“Oh, you know, I listen to pretty much anything but country.” How often have you heard this banal statement of musical taste? It’s become so easy to dismiss country music this way. Alas, poor country-it’s fallen so low in the eyes of so many people. If country were a college course, it’d be E Comp; if it were an alcoholic beverage, O’Douls; an actor, Steve Guttenberg; a singer, Scott Stapp of Creed, and so on. Country is the easiest genre to ridicule and almost certainly the least popular of the “popular” musics among students here. But I say it’s time to put the hatin’ aside and add country to Cadenza’s rapidly growing list of “thing that do not suck”-which so far includes Ashlee Simpson, John Mayer and emo. So before you fall prey to pulling the “anything but country” card, stop to think what you’re really saying.
“Anything but country.” Really? Anything? How about industrial metal? Gregorian chant? Tuvan throat singing, perhaps? No, I think you’re lying to me. You wouldn’t really listen to anything but country. You just find security in country’s universal hate-ability. Like the “anybody but Bush” mantra, “anything but country” says more about your allegiance to the party than your own personal taste. But why have the collegiate powers that be designated country as the whipping boy of the musical world?
One of the reasons is actually quite easy to sympathize with. I’ll be the first to admit that contemporary country is basically atrocious. What used to be a sincere, heart-felt genre now sounds like it was produced by Joe Simpson, father of Jessica and Ashlee-all flash and no soul. We’re used to crossover stars like Garth Brooks and Shania Twain performing in stadiums, sporting headsets and pulling lame stage moves amidst glaring pyrotechnics. Oftentimes the only thing that separates country from Christina Aguilera is a little well-placed twang or a conciliatory fiddle line.
Then there’s the whole “patriotic” thing. “Jingoistic” is more like it. When Toby Keith drawls, “We’ll put a boot in yer ass, it’s the American way,” and Darryl Worley asks all them pesky liberal yellow-bellies, “Have you forgotten?” it comes off with all the subtlety of a patented Dick Cheney “fuck yourself.” Country stars have been getting too big for their proverbial britches, propagating their universal “American values” rather than focusing on individual stories.
The other reasons, however, mainly come off as elitist and disdainful. Who listens to country music? Most likely the people in those red states that made their presence so irritatingly felt in the election last week. The sort of people that watch NASCAR, own one or more guns and turn to Fox for all their news coverage. The last sort of people we enlightened college students would want to associate with. (As a final reason, there’s also country’s traditional failure to be “danceable” or “good party music.” But if you’ve made it this far into the column, these probably aren’t your sole criteria for deciding which CDs to buy.)
But to categorically dismiss country music for these reasons is to throw the baby out with the bathwater. I’m not particularly fond of nu-metal (hate it, is more like it), but that doesn’t keep me from blowing most of my money on rock records every week. In other words, don’t let modern country keep you from discovering some of the truly great artists of country and western. Perhaps you like Wilco, even their earlier work. Why not check out their progenitors Uncle Tupelo while you’re at it? And if you’re going to listen to Uncle Tupelo, take the next step and explore some of the more famous “outlaw” and “alternative” country artists of the ’70s, like Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings and Gram Parsons. Like what you hear? Then you might enjoy truly old-school country boys like Merle Haggard and George Jones. What better music for lamenting your lost sweetheart, drowning in a sea of tears and whiskey? And then you’ll naturally arrive at Hank Williams, and you’ll have discovered one of the most important songwriters of the 20th century. Then perhaps country will cease to be “anything but” music, and you’ll enjoy its plaintive, honest storytelling, unique vocalizations and undeniable spirit.