Music Row Democrats: "I'm takin' my country back"

[kurth]

Music Row Democrats: 'I'm takin' my country back'
Group of country music singers, songwriters dedicated to helping oust Republicans from Congress.
By Bob Dart, WASHINGTON BUREAU

NASHVILLE — The songwriters hunched over hamburgers and sweet tea at Brown's Diner allowed that a cut titled "I'm Takin' My Country Back" by the Honky Tonkers for Truth sounded like a hit to them. But they don't expect it to get any airplay on country music radio stations, mainly because of lyrics like these: "And I'm takin' my country back/Boys you ain't been doin' her right/Oh, I've been watching you and I don't like/How you been treating my Stars and Stripes/You took our jobs and sent 'em overseas/Now we owe billions to the Red Chinese/You blew the budget and you botched Iraq/So I'm taking my country back." The song is one of 20 on a CD released online by the Music Row Democrats, an organization of country music songwriters, singers, executives and promoters dedicated to helping oust the Republican majority in Congress in the November elections.

"Conservative Christian Right-Wing Republican Straight White American Male" is another cut on the CD. The song is by Todd Snider, an artist who arrived in Nashville after stops in Austin and Atlanta. Or, as Snider describes himself, "a tree-huggin', peace-lovin', pot-smokin', porn-watchin' . . . hippie." Not your stereotypical county music song or singer. While conceding that country music is widely perceived as a bastion of conservative politics, the Democratic group claims a membership of about 1,200 in the industry, including a slew of downhome liberals.

However, many have kept their political views to themselves, cautious after the Dixie Chicks saw their records struck from radio station playlists and were forced to cancel concerts because of slack ticket sales after their well-publicized criticism of President Bush. "They took a real palable economic hit" for voicing their views at a 2003 concert in England, said John Scott Sherrill, a songwriter whose hits include "How Long Gone?" by Brooks and Dunn and "Church on Cumberland Road" by Shenandoah. At Brown's Diner, a greasy fa- vorite for folks from Nashville's nearby Music Row, Sherrill was opining with Bob Titley, former manager of Brooks and Dunn, and songwriter Robert Ellis Orrall...

Titley, who said he doesn't think his politics had anything to do with him no longer managing Republicans Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn, said the hard-working folks who listen to country music are ripe for the Democratic message. "Now I'm stocking shirts in the Wal-Mart store/Just like the ones we made before/Except this one came from Singapore/I guess we can't make it here anymore," Austin's James McMurtry sings on "Can't Make It Here Anymore," his cut on the CD...

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/nation/09/02/2musicrowdems.html

[William769]

1. I never did give up on the Country singers that are blue.

[Jade Fox]

2. Those are some good lyrics.....

I might have to buy me a copy of that CD! These people should be supported, even by those of us who don't like country music. :)

[Hubert Flottz]

3. K&R for C&W dems!