For years left-wing residents of Music Row have been hesitant to say anything political, and after the severe reaction the "country music community" had to a pretty innocent bit of free speech on the part of Natalie Maines, it's not hard to understand why. After the blackballing of the Dixie Chicks across country radio, it was understandable that those who agreed with her did so quietly, lest their own careers get sidelined ("Dixie Chicked," they call it). Country music was then highjacked by extremists like Toby Keith, who basically said "if you aren't with us, you're aginst us." But outrage has built over the years, with the economy crumbling, the lack of success at actual homeland security, the lost jobs, frustrated hopes, soaring deficit, the slow loss of any stability in Afghanistan, Katrina, and the continued rise in violence in Iraq, a war that should never have started, has finally boiled the lid right off the pot. Voices are speaking out, and they're speaking out loud. If you go over to MusicRowDemocrats.com and make a nominal donation to the cause (twenty bucks), you can download 21 pretty awesome tracks from writers and artists up and down Music Row.
Songs like Bobby Braddock's devastatingly effective "Thou Shalt Not Kill," Todd Snider's hilarious "Conservative Christian, Right-Wing Republican, Straight, White, American Male," Tim O'Brien's "Republican Blues," and The Honky Tonkers for Truth singing "I'm Takin' My Country Back," make for one terrific collection of tunes. There are artists like Nanci Griffith, Ed Pettersen, the Bushwhackers, the Mavericks, and Robert Ellis Oral; there are songs which are sad, songs that are uplifting, songs that are ironic, and some that are outright funny. It's right-to- the-heart folk music in the style of old country-folk, with a little swing and a little honky-tonk, and all of it aimed at taking our boot OUT of the world's ass (not to mention our own mouths). The website itself is a treasure trove of information, with articles, commentary, an interactive blog, and quotes from more artists who lean left, who remind us that the South was traditionally Democratic. Country music was the music of the working class, the little man, long before the Republicans highjacked it to make it "their" music. The current Republican administration has no interest in the working poor and middle class. The MRD wants to remind country music listeners of that.
When this administration began, I considered myself pretty middle-of-the-road, perhaps a little left-leaning in some ways, right-leaning in others; I was a Democrat who had voted for the occasional Republican. I was deeply patriotic, raised by a WWII Vet who never let his flag touch the floor and raised me to believe that "freedom isn't free." Well, that is true. It's not free. But the freedom the men and women of the "greatest generation" won for us is being given away wholesale in this country at an alarming rate. Benjamin Franklin said "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." I cry when I see Americans practically throwing away their civil liberties every time the Bush administration cries "Terrorist!" and claim they "keep us safe," or that the war in Iraq has anything at all to do with OUR freedom. I've come to hate this administration if only because they've made me ashamed of my country, they've stripped my pride and made me feel guilty for my flag-waving ways. But the music of the MRD has given me back some of that pride, some of that honest love of country I had once. It's heartening to know it's not all gone. That's Americana. That's my country.
