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[Diane Pecknold wrote: >One has only to look at a couple of Nudie suits to >know that part of country's appeal was its embrace >(ambivalent though it sometimes was) of materialism >as a road to respectability and even personal >fulfillment. I think Woody Guthrie consciously >disassociated himself with that aesthetic. Bob Taylor wrote: >Very nicely put, Diane. It's hard to imagine Woody >in a Nudie suit!] Bob: As I have said in a separate post, it's hard for me to equate Nudie suits with "respectability." They were pretty expensive, so I guess that their purchase was an indication that one was doing well commercially, or hoped to do so. The whole thing, though, is more complicated than Diane suggests. The wearing of Nudie suits was also an attempt to assert identity. Mexican-American and African-American musicians dressed in equivalent styles, and few people ever seemed to be bothered by that. It's easy, and tempting, though, to put those hillbillies down! Bill Malone
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