Another reason to be glad you're not in Texas: A man was assaulted and told to "go back to Iraq" for remaining seated while a "patriotic" country song played at a rodeo. (via The Fix)

(Since 9/11, country music has made a resurgence as a sincere voice of American nationalism, and is now well back in the mainstream in the US. I wonder how this will affect the cultural stock of alt-country among hipster types; I can't see the twang having the same amount of ironic cachet in the age of Toby Keith and red-blooded patriot anthems all over Clear Channel.)

Posted by: Graham | http://grudnuk.com | Sun Mar 16 13:54:27 2003

*sigh*. More style over substance cultural riffing, acb? Lesseee...

Ryan Adams: turned into self-aggrandising prat (somewhat appropriate, considering how much he loves the Smiths. Someone needs to sic Mojo Nixon on to him.) Wilco: Not really country anymore. If they ever were. Lyle Lovett: Hmm... Steve Earle: Too open-minded to fall for that bull. Kinky Friedman: Strange love-hate relationship with 43, I suspect...

Posted by: Graham | http://grudnuk.com | Sun Mar 16 14:33:16 2003

Oh, and then there's the Dixie Chicks thing too... http://www.cnn.com/2003/SHOWBIZ/Music/03/14/dixie.chicks.reut/index.html

Posted by: Ed | http://asseptic.org/blog | Sun Mar 16 14:40:11 2003

Two-minute Hate anyone?

Posted by: MJ | http:// | Mon Mar 17 18:59:10 2003

Aw, that smooth pop crap Nashville calls "country" has been the most popular music for white Americans for decades. "Alt.country" has much more in common with punk rock and wants nothing to do with that other "genre", even if the relationship is purely ironic.

Posted by: MJ | http:// | Mon Mar 17 18:59:57 2003

BTW, sorry for all the "quotes" in that last comment.

Posted by: acb | http://dev.null.org | Tue Mar 18 02:11:55 2003

Would you classify Toby Keith as "smooth pop" alongside the Dixie Chicks and such?

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