Seeker of Truth
06-02-2003, 05:41 PM
Country Music In Battle Over Patriotism, Free Speech
By CRAIG HAVIGHURST
Staff Writer
Some fear intolerant atmosphere will lead to self-censorship
As thousands of country fans stream into Nashville this week for Fan Fair, the country music community is wrestling, perhaps as never before, over issues of patriotism and free speech.
Some fans and observers say country music, in responding to Sept. 11 and subsequent global events, has gone beyond its traditional support of America and the armed forces and begun to cultivate an atmosphere that's intolerant of dissent from the Bush administration's strategies in the war on terror.
Rabble-rousing songs by Toby Keith and Darryl Worley have become smash hits. Widespread radio station boycotts of Dixie Chicks music after lead singer Natalie Maines' critical remark about President Bush in London left many thinking that country music was drawing ideological lines.
''If you were just casually listening to country radio in the last year, you would think it was the music of Republicans,'' says Beverly Keel, country music journalist and Middle Tennessee State University associate professor. ''That's (been) reinforced with the way the Dixie Chicks have been treated.''
The environment, she says, may be leading to self-censorship on Music Row.
''Unfortunately, there's a climate right now that probably strikes fear in the heart of singers and songwriters who don't agree with the prevailing winds,'' she says.
More @ tennessean.com (http://tennessean.com/entertainment/music/fanfair/archives/03/05/33619336.shtml?Element_ID=33619336)
By CRAIG HAVIGHURST
Staff Writer
Some fear intolerant atmosphere will lead to self-censorship
As thousands of country fans stream into Nashville this week for Fan Fair, the country music community is wrestling, perhaps as never before, over issues of patriotism and free speech.
Some fans and observers say country music, in responding to Sept. 11 and subsequent global events, has gone beyond its traditional support of America and the armed forces and begun to cultivate an atmosphere that's intolerant of dissent from the Bush administration's strategies in the war on terror.
Rabble-rousing songs by Toby Keith and Darryl Worley have become smash hits. Widespread radio station boycotts of Dixie Chicks music after lead singer Natalie Maines' critical remark about President Bush in London left many thinking that country music was drawing ideological lines.
''If you were just casually listening to country radio in the last year, you would think it was the music of Republicans,'' says Beverly Keel, country music journalist and Middle Tennessee State University associate professor. ''That's (been) reinforced with the way the Dixie Chicks have been treated.''
The environment, she says, may be leading to self-censorship on Music Row.
''Unfortunately, there's a climate right now that probably strikes fear in the heart of singers and songwriters who don't agree with the prevailing winds,'' she says.
More @ tennessean.com (http://tennessean.com/entertainment/music/fanfair/archives/03/05/33619336.shtml?Element_ID=33619336)