The Real Outlaw Country

BEYONCE' ~ "JOLENE";



I have no interest in Beyoncé, and don't care about her C&W album but I have been fun to watch for those fragile white dudes offended about a black R&B artist doing country like this has never happened before. Besides the usual professional trolls at FOX like Greg Gutfield who has done multiple segments referring to it as "cultural appropriation" (seriously, stop giving Republicans dictionaries) this week has seen the unasked for return of a washed up eighties Country singer John Schneider who not satisfied with the usual angry washed up white guy bleating has kicked off a boycott. Also not satisfied with boycotting the album itself (which OK, fine, don't buy it) he's inspired his own pitchfork wielding mob to barrage Country radio stations with demands to cancel Beyonce. This sort of hicktovism was successful back in the 2000's in cancelling the Dixie Chicks who had been genuine Country stars. Country radio is incredibly conformist and a bare handful of white guys actually do have the power to ban literally any artist at the drop of a hat, they also buried Faith Hill's pop crossover album in the 2010's. However, whether they could actually be bothered to take the time to ban an album they aren't planning to give much airtime to anyway is another matter.

CHARLEY PRIDE ~ "KISS AN ANGEL THIS MORNING";


As for John Schnieder, while he is being billed in news reports as a "Country singer" he actually owes his (past due) fame to being one of the dudes in the eighties from "Dukes Of Hazzard" who raced around in a car named after Robert E Lee decorated with a Rebel Flag. That show was a huge hit and piggie-backing off of that he made a play at being a Country singer and it's true that he even scored a few hits. However at the time most actual Country artists and critics dismissed him as a pretty-boy poser coasting on his TV fame kind of like a Nashville Frankie Avalon or Fabian. Assuming Frankie Avalon or Fabian were Confederate apologists. And assholes. So the next time the dumber Duke Boy whines that Beyonce, who is an actual singer, hasn't paid her dues he should sit this one out. You may remember that General Lee car that had a horn that blared "Dixie"? That car was literally more musically relevant than John Schneider.

Setting aside the usual silliness it's been fascinating to watch mediocre white dudes gnashing their teeth and rending their garments over the insult of a Black R&B star disrespecting sacred Country music. No less a figure than Dolly Parton herself has proclaimed herself a fan of Beyonce's cover as has Willie Nelson and Carlene Carter, a member of Country royalty as a member of the Carter Family and step-daughter of Johnny Cash. Maybe, just maybe they know more about Country music than John Schneider let alone Greg Gutfield or Steven Crowder. Maybe they also know more about the history of black Blues and R&B artists recording Country music.

People have rightly pointed out that Charley Pride had a long successful career as a Country singer but Pride was always a Country singer from the start and never recorded any Blues or R&B. He probably could have done so but was always concerned about maintaining his hard won credibility with his white Country audience so he never did. But you know what black Blues, Jazz or R&B artists went Country?

RAY CHARLES ~ "I'M MOVING ON";


Ray Charles, The Supremes, Bobby Womack, Louis Armstrong, Andre Williams & rural Blues singer Scott Dunbar did entire albums of Country songs. Ray Charles actually did more than one. Whitney Houston's biggest hit was a Dolly Parton cover (which Dolly loved). The Pointer Sisters had a song ("Fairy Tale"), which actually won a Country Grammy in 1974. Singer/guitarist Chris Thomas King appeared in the film “Oh Brother Where Art Thou” (2001) and played on the Grammy winning soundtrack. Blues singer Pink Anderson had previously recorded "In The Jailhouse Now" (1961) one of the songs on that soundtrack. Hootie & the Blowfish frontman Darius Rucker has had a successful career. Charlie Parker admired Hank Williams songwriting, Chuck Berry admired Country pickers like Merle Travis, Sugarfoot Garland & Arthur Smith. Howlin' Wolf was a big Jimmy Rodgers fan and said his trademark howlin' moan was inspired by Rodger's famous yodel. Louis Armstrong even played on a few Rodgers singles. Singer and pianist Big Al Dowling played on several Wanda Jackson songs (I interviewed her once and she mentioned him with affection), the late Blues singer John Jackson told me he grew up on Jimmy Rodgers & Uncle Dave Macon records ("All us Black folks loved them"), Ice-T once told me he liked Johnny Cash ("He once shot a man in Reno just to watch him die, that's Gangsta"), Cash was also super popular in Jamaica where he had a vacation house. As an odd historical note during Reagan's invasion of Grenada the US Army's psychological warfare unit set up a Radio Free Grenada and showed up with a stack of Reggae, Ska and Calypso records only to be amazed to get calls requesting Johnny Cash songs. In the 1930's Folklorist John Lomax made field recordings in the Bahamas including a string band doing an early version of the classic Murder Ballad "Delia's Gone" that had been recorded by several singers and would later be recorded by Johnny Cash among others.

THE NASSAU STRING BAND ~ "DELIA'S GONE";


Records made in the 1920's and 40's in Africa by such guitarists as the Kumasi Trio (from Nigeria), Jean Kalafayi (Congo), Midian Ncube (Zimbabwe) and John Bhengu (South Africa) showing the influences of American Country and Blues records that had been circulating in Africa since the 20's. Jim Reeves and Slim Whitman were very popular in South Africa, mostly with whites but they were familiar to black listeners as well. Leadbelly recorded cowboy songs including the classic "Old Chisholm Trail" originally recorded by Harry McClintock. The Pointer Sisters once played the Grand Ole Opry and so did James Brown, James Freaking Brown. They weren't even the first as early as the 20’s Black harmonica player DeFord Bailey was a regular at the Opry and toured with Uncle Dave Macon.

THE POINTER SISTERS ~ "FAIRY TALE";


None of this should really come as a surprise. Most of these artists were themselves Southerners raised on radio at a time when there were few if any radio stations catering to black listeners outside of a few cities like New Orleans and Memphis and Country radio was the only game in town. Beyond that, serious musicians and music nerds love hearing new things and are never afraid or offended by music from other cultures even if they don't end up as fans. If you can't handle that then you don't actually like music or art at all. You certainly don't deserve it. So how about you leave it to those who do and you just stay in your lane, banning books.

PINK ANDERSON ~ "IN THE JAILHOUSE NOW";