Ron Pulcer: Music and politics — can the country be unbroken? - vtdigger.org

Editor’s note: This commentary is by Ron Pulcer of Rutland Town, who is a software developer, skier, guitar player and occasional blogger at SkiTheMiddleVT.wordpress.com.

I’d like to say thank you to documentary filmmaker Ken Burns and PBS for the series, “Country,” about American country music. I watched all eight episodes, which are now available via streaming. I’m grateful not only for the music history, but because Burns also gave me a welcome respite from the reality TV show that is our national politics.

The title, “Country,” encapsulates many genres and geographic regions, beginning with traditional music from Appalachia and the South (so-called “hillbilly” music). The series then weaves in gospel, folk, cowboy, Western swing, bluegrass, early rock ‘n roll, rockabilly, Nashville sound, outlaw country, Bakersfield sound, and Tejano (Tex Mex). The series ends at music history through 1996.

Contrary to how country music has sometimes been associated post 9/11 with a type of “patriotism” that tends to divide us, there has never been one true style of country music. The first episode, “The Rub” (Beginnings – 1933), shows how country music emerged from the rubbing together of various cultures, races and musical traditions.

Just as diverse as the above musical genres are the origins of the musical instruments brought to America by immigrants and descendants of slaves. The fiddle came from Britain and Ireland. The banjo came from Africa. The guitar traveled from Spain, and by way of Mexico. The mandolin arrived from Italy. The harmonica and accordion are from Germany. Only in America could these different instruments have blended together to create new forms of music.

Several white country music artists were influenced by early encounters with black musicians, or hearing blues music on the radio. Country includes black musicians DeFord Bailey, Charlie Pride, Ray Charles and Darius Rucker. Harmonica player Bailey performed on Nashville radio station WSM from 1927-1941. Bailey’s harmonica solo, “Pan American Blues,” appeared on the first Barn Dance show, following a classical music program. The announcer quipped about going from “Grand Opera” to the “Grand Ole Opry.” The name stuck.

Jazz musician Wynton Marsalis is interviewed several times in “Country,” around the topic of music and race. He mentioned how jazz musicians in New York would put money in a jukebox to hear country songs, because they liked the storytelling in the music.

One song prominently featured in “Country” is “Will the Circle be Unbroken,” about our inevitable death and hope that we’ll someday be reunited with our loved ones and ancestors. Burns uses this song to highlight the ever-evolving music genres under the big tent of country music. Yet from time to time, the musicians and fans tend to gravitate back to country music’s roots, hence there is a circular nature to the music.

Country music has always responded to its economic and political contexts. Not surprisingly, its songs can extend beyond traditional themes to modern takes on issues of the day. Country music is a soundtrack through the Depression, World War II, civil rights and women’s rights movements, and the Vietnam War, right through to the present. Loretta Lynn, the “coalminer’s daughter,” wrote songs in her own way about women’s equality.

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One artist featured prominently in the series is Johnny Cash. While many country music stars wore colorful cowboy suits made in Hollywood, Johnny Cash became the “man in black.” Cash played an important role in helping to bridge musical styles and political opinions across the generations. He is seen playing on his TV show with Louis Armstrong and later with Bob Dylan.

An important song by Johnny Cash in 1970 is “What Is Truth?”, about the Vietnam War, at a time when country music fans were not accustomed to protest songs.

The song’s title is an apt question for us today, given attacks on journalists (“Fake News”), and conflicting statements or outright lies by politicians.

“And the lonely voice of youth cries, ‘What is truth?’”

Songwriter Harlan Howard famously said, “Country music is three chords and the truth.”

Early country music was propagated via live performances and powerful radio stations across America, and one station in a Mexican border town. Music is heard today on satellite radio, TV, YouTube, Bluetooth, live concerts and local bars, or unplugged guitars on your back porch.

Promise-keeping presidents can talk about building a physical border wall (with our tax dollars). But they will never stop the music traveling through the air, touching our hearts and minds, causing us to tap our toes or dance, and perhaps connect with each other.

Professional musicians are often pressured by the music business to specialize in a given musical genre for marketing purposes. However, many musicians are curious and appreciative of a variety of musical genres.

Plutocrats and politicians may succeed at dividing some of the people some of the time, even within local communities and families. But they can never divide the majority of musicians who blend wonderful sounds together from a diverse set of musical instruments and traditions.

To paraphrase that old song, “Can the Country be Unbroken?” I certainly hope so.

How can we bridge our political divides? I’m not really sure. But maybe when you listen to an old or new song, think not only of where you were when you first heard it. Think about the underlying roots of the music genre and the instruments being played. What’s the story in the song? What’s the story behind the song? Where and how did these words and sounds come together?

Only here in America, by descendants of immigrants and slaves. Let’s have more “pickin’ and grinnin’,” and less bickerin’ and sinnin’!