On Facebook recently, there was a discussion about how the entertainment industry in the US has almost become a one party state for the Democrats, with the sole exception of the Country Music scene, where although there are some Democrats like Emmylou Harris, these tend to be artists outside the mainstream, and the prominent voices of Music Row Democrats tend to be record label executives not performers. This reveals a huge racial, social and class divide in US popular culture.
Paradoxically, among Nashville A-listers the only high profile Democrat is the flag waving Toby Keith. (worth watching Toby Keith’s “courtesy of the Red White and Blue“, to understand the mindset, if you are unfamiliar with it).
But from the fringes of East Nashville, enjoy Todd Snider
jim mclean on said:
Missed the country posts.
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Andy Newman on said:
They’ll be back
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Hoom on said:
Toby Keith hasn’t been a registered Democrat since 2008.
But country music is generally more nuanced than people think. If you look at social liberalism, Garth Brooks and Dolly Parton are both pro gay marriage.
Even on party politics it’s less uniform than it’s often presented, especially when you start looking at Texas country.
Willie Nelson isn’t one for polemics (he’s no Earle), but I think it’s pretty clear by now that he’s a Democrat. I’ve also suspected the same is true for Bobby Bare sr, although he’s not really A List.
Then you get complex figures like Merle Haggard. Voted Reagan. Absolutely despised George Bush.
If you’ve not read it, I highly recommend Chris Willman’s Rednecks & Bluenecks: The Politics of Country Music. He manages to get interviews with a lot of the players in this; Haggard, Keith, Snider, Nelson and a lot more all get an airing.
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jock mctrousers on said:
It’s that ‘ Waylon & Willie and the boys… ‘ song with the words changed, again. We find a lot of this. Still, it had quite a pleasant ‘vibe’… mustn’t grumble.
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Andy Newman on said:
I have read Willman’s book, that you mention. I am fairly clear in my recollection that Willie Nelson said in the interview in that book that he mainly did not vote, but when he had voted it was Republican. This despite being – as you say – Democrat leaning, and a friend of Jimmy Carter.
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Andy Newman on said:
Highly complex. I believe that Haggard has endorsed Democrat candidates in the past. And his social attitudes are also complex and hard to pidgeon hole.
Btw. It was interesting at this year’s CMA, that Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood mocked Trump, though it was more Mike Garwood than Spitting Image.
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Hoom on said:
Nelson definitely was praising both Sanders and Clinton back in 2015 which is interesting. https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/2015/11/27/willie-nelson-im-a-great-bernie-and-hillary-fan/
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Andy Newman on said:
Thanks for that.
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Jellytot on said:
Sanders would have won it. Dems chose a terrible candidate.
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John Grimshaw on said:
Jellytot,
I agree. However Trump is now president. Be afraid, very afraid.
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Jellytot on said:
Isn’t he less of a Hawk and neo-con than Clinton??
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Jellytot on said:
Trump motivated pissed off poor Whites to vote in big numbers. People who never voted in past elections.
I have seen rural white Pennsylvania. The father of an American I once dated was from Port Carbon (a place similar to that town featured at the start of the movie The Deerhunter)……beyond grim nowadays…..white unemployment and meth everywhere.
These places put Trump in.
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jim mclean on said:
Jellytot,
Trump got the mostly high earng whites, Sanders destroyed Clintons credibility within the Black and Blue Collar community, but simply 65% of White men and 55% of white women voted Trump.
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Jellytot on said:
High earning whites??
Are there enough of those left to deliver that sort of victory?
Blacks have always had it tough but the white working and lower middle classes have been battered by globalization.
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Karl Stewart on said:
Jellytot,
Absolutely spot on. Bernies Sanders’s strongest support during the primaries came from those so-called “rust-belt swing states”. In this election, his message of opposing NAFTA from the left would have carried those states.
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Jellytot on said:
Karl Stewart,
He certainly couldn’t have done much worse !
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Andy Newman on said:
I have noticed a phenomenon that those on Facebook who actually thought Clinton was a strong candidate were also those who supported Owen Smith.
This is a revolt against the liberal centre, who have placed more emphasis on identity politics than on ensuring an economy that provides prosperity and secure jobs for working people.
The Democrats proposition was to seek to assemble enough votes from special interests and minorities to carry them over the line, while slavishly supporting neo-liberalism at home and neo-conservatism abroad.
There are vast swathes of US political opinions, from the trade unions at one extreme, to the Pat Buchanan type conservatives on the other end, who find no representation through that system, and search for the least bad option. It is a political system that is broken.
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jim mclean on said:
Seems so, Trump voters Median earnings $72000 against average of $56000, Clinton and Sanders were both supported by those on the $61000 median. We have to stand back and take an analytical view, but one thing is clear, there is little evidence supporting a major blue collar swing, not even to a Regans Democrats level
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jim mclean on said:
jim mclean,
link
http://tinyurl.com/ovsdsvx
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jim mclean on said:
Clinton lost the areas where unemployment was on the downfall. Stick the red flag up yer arse I’ve got a decent job at last.
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