Those of you know who know my "love" [gag] of country music will wonder at this title
David Filingim. Redneck Liberation: Country Music as Theology. Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 2003. 170 pages.
Steven P. Miller in the Journal of Southern Religion writes:
David Fillingim puts a liberation theology gloss on the full spectrum of country music – Hank Williams as well as Garth Brooks. In certain respects, Fillingim attempts to acquire for the creators and constituents of country music the same kind of subaltern recognition scholars have attained for those of jazz and the blues. Such an intriguing blend of Will D. Campbell and James Cone comes naturally to Fillingim, for whom "country music is at its core the music of a marginalized group – the rednecks" (pg. 19). A professor of religion and philosophy (but not, he readily concedes, a musicologist), Fillingim finds within the lyrics of country music such broad, yet sociologically specific theological concerns as hope and dignity, as well as the classic themes of love and fate.
This book works as both a theological meditation and a critical commentary on the state of country music scholarship.
I have a hard time with the phrase "country music scholarship."
Liberation Theology and Country Music. makes you go hmmmmm.
I know if you play country music backwards... you get your truck back and your dog back and your girl back!!
2 comments:
In response to a non blogger who saw this
NO I am not going over to the dark side
Although country isn't my favourite, I'll take a good country tune any day over many other forms of music.
Sure it might not be as refined or sophisticated as some other forms of music but it often can be straight forward and from the heart.
Bring on the steel guitars... Long live CNW.
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