly constitutes racism. Your opinion makes the rest of us white people look bad. If you don’t know and understand the power of words, keep your damn mouth shut. Again, Trigger did NOT say that Sundown Heaven Town was purposely racist. He said that the album title has racist connotations that McGraw and his team overlooked when they chose the title. He’s right. If you can’t comprehend that, that’s your problem, not his or anybody else’s.
April 9, 2014 @ 11:40 am
“the word black people use all the time is an a-ending word”. . .
That’s absolutely asinine. Bill Cosby, Dr. Ben Carson, and other highly intelligent men whom I hold in high regards would disagree with you vehemently and proclaim that the very thing you suggest is a problem amongst today’s African American society, particularly young males.
I’ll agree to disagree with you. If you honestly believe the idiocy you just posted, we are never going to agree, and that’s okay with me.
April 9, 2014 @ 1:41 pm
I just said that I don’t like either form of the word, but as a white American I have no right to tell African Americans whether or not their adopted form of the word is the same word.
April 8, 2014 @ 3:37 pm
Words are powerful. That was one of the most intelligent comments on here.
Paul Revere knew the power of words.
April 9, 2014 @ 9:05 am
This needed to be brought up. Trigger brought it up. Good job, man. Correct amount of investigation, too.
If I was Tim McGraw, I would want it brought to my attention, in whatever manner. This story right here works just fine.
April 9, 2014 @ 1:43 pm
At least we know it’ll be a shitty album, regardless.
I can’t believe this fucking guy. Complains and complains about Curb for years, finally gets his freedom, then proceeds to shit on any integrity he might have had in the first place and starts releasing the worst music of his career. Now, “Highway Don’t Care” is a fantastic song, but even blind squirrels have a small stash of acorns, somewhere. How he picked such a great song but otherwise picked a bunch of garbage is beyond me.
I’m starting to wonder if McGraw means “puppet” in another language.
April 10, 2014 @ 9:30 am
Martin Luther King, Jr’s words are still inspiring.
April 10, 2014 @ 4:49 pm
REACHING a little I think…
Waylon Jennings – ” don’t let the sun set on you in Tulsa”
I hate to defend Tim McGraw and normally agree with Trigger. Not this time.
April 10, 2014 @ 5:28 pm
It’s not a matter of defending McGraw. The problem is that people do reach on such matters. If I were his team, I would at least give this a close look and be prepared.
September 12, 2014 @ 4:27 pm
Hmmm…I was shocked at seeing the title even before I read your article. The thing is that sundown towns are not of the past. They still exist.A book was recently written identifying some modern towns as sundown specifically because they segregate. These towns don’t just exist in the South. They are in states like Il as well. Educate yourselves people. The problem about racism is that now it’s swept under a rug and people pretend it doesn’t exist. We need to make these things known if we want to end them.
September 14, 2014 @ 6:57 am
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAPX4oNofNU&feature=youtube_gdata_player
September 14, 2014 @ 7:00 am
http://sundown.afro.illinois.edu/sundowntowns.php
September 22, 2014 @ 2:50 pm
Hopefully it was an oversight. Very racist history in the title though. Helps to do your homework 😮
October 7, 2024 @ 9:31 am
This is all crazy. It’s gotten to the point where you can’t say anything without it being racist or directed towards racism. I knew nothing of this saying and never would have if it wasn’t for this article, interesting. When I read the title I thought of something completely different. In fact my mind went to beautiful sunsets in a town full of love and the faith in Gods country. I find it interesting how three words can mean so many different things. From past history to today history.