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Country Music Goes to War CHARLES K. WOLFE and JAMES E. AKENSON (Eds) University Press of Kentucky, Lexington, 2005
Country music and military engagements appear to be a match made in.. .Tennessee, Texas, Oklahoma, and Georgia. Performers, publicists, and patrons of country tunes are conditioned to deal with loss. Either sitting alone on the couch at home or hunching forward on a roadhouse barstool, female and male recording artists bemoan lost loves, lost relatives, lost trucks, missed trains, lost money, lost virginity, lost dignity, empty beer bottles, and lost time (in prison, on the assembly line, or in foreign lands as soldiers). Memories dominate lyrics. Another more emotionally extravagant segment of country recordings negates loss in favor of hero worship, dancing, wild women, fundamental faith, and family. These tunes revere rockin' redneck rebels, blaring jukeboxes and guitar pickin', hip-shakin' juke joint chicks and line dancing mania, traditional gospel tunes, and boundless sympathy for mothers or stand-by-your-man wives. Patriotism thrives, too. Flag-waving, soldier-praising, bomb-dropping, take-no-prisoners, accept-no-dissent Americanism is also a country music staple. From "Okie from Muskogee" to "Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue (The Angry American)," there's little room for debate, uncertainty, diversity, or reflective reconsideration. With no doubt about God's allegiance (the same Deity who blessed Texas with women and continues to shower the USA with Lee Greenwood-guaranteed approval), there is no room for conscientious objectors, pacifists, draft dodgers, deserters, or anti-military professors or politicians. There is absolutely no reason to question presidential leadership, military justice, and the righteousness of US military involvements yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Bob Dylan be damned. God /5 unequivocally on our side.
What expectations arise about a 14-essay anthology titled Country Music Goes to Wan Review of home-front loyalty, demonstrated by mom and girlfriend letterwriting, brotherly unity among domestic and international troops, and mass rallies of support in Nashville, Austin, and Tulsa seem appropriate. Fears of death and dying might be probed. Anger at dissent and pacifism could be examined. Content analyses of war lyrics performed by prominent country tunesmiths might be compared and contrasted with songs by Tin Pan Alley wordsmiths or contemporary blues writers. This century-long coverage of recorded music might be supported by sheet music to cover events from the Spanish-American War and through World...