# I have officially lost all tolerance for country music. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 24, 2011, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-officially-lost-all-tolerance-for-country-music/572495 "2011-02-24T20:36:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-officially-lost-all-tolerance-for-country-music/572495/141 "2011-03-01T12:46:32Z")
> [@SeldomSeen](#): > > Wrong state. “Eighteen Wheeler” was by _Alabama_. I know, those suth’rn states all look alike. > SS Whoops…you’re right! :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-officially-lost-all-tolerance-for-country-music/572495/142 "2011-03-01T13:21:48Z")
> [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](#): > > Why do Country/Western singers sing in an Appalachian accent? Even singers from foreign countries sing in Appalachian. Are they making fun of how my family actually speaks? Why do they do that? One of my friends in Ontario, Canada, suddenly developed that accent when he was born again. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-officially-lost-all-tolerance-for-country-music/572495/143 "2011-03-01T13:34:34Z")
> [@spark240](#): > > And, hard as it is for cultural bigots like yourself to understand, an imagined Southern victory isn’t synonymous in Southern minds with the repression of black folks. That disassociation is profound. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-officially-lost-all-tolerance-for-country-music/572495/144 "2011-03-01T14:59:06Z")
> [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](#): > > Why do Country/Western singers sing in an Appalachian accent? Even singers from foreign countries sing in Appalachian. Are they making fun of how my family actually speaks? Why do they do that? Identification. The country music they listened to when they dreamed of being country singers had that accent, so they identify it with the music and it’s how they sing. Mom sometimes watches the Andalusian TV channel, which is available in all of Spain via cable. There’s a program she likes, a contest for copla singers - while foreigners tend to think that “flamenco” equals “Spanish music” and vice versa, Spaniards tend to identify “flamenco” and its sister “copla” with “Andalusia (and parts thereabout, and places which received a lot of immigrants from Andalusia)”. The presenter is an old hand: he’s Andalusian but has a Castilian accent. She was telling me about how recently there was a contestant, very nice voice - and when it was time to rate her, the judges looked slightly confused. One of them finally voiced the problem “but, but… she sang in Spanish! In Castillian I mean!” The presenter pointed out “so did Doña Concha;” (Piquer, perhaps the biggest copla singer ever) “she was from Valencia, you know.” I’m not a big copla fan myself, but I can name several other big copla singers who were/are not Andalusian and do not use Andalusian accents (if they do, it’s for very specific songs where the rhyme or vocabulary would be wrong in Castillian phonetics). The judges went redder than the angry smiley, facepalmed and proceeded to give their votes - but they were so used to identifying “copla” with “an Andalusian accent” that they had a serious problem there for a few minutes. ---
**Author:** ![Zeriel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/58956e/32.png) [@Zeriel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeriel)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-officially-lost-all-tolerance-for-country-music/572495/145 "2011-03-01T15:37:51Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > I just had a flashback to the time we were driving through western Pennsylvania on a Sunday, and the only radio stations we could pick up were all featuring shows with names like “Polka Party”. > > I’ve never felt the same about Frankie Yankovic since then. My fifth cousin DJs that show. =P ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-officially-lost-all-tolerance-for-country-music/572495/146 "2011-03-02T05:34:28Z")
I’m not a big fan, but as a guitar player I recognize that the genre contains too many top-notch musicians for me to blow it off completely. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-officially-lost-all-tolerance-for-country-music/572495/147 "2011-03-02T05:40:26Z")
I went to a Willie Nelson concert once: [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=8357337&postcount=30](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=8357337&postcount=30) ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-officially-lost-all-tolerance-for-country-music/572495/148 "2011-03-02T22:08:10Z")
> [@SteveG1](#): > > Brad Paisley has “Ticks” and “Nervous Breakdown” (he can shred), Dixie Chicks had “Goodbye Earl”, Toby Keith has “Trailerhood”. Not everyone out there is super serious or sanctimonious. Point taken, but Toby Keith ranks up there as Chief Sanctimonious Asshat Extraordinaire in my book. Shit, he’s got a song that rubs a woman’s loveless marriage into her face because she didn’t talk to him in high school. And then that other maddeningly catchy tune about how awesome it would be if we could just lynch people without due process. Fuck Toby Keith. I love country music, but yeah, it can be sanctimonious as hell. My favorite are songs about trucking and rodeo, my favorite artists are George Straight and Garth Brooks. I grew up in the 90s listening to that stuff, it is a completely nostalgic experience for me. I heard a feature on [radiolab](http://www.radiolab.org/2008/apr/21/) (relevant bit starts around 36:00) that really made me think about all the sanctimonious posturing a bit differently. It was about music that crosses borders, and how country music fandom has been spreading like wildfire in places like aboriginal Australia and various countries in Africa. The key insight was that the people who most connected with the music were largely refugees who longed for their homeland, their old way of life. They also found a correlation between the increase in country music’s popularity and the decline of the rural population in the U.S.. So the music is really about longing for a time and a place that no longer exists. Consider one of the more humble/gentle tunes: > [@](#): > > Home was a swimming hole and a fishing pole and the feel of a muddy row between my toes > Home was a back porch swing where I would sit and mom would sing amazing grace > While she hung out the clothes, > Home was an easy chair with my daddy there and the smell of Sunday supper on the stove > My footsteps carry me away but in my mind I’m always going home Who grew up like that? I sure as hell didn’t. But I love that song. It taps into a part of my childhood that was safe, and predictable, and comfortable. Maybe, then, the reason the music is often so defensive and cloying is because the target audience is clinging desperately to an ideal, a culture, that is dying. Just a thought. ---
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-officially-lost-all-tolerance-for-country-music/572495/149 "2011-03-02T22:52:52Z")
> [@olivesmarch4th](#): > > And then that other maddeningly catchy tune about how awesome it would be if we could just lynch people without due process. Fuck Toby Keith. You mean the song he did with Willie? And yet you aren’t busting on Willie, it seems… ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-officially-lost-all-tolerance-for-country-music/572495/150 "2011-03-02T23:52:46Z")
> [@villa](#): > > You mean the song he did with Willie? And yet you aren’t busting on Willie, it seems… I know almost nothing about Willie Nelson and really can’t say shit about him other than I despise that song he sings with Toby Keith. That song pisses me off more than the usual self-righteous drivel because that song is probably one of the most well-written country music songs that’s been released in a while. And it’s not, like, the one song - Toby Keith has released a lot of self-aggrandizing, offensive songs, many of which are pretty good musically. And each and every one of them has some special way of getting under my skin. Even that cute little song I Wanna Talk About Me has a dark underbelly, when you realize the guy singing it is a raging egomaniac who probably never shuts up about himself. Waste of some goddamn talent I say. Therefore I respectfully fuck him. ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2011, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-officially-lost-all-tolerance-for-country-music/572495/151 "2011-03-03T00:36:05Z")
> [@olivesmarch4th](#): > > I know almost nothing about Willie Nelson and really can’t say shit about him other than I despise that song he sings with Toby Keith. That song pisses me off more than the usual self-righteous drivel because that song is probably one of the most well-written country music songs that’s been released in a while. You’re talking about 'Beer for My Horses"? I love that song. I love the way Willie plays his voice like a harmonica. I love that I hear it as 'Whisky for my men **before** my horses". I really love the way the lyrics roll through and across the music. I hate that song. However, Willie Nelson: _The songs tell how Pancho fell And Lefty’s living in a cheap hotel The desert’s quiet and Cleveland’s cold And so the story ends, I’m told …_ So I can forgive Willie for making that nasty little song. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2011, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-officially-lost-all-tolerance-for-country-music/572495/152 "2011-03-03T01:24:37Z")
Of course, “The Ballad of Pancho & Lefty” was written by Townes Van Zandt. Willie & Merle put Townes in their [video of the song](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxzJAF1BxP4). Willie knew all about a Texas songwriter going to Nashville to make his fortune; he was strong & knew when to return to Texas because the Nashville PTB’s thought he was too funny looking & sang too weird to ever become a real star. Alas, Townes wasn’t that tough. Read about How Willie Nelson & Charlie Pride integrated East Texas. There’s a shitload more to say about Willie. But people who seriously don’t care about country music don’t bother me. Somebody’s got to support John Tesh. ---
**Author:** ![Charogne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecd19e/32.png) [@Charogne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charogne)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2011, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-officially-lost-all-tolerance-for-country-music/572495/153 "2011-03-03T02:12:46Z")
…aand that’s one cold beer from me, your choice, should we ever chance to meet in person. You’re a class act. ---
**Author:** ![Lucky\_13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucky_13/32/13209_2.png) [@Lucky\_13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucky_13)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2011, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-officially-lost-all-tolerance-for-country-music/572495/154 "2011-03-03T09:27:46Z")
> [@olivesmarch4th](#): > > Point taken, but Toby Keith ranks up there as Chief Sanctimonious Asshat Extraordinaire in my book. Shit, he’s got a song that rubs a woman’s loveless marriage into her face because she didn’t talk to him in high school. I can just imagine that woman hearing that song on the radio and changing the station, thinking, “I knew there was a reason I wouldn’t give that guy the time of day back in high school. Man, what an asshole.” ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2011, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-officially-lost-all-tolerance-for-country-music/572495/155 "2011-03-03T13:49:46Z")
> [@Bridget\_Burke](#): > > Of course, “The Ballad of Pancho & Lefty” was written by Townes Van Zandt. Willie & Merle put Townes in their [video of the song](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxzJAF1BxP4). Willie knew all about a Texas songwriter going to Nashville to make his fortune; he was strong & knew when to return to Texas because the Nashville PTB’s thought he was too funny looking & sang too weird to ever become a real star. Alas, Townes wasn’t that tough. > > Read about How Willie Nelson & Charlie Pride integrated East Texas. > > There’s a shitload more to say about Willie. But people who seriously don’t care about country music don’t bother me. Somebody’s got to support John Tesh. I really want to read your Willie Nelson link about integrating East Texas, but it won’t work for me. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2011, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-officially-lost-all-tolerance-for-country-music/572495/156 "2011-03-03T13:55:12Z")
> [@olivesmarch4th](#): > > I really want to read your Willie Nelson link about integrating East Texas, but it won’t work for me. Let me try again: [http://blogs.houstonpress.com/rocks/2011/01/willie\_nelson\_charley\_pride.php](http://blogs.houstonpress.com/rocks/2011/01/willie_nelson_charley_pride.php) ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2011, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-officially-lost-all-tolerance-for-country-music/572495/157 "2011-03-03T14:14:21Z")
> [@Bridget\_Burke](#): > > Let me try again: [http://blogs.houstonpress.com/rocks/2011/01/willie\_nelson\_charley\_pride.php](http://blogs.houstonpress.com/rocks/2011/01/willie_nelson_charley_pride.php) Thanks! That was really interesting. I can’t imagine the tension in that club that night. ---
**Author:** ![Philliam](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/philliam/32/3011_2.png) [@Philliam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philliam)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2011, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-officially-lost-all-tolerance-for-country-music/572495/158 "2011-03-03T18:55:21Z")
Not a real fan of the current Big Hat/Big Hair Nashville ‘product’ these days. Having played in a few country/country rock/progressive country bands, I can say that the backing musicians sure have serious chops - the front people…not so much. To be fair, it’s more the material, presentation & glitz that skeeves me out. Try Iris DeMent (quirky voice but genuine talent) or Gillian Welch (alt-country?). ---
**Author:** ![Truman\_Burbank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@Truman\_Burbank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Truman_Burbank)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2011, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-officially-lost-all-tolerance-for-country-music/572495/159 "2011-03-03T20:51:43Z")
I don’t listen to country music much, but I do like Nanci Griffith and Mary Chapin Carpenter. More folk than country, I’d say, but then I’m not sure how much that distinction stands up. Wouldn’t ‘real’ country music be the epitome of folk? ---
**Author:** ![Truman\_Burbank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@Truman\_Burbank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Truman_Burbank)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2011, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-officially-lost-all-tolerance-for-country-music/572495/160 "2011-03-03T20:53:46Z")
BTW, Olivesmarch, I thought your post was beautifully written… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-officially-lost-all-tolerance-for-country-music/572495.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-officially-lost-all-tolerance-for-country-music/572495.md?page=9)