Jason Isbell Is Tired Of Country’s Love Affair With White Nostalgia

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In 1991, George H.W. Bush declared October “Country Music Month.” In his proclamation, he stated that “to listen to a country and western song is to hear the story of America set to music.” He told the nation that country music is “honest, good-natured music played with style and spirit. Like a favorite pair of faded blue jeans, it fits the way we live.” Eighteen years before Bush, Nixon made a similar proclamation, saying, “No matter where men and women happen to live, country music may be one of the truest voices speaking to and for them.”

That kind of romanticization of country music as America’s song is not limited to presidents from a distant past. Toby Keith performed at Donald Trump’s inauguration celebrations, as did Lee Greenwood, whose song “God Bless the USA” became regular rally entrance music for the former president. The entwinement of country music and nationalism is not even limited to Republicans; Garth Brooks performed at Joe Biden’s inauguration earlier this year.

Still, while plenty of country songs touch on the theme of quiet pride in the place you’re from, the overly jingoistic part of the genre lends itself to aligning with conservatism. And those close associations with right-wing politics are not accidental. It’s just a smart political strategy. When Nixon visited the Grand Ole Opry and connected country music with conservative values, these were, as Jacobin writes, “calculated attempts at inventing a ‘white working class’ and pitting it against the radical movements that had emerged in the 1960s.” Country became embroiled in the explicit project of stoking the resentments of white people, particularly rural white people.

A week before Isbell’s Ryman residency began, the conservative website the Daily Wire held a live event on that very stage in front of a sold-out audience. Ben Shapiro, the website’s founder, showed up wearing a bolo tie. Just a year prior, Shapiro moved to Nashville and brought the rest of the Daily Wire with him.

Shapiro didn’t build his following as a conservative commentator by being a mild-mannered fellow who likes the free market. He got there through torqued rhetoric, saying things like “Arabs like to bomb crap and live in open sewage.” He’s been called out for anti-LGBTQ comments. And he once tweeted on the anniversary of Trayvon Martin’s birthday that the teenager would be alive “if he hadn’t taken a man’s head and beaten it on the pavement before being shot.”

All of this makes the Ryman stage hit different this time for Jason Isbell. “If I was the venue, I’d probably not book that,” he said with a grimace. He was clearly wrestling with this. He wouldn’t go as far as suggesting banning Shapiro and company from the stage, he said, because “I don’t want the Ryman telling me I can’t say my frickin’ liberal, progressive shite from the stage.” He added, “So that is where the First Amendment comes into play.” But still, he can’t help but feel differently about his beloved Ryman. “It changes my opinion of the venue a little bit. I’m not quite as proud to play the place after that happened as I was before.”

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