A Country Music TL idea- help/advice needed

As we all know, Country music tends to be directed toward Conservative political goals. However, a lot of country music is anti-establishment. What would it take to have Country music being a counter-establishment or counter-conservative force?
Thoughts and ideas:
-This could happen at almost any time, though my personal ideas for specific songs date back to at least the 1970's.
- This could involve almost any field of country music be it traditional (Johnny Cash had a few songs that could qualify (one of which ("What is Truth?") would be the source of a good epigraph), while Loretta Lynn's "The Pill" should be included as well), "Red Dirt" (Willie Nelson- enough said.), Country-Pop (Dixie Chicks on Iraq is the most obvious one, but a number of artists could be included, wittingly (Garth Brooks and "We Shall Be Free") or not (Taylor Swift's "Mean" could be considered as part of the anti-bullying or "It Gets Better" movement, or both, while "Change" could be considered an unofficial theme song for Obama...) or others.
- Try and include as many RL examples of songs which qualify as you can. (You can even include songs which don't directly deal with political matters, but could be construed as such (like "Change", above.))
- How would this affect crossovers with other forms of music?
- How would this affect other musicians, both within and outside of Country?
- How would this affect Nashville, Austin or other music centers?
- How would this change politics?
Thoughts? I'd be glad to provide more on what little I know.
 
Simple. All that needs to happen is that some form of economic left-populism remains a political force in rural areas and the South, where country music is most prevalent. This in and of itself should be enough to have a "left-wing" tone to country music. Socially...you'll need big cultural changes in the rural USA to have socially progressive hardcore country (i.e, not country pop, which is culturally pop, but with country grooves)
 
Of course Bob Dylan dabbled in country music with his Nashville Skyline album, albeit for different, myth destroying reasons (although he denies this I think). Might Dylan have been more interested in country music earlier in his career?
 
I had a TL idea that I'm planning on working on in the near future. The POD is that Hank Williams survives the heat attack that kills him in OTL. The near miss terrifies him, and causes him to drastically change his life style; he quits the drugs and drinking and begins to see reputable doctors who diagnose him with a degenerative spinal conditio nthat is slowly paralyzing him.
Hank drops out of the music industry in order to focus on putting his life back together. Although initially given to self loathing, he eventually gains new purpose when he hears of the killing of Emmet Till. Always sympathetic to the African-American population, Hank writes a ballad about the inicident which catapults him to popularity amongst the folk and civil rights movement.
For the next several years, Hank Sr., confined to his wheel chair, becomes an outspoken proponent of civil rights. He also becomes a father figure of sorts to many up and coming folk/country singers, including Johnny Cash (who eventually writes "Man in White" about Hank), his own son, and a strange young man from Duluth, MN.
This leads to Country music being much more accepted by the counter-culture of the 1960s, and the Country-Rock scene becoming much more developed during those years.
Hank Williams Sr lives to see the emergence of his son, Randal Williams (he's not pushed into show business by Audrey and developes a stronger self-identity), witnesses the assassination of MLK, and becomes the godfather of Country Music.
He eventually passes away in the early 1980s, where a moved Bob Dylan (beginning his come back career, after being a hit making country singer throughout the 1960s and 70s) to deliver his euology, calling Hank "The Saint of Montgomery"
 
Of course Bob Dylan dabbled in country music with his Nashville Skyline album, albeit for different, myth destroying reasons (although he denies this I think). Might Dylan have been more interested in country music earlier in his career?

Dylan once said that his three greatest idols where Woody Guthrie, Elvis, and Hank Williams. What if, isntead of heading to New York, Dylan instead decided to stop by and pay a sentimental visit to Sun Records? He gets recorded by the studio, and the new star helps the label revitalize, as he eclipses Jerry Lee Lewis (who, in a huff, flees Sun Records in the late 1950s for a larger record label; his career hits a new high as a result)
Dylan goes down as the Country/Rockabilly star of the late 1950s/1960s.
 
Anyone have any more OTL songs that could qualify?
Also, how do we increase the ethnic diversity of Country? Perhaps Charley Pride helps encourage other African-Americans to consider Country? (I do plan to have an OTL group whose songs were played on country radio and whose singer later became a country star take a more country turn.) How would one bring Tejano Country more into the Country mainstream?
 
Also, how would Southern Rock fit into this TL?
Well, it could cross over or be influenced by Country, both by the music...and the changing* tone. I can see REM or Indigo Girls sharing some of the political inclinations in this TL. (Though some Southern Rock might be more right wing in response to the left wing shift of country.)

BTW, I have the title of the TL picked out (a line from a song by a major figure in Country Music- which is surprisingly political) and the title of the comment/discussion thread (two similar lines combined from two contemporary (Pop) Country singers, which are not necessarily political**, but which are in the context of verses/choruses that would fit an AH timeline.)

* Ironically all of the songs I plan to use so far are OTL songs!
** One song was considered political by at least one commentator and some Karaoke song programmer- but not by the author.
 
As we all know, Country music tends to be directed toward Conservative political goals. However, a lot of country music is anti-establishment. What would it take to have Country music being a counter-establishment or counter-conservative force?
Thoughts and ideas:
-This could happen at almost any time, though my personal ideas for specific songs date back to at least the 1970's.
- This could involve almost any field of country music be it traditional (Johnny Cash had a few songs that could qualify (one of which ("What is Truth?") would be the source of a good epigraph), while Loretta Lynn's "The Pill" should be included as well), "Red Dirt" (Willie Nelson- enough said.), Country-Pop (Dixie Chicks on Iraq is the most obvious one, but a number of artists could be included, wittingly (Garth Brooks and "We Shall Be Free") or not (Taylor Swift's "Mean" could be considered as part of the anti-bullying or "It Gets Better" movement, or both, while "Change" could be considered an unofficial theme song for Obama...) or others.
- Try and include as many RL examples of songs which qualify as you can. (You can even include songs which don't directly deal with political matters, but could be construed as such (like "Change", above.))
- How would this affect crossovers with other forms of music?
- How would this affect other musicians, both within and outside of Country?
- How would this affect Nashville, Austin or other music centers?
- How would this change politics?
Thoughts? I'd be glad to provide more on what little I know.
well reading this willie nelson is outlaw country not texas/reddirt. but texas/reddirt has a lot more kiss my ass type songs in it though not many reddirt artists sing about politics, in fact the closest to political i can think of any song in red dirt would be these two

Cross Canadian Ragweed-The President Song http://youtu.be/PmmKNYjP7EE

Peter Dawson-Willie Nelson for President http://youtu.be/16zO0geW1Y0
 
So someone needs to sum up the various divisions of Country. Would Bluegrass be considered Country? And where, pray tell, does "Alternative Country" fit in?
 
So someone needs to sum up the various divisions of Country. Would Bluegrass be considered Country? And where, pray tell, does "Alternative Country" fit in?
(This assessment is relatively accurate for several time periods but strikingly inaccurate for others, and none of it's official- it's all just my assessments.)

There's two big sections in country music: mainstream and non-mainstream.

There's three main divisions, more or less, in mainstream country music, which I name after cities for ease of terms: Bakersfield (a rather dead division nowadays, though Dwight Yoakam still plays it, and there's a few out there who have elements of the sound- it has more or less merged with Nashville), Nashville, and Texas.

Nashville music contains country-pop (exemplified in the modern day by Taylor Swift and Lady Antebellum; not long ago, it was Shania Twain and Garth Brooks; not long before that it was Eddie Rabbitt, Ronnie Milsap, and the whole 'Urban Cowboy' thing; before them Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton, before that it was George Jones, Tammy Wynette, Conway Twitty, Loretta Lynn.) and the reaction to country-pop, the neotraditionalists (exemplified by guys like George Strait and Alan Jackson, but contains a lot of younger folks like Brad Paisley and Dierks Bentley). This latter group crosses over heavily with the...

Texas division, which contains the remnants of the Outlaw movement (a reaction against the pop-country of the earlier eras- Jones and Wynette, Twitty and Lynn) and arguably most of the remaining survivors of older country- Haggard, especially. There's also the newer set, which contains two groups itself- the traditionalists (ask herricks about red-dirt country some time; with a few noticeable exceptions, they tend to be very local, confined to Texas and the neighbouring states) and the, well, newer folks who cross with Nashville (this sort of fusion group contains folks like Jason Aldean and Eric Church).

Then there's non-mainstream country music- bluegrass, gospel, alt-country, and, at least in the modern day, rockabilly/country-rock. Bluegrass isn't nearly as mainstream as it used to be, though there's still quite a few folks who do it, whether as a one-off (as Dierks Bentley's Up On The Ridge album) or on a relatively permanent basis (Ralph Stanley, Allison Krauss). Gospel has a few big names, some older than dirt (Oak Ridge Boys), some otherwise (Randy Travis's last decade or so fits here, as does a large portion of Josh Turner's stuff). Alt-country is pretty much entirely separate from mainstream country, though its sound gets in occasionally- guys like Gary Allan have a very alt-ish sound, though he's one of those folks who doesn't quite fit in any one category. Country-rock and the like used to be rather big, the Eagles, for instance, and the Flying Burrito Brothers (which, in an unrelated matter, is quite possibly the best band name ever); Neil Young, Bob Dylan, and other more non-country artists who did more-country-than-not stuff can be found here too. However, nowadays, the term is used for country songs with elements of rock music, which to some means anything with heavy drumbeats, and to them we roll our eyes in sarcastic (though secretly not sarcastic at all) agreement.

This is a very rough outline, it misses a lot of details, and I'm sure you'll find someone willing to poke holes in virtually every word I've stated.

I'd also suggest taking a look at rhapsody.com's stuff about country music. It explains a lot of this much better than I just did, and in a bit more detail.
 
And where, pray tell, does "Alternative Country" fit in?

The Alternative scene generally is skewed towards the left, liberal end of the political spectrum.

If the country mainstream is left-wing, what's the chance that young independent-minded 'indie/alternative' musicians & fans might instead gravitate towards the right, just to be contrary to the mainstream?

The alternative/indie scene basically springs from the punk scene of the 1970s - which was partially a reaction of the musical trends of the 1970s (country-rock included).

In OTL punk has a right-wing segment - especially the Skinhead & Oi! subgenres that arose in the UK in the late 1970s - maybe the extreme right-wing politics & beliefs of those subgenres are adopted more closely in the nascent US punk/underground scene in the early 1980s - as a reaction against left-wing liberal country-rock? (rather than taking the sound of punk & matching it with liberal, anarchist, or libertarian points of view as in OTL)

Sure, there's more to alternative rock than just punk, but the independent music scene basically stems from punk - many alternative artists cite punk rock as their starting point. (regardless of what musical path they end up on...)
 
The Alternative scene generally is skewed towards the left, liberal end of the political spectrum.

If the country mainstream is left-wing, what's the chance that young independent-minded 'indie/alternative' musicians & fans might instead gravitate towards the right, just to be contrary to the mainstream?

The alternative/indie scene basically springs from the punk scene of the 1970s - which was partially a reaction of the musical trends of the 1970s (country-rock included).

In OTL punk has a right-wing segment - especially the Skinhead & Oi! subgenres that arose in the UK in the late 1970s - maybe the extreme right-wing politics & beliefs of those subgenres are adopted more closely in the nascent US punk/underground scene in the early 1980s - as a reaction against left-wing liberal country-rock? (rather than taking the sound of punk & matching it with liberal, anarchist, or libertarian points of view as in OTL)

Sure, there's more to alternative rock than just punk, but the independent music scene basically stems from punk - many alternative artists cite punk rock as their starting point. (regardless of what musical path they end up on...)

Exactly. Alternative Country is a rather nebulous description in and of itself, and can encompass anything from the ultra-traditionalism of, say, Wayne Hancock and Joey Allcorn, the neo-folk works of Gillian Welch, and the darker strands of bands such as Hank Williams III or Those Poor Bastards and O'Death (who, for lack of a better term, do country laced with strong strands of metal/goth/hardcore)
 
Exactly. Alternative Country is a rather nebulous description in and of itself, and can encompass anything from the ultra-traditionalism of, say, Wayne Hancock and Joey Allcorn, the neo-folk works of Gillian Welch, and the darker strands of bands such as Hank Williams III or Those Poor Bastards and O'Death (who, for lack of a better term, do country laced with strong strands of metal/goth/hardcore)
Agreed. One of my favorite groups/duos (Indigo Girls) has been described as either Folk or Alternative Country by various people. However, given their political leanings and sexual orientation, it's unlikely that flippikat's idea might apply to them. Others, however...
I just discovered a blog that critiques a lot of Country music which I may look into, though the writer is a bit too harsh for my taste. (He's reputed and even theorized that he was the inspiration for "Mean"...though he has also stated that he has a high opinion for Taylor as a person as opposed to her musical ability, not mention believing her social media savvy is the wave of the future.)
http://www.savingcountrymusic.com/cma-2011-preview-we-were-wrong-about-taylor-swift
 
(Texas division, which contains the remnants of the Outlaw movement (a reaction against the pop-country of the earlier eras- Jones and Wynette, Twitty and Lynn) and arguably most of the remaining survivors of older country- Haggard, especially. There's also the newer set, which contains two groups itself- the traditionalists (ask herricks about red-dirt country some time; with a few noticeable exceptions, they tend to be very local, confined to Texas and the neighbouring states) and the, well, newer folks who cross with Nashville (this sort of fusion group contains folks like Jason Aldean and Eric Church).
yeah anyone wanna ask me on the Texas reddirt music i'll answer anyway i can after all about 95% of the music i listen too is Texas country.
 
I have an idea for one PoD...which could dovetail with another TL idea of mine. IOTL, Henry A. Wallace in his 1948 campaign was supported by Anita McCormick Blaine. His announcement was not carried on WGN radio, owned by Blaine's cousin. Perhaps this influences them to go into the radio business. (Blaine was a heir to the International Harvester fortune, while Wallace helped found Pioneer Hi-Bred.) The network would help spread liberal ideas, but it could also air agricultural-focused programs (Sponsored in part by IH and Pioneer). Even that would not be all of the schedule, so they could air other programs, including Country music in some markets.
This could result in other butterflies, but that's neither here or there...
 
I have a long way to go before I can even start...but I at least have a new title picked out. ("The Lonely Voice of Youth" (taken from Johnny Cash's "What is Truth?"- which still has to appear) was a good title, but it only covered a few of the topics. The new title takes its name from a popular and controversial Country single of the early 90's. )
I'm still researching and would appreciate any help. TVTropes has given me a few ideas...
 
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