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Another band that, in another genre (or, appropriately, various genres) plays w/ traditional signifiers of southern identity is, of course, Southern Culture on the Skids. I'll leave it to other list members to talk about them, but would strongly recommend Jon Smith's essay "Southern Culture on the Skids: Punk, Retro, Narcissism, and the Burden of Southern History" in Suzanne Jones and Sharon Monteith, eds., _South to a New Place: Region, Literature, Culture_ (Baton Rouge: LSU Press, 2002). Interestingly, Smith begins w/ a quote from Johnny Cash's autobio in which Cash writes: "I was talking with a friend of mine about this the other day: that country life as I knew it might really be a thing of the past and when music people today, performers and fans alike, talk about being 'country,' they don't mean they know or even care about the land and the life it sustains and regulates. They're talking more about choices--a way to look, a group to belong to, a kind of music to call their own. Which begs a question: Is there anything behind the symbols of modern 'country,' or are the symbols themselves the whole story?" Seems to me that Cash here raises many of the issues of authenticity, rural identity, etc., that we've been considering over the last couple of days... Cheers, Martyn
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