re: Country Music is changing, Jason Isbell's White Man's World

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please post the lyrics to Johnny Cash's functional equivalent of Isbell's "High Road," and then we'll debate.

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Damn, but I do marvel at the ignorance of so many people who post on discussion boards like they know what they're talking about.

The Ballad of Ira Hayes

Ira Hayes
Ira Hayes
Call him drunken Ira Hayes
He won't answer anymore
Not the whiskey drinking Indian
Or the marine that went to war

Gather 'round me people
There's a story I would tell
'Bout a brave young Indian
You should remember well
From the land of the Pima Indian
A proud and noble band
Who farmed the Phoenix Valley
In Arizona land
Down the ditches a thousand years
The waters grew Ira's peoples' crops
'Til the white man stole their water rights
And the sparkling water stopped
Now, Ira's folks were hungry
And their land grew crops of weeds
When war came, Ira volunteered
And forgot the white man's greed

Call him drunken Ira Hayes
He won't answer anymore
Not the whiskey drinking Indian
Or the marine that went to war

There they battled up Iwo Jima hill
Two hundred and fifty men
But only twenty-seven lived
To walk back down again
And when the fight was over
And Old Glory raised
Among the men who held it high
Was the Indian, Ira Hayes

Call him drunken Ira Hayes
He won't answer anymore
Not the whiskey drinking Indian
Or the marine that went to war

Ira Hayes returned a hero
Celebrated through the land
He was wined and speeched and honored
Everybody shook his hand
But he was just a Pima Indian
No water, no home, no chance
At home nobody cared what Ira'd done
And when did the Indians dance

Call him drunken Ira Hayes
He won't answer anymore
Not the whiskey drinking Indian
Or the marine that went to war

Then Ira started drinking hard
Jail was often his home
They let him raise the flag and lower it
Like you'd throw a dog a bone
He died drunk early one morning
Alone in the land he fought to save
Two inches of water and a lonely ditch
Was a grave for Ira Hayes

Call him drunken Ira Hayes
He won't answer anymore
Not the whiskey drinking Indian
Or the marine that went to war

Yeah, call him drunken Ira Hayes
But his land is just as dry
And his ghost is lying thirsty
In the ditch where Ira died

Johnny Cash was a SJW. At probably the peak of his popularity, he released 'Bitter Tears: Ballads of the American Indian' . “The Ballad of Ira Hayes” was denied promotion by the record label due to its provocative protesting and “unappealing” nature. Cash fought back with a letter run as an advertisement in Billboard magazine. He called the record industry cowardly. “DJs, station managers, owners,” he wrote, “where are your guts? So many stations are afraid of Ira Hayes. Why? Because Ira Hayes is strong medicine… So is Rochester, Harlem, Birmingham, and Vietnam.” Cash kept promoting the song himself without the record label’s help, and it eventually made it to number three on the country charts.

Johnny and June Cash went to Vietnam in 1971 to perform for the troops. He was a veteran himself, and an American patriot. He felt it was his duty to perform a series of concerts for those who were serving their country.

After that tour, he became a fervent anti-war protester.

Cash wrote another anti-war song called “Drive On” after sending a letter to President George H.W. Bush protesting the first Iraq War. “Drive on—it don’t mean nothing—is an expression they used a lot in Vietnam when I was there,” Cash would explain. He believed in non-violence and wanted to keep his soldier brethren from going and dying in another war. The song is just him and a guitar that showcases his true grit and honesty. Cash once said, “The only thing good to come out of a war is a song.”

Johnny was a defender of the working man as well. He wouldn’t take the stage unless the American flag was flying, and he wouldn’t tolerate a show unless the crew running it were unionized.

You took the bait. I'm so glad you posted that one. Want a compare and contrast to Isbell's snowflake melt about Hillary losing the election, or should I just let those two sets of lyrics speak for themselves.

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Alan Jackson is rolling over in his grave right now

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Wut?

The most respected country music has always been contrarian, and the most commercial has always been more traditional. So this is hardly new . You could argue that Isbell is deep in the popular culture herd or you could argue that he is outside the Nashville herd. I’m not sure which.

As for Cash and Haggard and their support for the oppressed or the working man or chronicling those struggling on the margins of society , I would argue that is a long way from championing SJW/Leftist/anti- American ideals. They in fact were fierce defenders of American traditionalism and Individual Liberty, they just wanted America to be consistent in applying these ideals.

That is a LONG way for advocating for Racial Identity politics . I’d argue Isbell has gone a bridge too far in that regard , in aligning himself with people who gleefully deny the rights of others.

Red man = racist

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How many times have I received a non-leftist diatribe at a concert?
ZERO.

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I think Ted Nugent is playing at the Texas Club next month.

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For the life of me, I don't understand how he's so popular. I'm not implying that I necessarily dislike his music, but his body of work is just not that good to garner the admiration he has received

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Which is why he wrote and performs this song. SJW "speaking truth to power" and what-have-you is the surest route to critical acclaim. He can't and won't accomplish it on the strength of his music, perhaps, but damn, he'll be relevant in the media.

If you are from Manhattan do you have red man's bones under your feet or is it aight since land was bought?

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Isbell grew up like 5 miles from me and is my age (we're both 39). He was not "privileged" whatsoever. Pretty sure his parents were white trash 18-20 year olds barely making it when he was born. He went to a crappy public school. I used to know a girl he dated really well (she was in my HS class and also made it in Nashville herself). For him to claim he is "privileged" is flat out retarded. There were like 2 black people in the whole redneck two bit town where he grew up, so he knows jack shite about "the black man's plight."

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It’s weird- like maybe you think that means something different than he does.

I think Isbell may be projecting the casual racism of his home or peer group growing up onto other people. That’s a common SJW mistake, they feel guilty about The stupid racist shite Uncle Earl said at Thanksgiving and they overcompensate later in life. Very common but also dishonest to project your racist upbringing into other people who never had that kind of upbringing. ( Thanks Mom and Dad ).