Entertainment

Country Music Acts Quietly Abandon Confederate Flag

Published

9 years ago

July 10, 2015

In this Nov. 2, 2009 file photo, John Rich of the musical group, Big & Rich, performs at a rally for 23rd Congressional District candidate, Doug Hoffman, in Watertown, N.Y. (AP Photo/Heather Ainsworth, File)

KRISTIN M. HALL, Associated Press

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The Confederate flag was once a familiar symbol in country music, representing the rural South and the renegade spirit of artists such as David Allan Coe and Hank Williams Jr.

But the rebel banner that will be removed Friday from the grounds of the South Carolina Capitol has faded from stage and song, with many country artists quietly distancing themselves from the emblem that used to feature prominently in merchandise, lyrics and concerts.

“You won’t find it being used by young country acts today, partly because it doesn’t mean the same thing to them,” said Robert K. Oermann, author and columnist for MusicRow magazine. “Partly because some of them aren’t Southern and partly because if you want to appeal to a national audience, why would you do that?”

Many artists have adopted the American flag instead.

Only a small number of country artists have been willing to speak on the issue in the weeks since nine black churchgoers were fatally shot at a Bible study in Charleston, South Carolina.

Charlie Daniels wrote a long column on his website addressing the most recent controversy over the flag, which he called “a sign of defiance, a sign of pride, a declaration of a geographical area that you were proud to be from.”

“That’s all it is to me and all it ever has been to me,” Daniels wrote, explaining that he opposes racism and believes that every person deserves the same rights and advantages regardless of skin color.

“Unfortunately,” Daniels said on the site, “the Confederate battle flag has been adopted by hate groups — and individuals like Dylann Roof,” who is charged with murder in the church attack.

John Rich, of the duo Big and Rich, told Fox News’ Sean Hannity that he agreed with calls to remove the flag from its pole outside the Statehouse in Columbia. A protest song called “Take Down Your Flag,” written by singer songwriter Peter Mulvey, has been recorded and posted online by hundreds of artists, including Ani DiFranco, bluesman Keb’ Mo and actor Jeff Daniels.

The banner was not commonly used until the late 1960s, when it began to be adopted by some country and rock artists who identified as outlaw musicians appealing to blue-collar fans, Oermann said.

Coe and Williams, the country group Alabama and rockers like Lynyrd Skynyrd all used the flag on stage or in merchandise or referenced the flag or the Confederacy in their lyrics.

The flag continued to appear in some country acts through the 1970s and early 1980s, but it fell out of favor as the genre became more commercial and the industry sought to reach wider audiences in the suburbs and urban areas beyond the South.

Country artists take a big risk in addressing social and political issues. Just two years ago, Brad Paisley was criticized for recording a song called “Accidental Racist,” with rapper LL Cool J, that sought to explore racial tensions but came across as naive and ill-advised.

Diane Pecknold, an associate professor of women and gender studies at the University of Louisville who has written extensively about the history of country music, said country has a strong association with patriotism and with promoting inclusion of all races and cultures. She noted that Paisley, Tim McGraw and Garth Brooks all have songs that are explicitly anti-racist.

“You can criticize them for being naive or being post-racial in a way that ignores contemporary and institutionalized racism,” Pecknold said. “You can criticize them for failing to conceptualize it in a meaningful way, but you still have to say that they are talking about race and an ideal of America that is anti-racist.”

Darius Rucker, a black musician who hails from Charleston, chose to communicate directly to his fans on Twitter: “Incredibly proud of my city for handling this tragedy with love. Thankful to be a part of a community that can come together in a time of need.”

___

Charlie Daniels’ website: www.charliedaniels.com.

___

Follow Kristin M. Hall on Twitter at http:twitter.com/kmhall.

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Oakland Post: Week of April 17 – 23, 2024

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of April 17 – 23, 2024

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5 days ago

April 19, 2024

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O.J. Simpson, 76, Dies of Prostate Cancer

Orenthal James (O.J.) Simpson, who rose to fame as a college football player who went on to the NFL and parlayed his talents in acting and sportscasting, succumbed to prostate cancer on April 10, his family announced.

Published

6 days ago

April 17, 2024

Oakland Post

Orenthal James (O.J.) Simpson. Wikipedia photo

By Post Staff

Born and raised in San Francisco, the Galileo High School graduate was recruited by the University of Southern California after he was on a winning Junior College All-American team.

At USC, he gained wide acclaim as a running back leading to him becoming the No. 1 pick in the AFL-NFL draft in 1969 and joining the Buffalo Bills, where he had demanded – and received — the largest contract in professional sports history: $650,000 over five years. In 1978, the Bills traded Simpson to his hometown team, the San Francisco 49ers, retiring from the game in 1979.

Simpson’s acting career had begun before his pro football career with small parts in 1960s TV (“Dragnet”) before “Roots” and film (“The Klansman,” “The Towering Inferno,” Capricorn One”).

He was also a commentator for “Monday Night Football,” and “The NFL on NBC,” and in the mid-1970s Simpson’s good looks and amiability made him, according to People magazine, “the first b\Black athlete to become a bona fide lovable media superstar.”

The Hertz rent-a-car commercials raised his recognition factor while raising Hertz’s profit by than 50%, making him critical to the company’s bottom line.

It could be said that even more than his success as a football star, the commercials of his running through airports endeared him to the Black community at a time when it was still unusual for a Black person to represent a national, mainstream company.

He remained on Hertz team into the 1990s while also getting income endorsing Pioneer Chicken, Honey Baked Ham and Calistoga water company products and running O.J. Simpson Enterprises, which owned hotels and restaurants.

He married childhood sweetheart Marguerite Whitley when he was 19 and became the father of three children. Before he divorced in 1979, he met waitress and beauty queen Nicole Brown, who he would marry in 1985. A stormy relationship before, during and after their marriage ended, it would lead to a highway car chase as police sought to arrest Simpson for the murder by stabbing of Brown and her friend Ron Goldman in 1994.

The pursuit, arrest, and trial of Simpson were among the most widely publicized events in American history, Wikipedia reported.

Characterized as the “Trial of the Century,” he was acquitted by a jury in 1995 but found liable in the amount of $33 million in a civil action filed by the victims’ families three years later.

Simpson would be ensnared in the criminal justice system 12 years later when he was arrested after forcing his way into a Las Vegas hotel room to recover sports memorabilia he believed belonged to him.

In 2008, he received a sentence of 33 years and was paroled nine years later in 2017.

When his death was announced, Simpson’s accomplishments and downfalls were acknowledged.

Sports analyst Christine Brennan said: “… Even if you didn’t love football, you knew O.J. because of his ability to transcend sports and of course become the businessman and the pitchman that he was.

“And then the trial, and the civil trial, the civil case he lost, and the fall from grace that was extraordinary and well-deserved, absolutely self-induced, and a man that would never be seen the same again,” she added.

“OJ Simpson played an important role in exposing the racial divisions in America,” attorney Alan Dershowitz, an adviser on Simpson’s legal “dream team” told the Associated Press by telephone. “His trial also exposed police corruption among some officials in the Los Angeles Police Department. He will leave a mixed legacy. Great athlete. Many people think he was guilty. Some think he was innocent.”

“Cookie and I are praying for O.J. Simpson’s children … and his grandchildren following his passing. I know this is a difficult time,” Magic Johnson said on X.

“I feel that the system failed Nicole Brown Simpson and failed battered women everywhere,” attorney Gloria Allred, who once represented Nicole’s family, told ABC News. “I don’t mourn for O.J. Simpson. I do mourn for Nicole Brown Simpson and her family, and they should be remembered.”

Simpson was diagnosed with prostate cancer about a year ago and was undergoing chemotherapy treatment, according to Pro Football Hall of Fame President Jim Porter. He died in his Las Vegas, Nevada, home with his family at his side.

He is survived by four children: Arnelle and Jason from his first marriage and Sydney and Justin from his second marriage. He was predeceased son, Aaren, who drowned in a family swimming pool in 1979.

Sources for this report include Wikipedia, ABC News, Associated Press, and X.