EVERY GENRE PROJECT - June 24 - Neo-Traditionalist Country
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Genre of the Day - Neo-Traditionalist Country Album of the Day - This Time by Dwight Yoakam (1993) June 24, 2024 In no other genre is the litmus test of authenticity as pervasive as in country music. The question of what constitutes real country never dies, the debate evolving into a new form with the regularity of midterm elections. Many genres share similar concerns as to what constitutes proper adherence to its norms. Country stands out, though, because debates about the genre are like gladiator spectacles in a national arena where many defining American binaries new and old battle it out: urban versus rural, conservatism versus progressivism, conceptions of race in country music’s history that have only begun to filter into the mainstream in the past few years, dualities explored in recent efforts like Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter. As one of largest commercialized and institutionalized American genres, many realities in country music’s public image exist at once: it’s weaponized, it’s misunderstood, it’s exclusionary, a pariah caught in the folds of the US’ two-party political system.
EVERY GENRE PROJECT - June 24 - Neo-Traditionalist Country
EVERY GENRE PROJECT - June 24 …
EVERY GENRE PROJECT - June 24 - Neo-Traditionalist Country
Genre of the Day - Neo-Traditionalist Country Album of the Day - This Time by Dwight Yoakam (1993) June 24, 2024 In no other genre is the litmus test of authenticity as pervasive as in country music. The question of what constitutes real country never dies, the debate evolving into a new form with the regularity of midterm elections. Many genres share similar concerns as to what constitutes proper adherence to its norms. Country stands out, though, because debates about the genre are like gladiator spectacles in a national arena where many defining American binaries new and old battle it out: urban versus rural, conservatism versus progressivism, conceptions of race in country music’s history that have only begun to filter into the mainstream in the past few years, dualities explored in recent efforts like Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter. As one of largest commercialized and institutionalized American genres, many realities in country music’s public image exist at once: it’s weaponized, it’s misunderstood, it’s exclusionary, a pariah caught in the folds of the US’ two-party political system.