The Dixie Chicks, These Ain't
This post is
Dedicated to the Lightbulb and his wife and other haters of country music wherever they may be found....
In the office, I sometimes tune to Accuradio.com. The free internet radio has interesting offerings. For example, there's the main 80s station, but there are also four other choices. That's five different channels of Eighties music. (Who'd have thought?) But under country music, Accuradio offers no less than seventeen sub-channels: marriage songs, married (but not to each other), songs about families, songs by men, songs by women, etc.
I wanted to take just a moment to note one of these categories: Red White & Blue Country. I've always believed that no group in the entertainment business loved this nation more than its country singers (with some exceptions). But I had no idea how many songs were out there on the subject. Many of these are post-9/11.
Consider these titles:
1. This Ain't No Rag, it's a Flag (Charlie Daniels)
2. Courtesy of the Red, White, & Blue (Toby Keith)
3. Star Spangled Banner (versions by Faith Hill, Leann Rhimes, and Ricochet--the Glad of country music; click here MR. LIGHTBULB to hear the song).
4. My Lucky Stars & Stripes
5. Arlington (about the cemetery--sung from the point of view of one buried there)
6. Travelin' Soldier
7. A Soldier's Prayer
8. Where the Stars & Stripes & the Eagle Fly
9. Days of America
10. Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning? (about 9/11)
11. One Last Time
12. In America
13. Country Boy Can Survive (Hank Williams, Jr.)
14. America Will Survive (Hank's post 9/11 remake)
15. Homeland
16. You Got to Stand for Something
17. Something to Be Proud of
18. Private Malone
19. Forty-Hour Week (Alabama)
20. Letters from Home
21. Come Home Soon
22. God Bless the USA (Lee Greenwood's classic)
23. Hey Hollywood (a complaint about anti-American rants from movie stars and etc.)
24. Hey Mr. President (we stand with you)
I started making a list once and it got pretty long, so I thought I would share it. Some of these songs are pretty good, and not easy to find on traditional radio.
Are there others? What great songs about America am I missing? Let me know if you have a favorite.
God bless the veterans, the troops, and the USA.
(And may God bless you and yours.)
Dedicated to the Lightbulb and his wife and other haters of country music wherever they may be found....
In the office, I sometimes tune to Accuradio.com. The free internet radio has interesting offerings. For example, there's the main 80s station, but there are also four other choices. That's five different channels of Eighties music. (Who'd have thought?) But under country music, Accuradio offers no less than seventeen sub-channels: marriage songs, married (but not to each other), songs about families, songs by men, songs by women, etc.
I wanted to take just a moment to note one of these categories: Red White & Blue Country. I've always believed that no group in the entertainment business loved this nation more than its country singers (with some exceptions). But I had no idea how many songs were out there on the subject. Many of these are post-9/11.
Consider these titles:
1. This Ain't No Rag, it's a Flag (Charlie Daniels)
2. Courtesy of the Red, White, & Blue (Toby Keith)
3. Star Spangled Banner (versions by Faith Hill, Leann Rhimes, and Ricochet--the Glad of country music; click here MR. LIGHTBULB to hear the song).
4. My Lucky Stars & Stripes
5. Arlington (about the cemetery--sung from the point of view of one buried there)
6. Travelin' Soldier
7. A Soldier's Prayer
8. Where the Stars & Stripes & the Eagle Fly
9. Days of America
10. Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning? (about 9/11)
11. One Last Time
12. In America
13. Country Boy Can Survive (Hank Williams, Jr.)
14. America Will Survive (Hank's post 9/11 remake)
15. Homeland
16. You Got to Stand for Something
17. Something to Be Proud of
18. Private Malone
19. Forty-Hour Week (Alabama)
20. Letters from Home
21. Come Home Soon
22. God Bless the USA (Lee Greenwood's classic)
23. Hey Hollywood (a complaint about anti-American rants from movie stars and etc.)
24. Hey Mr. President (we stand with you)
I started making a list once and it got pretty long, so I thought I would share it. Some of these songs are pretty good, and not easy to find on traditional radio.
Are there others? What great songs about America am I missing? Let me know if you have a favorite.
God bless the veterans, the troops, and the USA.
(And may God bless you and yours.)
posted by S. at
1:41 PM
20 Comments:
Appropriate that your list should begin with Charlie Daniels. He was great in the patriotic rodeo last year, along with Lee G. and Neal McCoy.
I love the patriotism, and might get the Gaither Homecoming patriotic CD or DVD sometime. Lee Ann Womack sang at the capitol Memorial Day concert.
I think most successful country singers have at least one patriotic song on their albums.
But mostly I love country music done well. It is purer and cleaner musically than most of what I'm hearing these days, and even the earthy stuff isn't ear-splitting.
It may be an acquired taste for some, and some people I know are simply musical snobs who would never give it a chance. Their loss. Imagine never having heard Willie and Waylon! ;-)
By
Anonymous, at 3:22 PM, May 30, 2006
Agreed. But the interesting thing is that much of what is dismissed, by my friend Damien, for example, is 'commercial pop' in every way. Often the only thing that gives it a country classification is the clothes or image of the singer. Kenny Rogers, for example, is mostly pop. The differences have grown very subtle--but that's not to say they are not easy to spot. Steel guitars, for example stand out so much. And I don't like them anyway. But sometimes I think producers put them in a song just to make it seem more authentic country--which is ridiculous. But let's not get into that whole corporate shill vs. street cred issue.
By
S., at 4:34 PM, May 30, 2006
If you want to hear some pedal steel guitar you might like, check out Robert Randolph and the Family Band. He comes out of a church music tradition--his small denonmination uses the pedal steel as their main instrument for worship music. He's made a crossover into the "jam band" scene (think Phish, Grateful Dead, Allman Brothers) without thumbing his nose at his roots. Easy to listen to, as long as your feet can move. Not necessarily in the same vein as the patrotic country music listed above, but not out of keeping with it, either.
By
Anonymous, at 5:18 PM, May 30, 2006
Wow, what an interesting sound.
I also love The Blind Boys of Alabama and nearly any bluegrass.
I'm veering from the patriotic, but at least I'm not endorsing English (or Irish or any other) rock stars!
By
Anonymous, at 8:09 PM, May 30, 2006
Thanks, Mike. And I do like it. But that's certainly not the same steel guitar sound, is it?
M-The Blind Boys are great. One interesting song (on your cd) is their Amazing Grace sung to the tune and style of Cream's "White Room." If you like that song, you are certainly endorsing rock on some level. (Click here to listen to Cream's original, either an audio clip or the video of the whole song: http://www.artistdirect.com/nad/music/artist/listenwatch/0,,418477,00.html
Anywho, I'll forever be a fish out of water for having pre-rock, pre-counter-culture parents. And I do thank God for your influence. But I love rock-n-roll, especially when it's free of drugs, angst, and pointless rebellion. (But then is it still rock, some would ask?)
By
S., at 8:06 AM, May 31, 2006
MDM--guess who's all over the net? Your bass-playing cousin and lead singer, Walter.
See him in the band "Bushbullit," here: http://www.rattlesnakeraces.com/images/live%20entertainment.htm
And you can listen to him play bass for "Five Card Draw" here:
http://www.taliesyn.com/five%20Card%20Draw.htm
I just knew you were wondering about him....
By
S., at 8:12 AM, May 31, 2006
Oh, you silly! That guy's from
Ohio and his middle name is Edward and his dad's name was George.
Otherwise, a perfect match, though.
By
Anonymous, at 1:14 PM, May 31, 2006
The who and the what now?
I checked my sources, and believe me--it's Walter. The one who used to come over and play piano by ear and sing hymns till we let him stop? The one who coaches at Cal Allen (see http://www.angelfire.com/ar3/calallen_hs/CHSGOLFINDEX.html )
The same Walter who traveled with the Chelsea Street Pub band? Who told me never to stop practicing piano? It's him.
By
S., at 1:51 PM, May 31, 2006
Now, now, now. It's not that I hate country music, it's that I like so little of it. There are a few country songs I could consider good. Seriously. I can't name them right now, but I will think on it.
My criticism in general about country is (1) typically limited thematic material — if you play country music backwards you get your dog back, you get your wife back, and you sober up — and (2) it doesn't seem to take alot of talent to sing a typical country music song. There's a reason I criticize American Idol contestants as having a "Wille Nelson vibrato". I can't stand to hear a human voice mimic the shaking of a Volkswagen engine.
By
Mr. Light Bulb, at 4:40 AM, June 01, 2006
True enough. I would concede those points, arguing only that the same can be said of most pop music--especially your first point: nine out of ten songs are about romance coming or going, as if there is nothing else in life worth singing about. The message--if you were to pour all pop music into a big pot, and skim off the cream--seems to be that "The greatest happiness in life will come when you find another person to fulfill you, and that person better be truly hot, and if the passions ever cool, dump them because it was never meant to be, and go out and find your turned-on, passion-filled soulmate."
I may be wrong, but I think country music actually has more thematic variety than 'top 40' pop music. Both are shallow in their treatment of most subjects (including romance) but country music has a tendency (with many exceptions) to honor more traditional values than other pop music, e.g., God, family, old folks, the military, animals, etc. It's because they share 'some' of my values that I have always been something of a country fan.
By
S., at 7:57 AM, June 01, 2006
L.B., I'll admit Willie is an acquired taste. One I never expected to even consider. But
I was blindsided, I guess! I hate his lifestyle and example and am proud of my Austin friend who has fought for drug-free kids for years. But he sure can sing! The themes seem the same as pop to me.
I don't analyze any of them too much.
E., I can't believe you sold your banjo! I never even got to hear you play it! I assume you still have at least one guitar. If not, I know where some are. ;-)
Guess I'm more or less clueless, but I thought we agreed on several things! We both like Robb, we both love Jesus, we tolerate Dennis well - what else can matter?
By
Anonymous, at 11:10 AM, June 01, 2006
Oh, and I am boycotting the Dixie
Chicks, who have no class whatsoever and know diddly squat about foreign policy. Sadly their
new album is #1, despite my refusal to buy it.
By
Anonymous, at 11:15 AM, June 01, 2006
How about we boycott all entertainers who know diddly squat about foreign policy? Wonder who that might leave....
(Nothing personal, I just find it a funny thought.)
By
S., at 7:44 AM, June 02, 2006
I try to, when they speak out as if they DID know something about it, and as if it MATTERED TO ANYONE
what they think.
However, I do not view support of
our country to be controversial.
So I'll allow that. ;-)
By
Anonymous, at 1:10 PM, June 02, 2006
Yes. Where would we be without Ted Danson on oceanography, Tom Cruise on fossil fuels, Streisand on electric cars, etc.? You really should respect your bully pulpit.
(Oh, and Linda Ronstadt complained that she didn't want any of those extremist Christians to buy her music. I forget why.)
Laura INgraham's book title says it all: SHUT UP AND SING.
By
S., at 2:41 PM, June 02, 2006
The Dixie Chicks? Aren't their 15 minutes up yet? I figured their Leftist defenders would've demanded they take Dixie out of their name since the word is so non-PC these days. A much better name for them would be the Ditsy Chicks.
Anyway, as for the statements of Miss Ronstadt a.k.a that oh-so-great has been and ex-girlfriend of former California Governor Jerry Green, I figure she would be grateful that anyone would be willing to purchase her concert tickets or CDs regardless of whether they agreed with her politically or religiously. Morris suggested we all go to her next concert, sit in the front row wearing T-shirts that say "Jesus Loves Linda Ronstadt" on them.
By
Anonymous, at 7:13 AM, June 03, 2006
And back to your list...you can add
"In God We Still Trust" by Diamond Rio.
By
Anonymous, at 8:08 AM, June 03, 2006
By the way, I did go and listen to Ricochet's arrangement of the National Anthem. Nice. But, while singing 4- or 5-part acapela can be challenging, there was nothing terribly advanced about it. Just a nice sound.
By
Mr. Light Bulb, at 8:17 PM, June 08, 2006
Boo hoo! The Ditsy chicks are having to head north to the Canucks in search of folks who will buy their concert tickets since no one wants to buy them way down South in Dixie-
http://wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=50652
I wonder if they know "Cry Me A River"?
By
Anonymous, at 7:39 PM, June 14, 2006
Maybe they know, "Brother, can you spare a dime?"
By
S., at 6:27 AM, June 15, 2006
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