He don't have Big, but he has Rich.
Called his trophy wife sump'n worse than a b*tch.

Slimes Obama with the help of The News.
Wears Five Hundred Dollar Imported Shoes.

(not for publication):
Likes a Messiah, but not if he's black;
He's one of Bush's political hacks

As you would expect, the more folk- and roots-oriented a country musician tends to be (think Willie Nelson), the more his politics skew liberal. Cash was by no means a leftist; but he did have a working-class populist view of the world (which he carried right out of the 60s), and he never embraced the belligerent nationalism of the Reagan era. The loudmouth conservative country musicians (like Montgomery Gentry) are usually the slick, big-money Nashville artists whose politics tend to play to key red-state demographics. There are exceptions: the Dixie Chicks of course; and no one would ever accuse Garth Brooks or Trish Yearwood of being conservative.

It's not even Nashville country versus, say, Austin country. It's very much a dichotomy between the Establishment Nashville and non-Establishment country/Americana/folk/roots folks. The Establishment has tried to adopt Johnny Cash as one of their own, but, of course, they seem to have conveniently forgotten the famous ad that the Man took out featuring himself giving the Finger to them. Anyone that listens to the Man in Black (the song) would know that he ain't no Republican (he also made the Establishment nervous by his opposition to the Vietnam war).

Emmylou Harris, Steve Earle, Rodney Crowell, and Nanci Griffith all call Nashville home (well, Earle recently moved to NYC with his wife, but still), and they are as liberal as anyone (except maybe James McMurtry).

Rich is just a loud, Establishment idiot. He's frankly a country-music version of Britney Spears, since she's so much in the news (?) these days. That Rich thinks Cash would back McCain shows the depth of his ignorance -- or the shallowness. BTW, I'd rather drill out my eardrums than listen to the crap country that Big & Rich epitomizes.

Alt-country artists, especially the Austin/Texas contingent, are surprisingly vocal in their political leanings, in spite of the composition of much of their fanbase. It's an interesting intersection of humanity.  

Merle Haggard has made a complete about face politically. He was ,surprisingly, a big Hillary Clinton fan.

is interesting politically. In one of his recent albums (maybe his latest one, I don't know for sure) he really went after the political establishment, as you say. His song "Where's all the Freedom?" is the foremost example of his conservative populism. It's a very unique set of views, but does make sense from the perspective of the conservative rural Oklahoma that his family hailed from. He's as upset about the fact that God can't be openly worshiped or prayed to in public schools as by the fact that the government lies.

I love Merle's music. He's really the least well known of the outlaw country set, but his sound is the most unique with the whole Buck Owens sound/vibe. He still sings the best songs about drinkin' and prison.

His support for Hillary is interesting. I suspect her more forceful fightin' style appealed to him.  

Also, you can add Del McCoury to the list of non- establishment/alt-country musicians---he was an early and vocal supporter of Jim Webb.

blue collar Reagan Democrat, so-called NASCAR vote.  

And also going for the smartass hip technies, as shown in the latest McCain attack ad on the Web, showcased on Salon.com today:
m/watch?v=mopkn0lPzM8
It mocks Obama as seeing himself as The Messiah. I think we are now seeing the Shock and Awe theory at work, and it will be unrelenting.  

Any reasonable person who pledges to uphold the Constitution and reverse Bush's signing statements would be viewed as a Messiah. Obama is right when he says a lot of this has to do with the fact that he is not George W. Bush. We do need to be saved from the Bush legacy.

I hadn't thought about it this way before.  It would be great if Obama could smilingly dismiss McCain's Messiah attack, by saying "Of course, Americans don't really think I'm a savior; it's just that after over seven years of Bush and McCain promising more of the same, any candidate who vows to change things for the better is going to look like a savior."

It's the positive way of saying what Harry Truman said about his opponents:

I never gave anybody hell. I just told the truth and they think it's hell.
As quoted in My Fellow Americans : The Most Important Speeches of America's Presidents (2003) by Michael Waldman, p. 137

I have a friend who is just finishing a book on some of this music. She also covers a lot of the politics behind it as well. Basically, the establishment version of this music is the "cryin' in your beer" type. It usually centers around a sort of go nowhere life where there are few real choices and a lot of bad things happen over and over again (How many dogs can run away, trucks break down, and wives leave in one lifetime?).

My friend and I have designated this the music of problem people. Those are people who cannot readily focus on solutions, but only on problems, past, present, and future. Eventually a person can even find a sense of importance in  being an eternal victim, if you can imagine that. This type of thinking grew out of the Scotch-Irish tradition which came from England where these two groups were constantly pitted against each other and there was no escape. This was the way the British power structure was able to disctract and disempower these two groups.

Unfortunately the Republicans have found they can do the same thing with working class Southern whites in this country. It takes a lot to wake up from this endless cycle of problem living and I suppose country music would have to change a lot if that were to happen.

as a permanent mindset among the Reagan Democrats is one way of describing their culture-wars and deep anger at feeling taken advantage of by the modern world ---- a very perceptive comment, Rebecca. (Interestingly, it also describes, to some degree, the Shi-ite brand of Islam, especially in Iraqi history).  They will not, cannot, give up the comfort of seeing themselves as victims, born underdogs kept down by the tricky systems of "elites" and by events over which they have no control.

On the other hand, if they can find a champion who expresses their anger, undertands them (they think),and promises them satisfaction and justification like a temporal Messiah so to speak, they can be galvanized. Is that one reason McCain's recent ads have tried to tarnish Obama, portraying him as a glib but empty-headed out-of-touch celebrity elitist who thinks he is a Messiah? By mocking and diminishing Obama, do McCain's Rovian handlers believe they can prevent these angry white males (and their female counterparts) from suddenly seeing Obama's appeal, hoping thereby to turn them against Obama on a gut level?  

Unfortunately the Republicans have found they can do the same thing with working class Southern whites in this country. It takes a lot to wake up from this endless cycle of problem living and I suppose country music would have to change a lot if that were to happen.

I am a white southern working class man (50 yrs old btw), the Repubs don't speak MY language or that of many of my friends. In fact, many of us don't even like country music.

I suggest you leave the stereotyping to the GOP, and focus on let's turning Virginia blue!

Peace

slice up the electorate and micro-manage their advertising, remember "soccer moms?"  This has been one of the great strengths of the GOP attack machine and of Rovian tactics in general, and it has, sadly, worked until now at least. They have shown an uncanny ability to winkle out surprising hot buttons, creating the very concept of "culture wars," to their advantage.  Pollsters certainly have aided and abetted the GOP in the defining of various electoral segments (sometimes to the astonishment of the members of those segments, who are surprised to find someone else articulating resentments they themselves did not know they had).  

Given the results the GOP has achieved with these methods, it is not unreasonable to do a little counter slicing and dicing, along with a little targeted responding and, hopefully, manage to change the Rovian framing of the description of these segments and their hot buttons.  I agree, Mr. White, we should not be trapped by mass stereotyping, but should concentrate on turning Virginia blue. In order to do that, though, we must first choose the ground for our battle, understand those we wish to recruit as allies, have a plan and, dare I say it, a time line. You may not like Rebecca's initial outline or choice of words, but I suspect as a start she is on the right track.