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Up to this point, I have deliberately avoided participation in the discussions that have appeared on the Southern Music site. I have felt that younger participants ought to hash out the various topics that have been introduced, and I've been content to be nothing more than an observer. The discussion concerning Woody Guthrie, however, has really angered me, because I feel that it has muddied the waters surrounding country music's definition and meaning. And some participants, it seems to me, have tried to attach an ideological meaning to the music, and have even suggested that musicians have to pass this test before they can be considered authentically "country." Several months ago many people in the country music industry tried to read the Dixie Chicks out of country music because these young women had dared to criticize the present resident of the White House and his war policies. Now, it seems, Woody Guthrie is being rejected as country because he "emulates a far left mentality of workers' rights and union avocation." In my humble opinion, political ideology has nothing to do with country music authenticity, and should not even be mentioned when we're talking about musical style and performance. It doesn't matter whether a musician is Republican, Democrat, Populist, Right Winger, or Left Winger. I realize that the participant who used the term "far left mentality" was not rejecting either Guthrie or his music, but was suggesting that such a political posture somehow tainted Guthrie and denied his credibility as a "country" entertainer. Was Woody Guthrie "country"? Is the Pope Catholic? My God, it's hard to think of anyone in his day and age who was more "rural" in sound, dialect, and style. His guitar style was modeled after that of Maybelle Carter, his melodies were borrowed almost exclusively from older hillbilly and gospel songs, and he bequeathed to us such songs as "Philadelphia Lawyer," "Oklahoma Hills," "Deportee," and "This Land Is Your Land." Until he moved to New York in 1940, he had followed a career path no different from other hillbillies during the Depression Years, as a hillbilly radio performer and comic. A couple of years ago I took part in a telephone conference call with several other presumed "experts" on old-time country music. The conference had been inspired by Eddy Arnold who was concerned about the ignoring of many older musicians in the Country Music Hall of Fame. We had been asked to recommend various musicians for inclusion in the Hall of Fame. I suggested several musicians, including the Blue Sky Boys, and then brought up the name of Woody Guthrie. In the background I heard a few voices, which I recognized but will not name, who responded vehemently. "He's sure not on my list." I thought then, as now, that this iconic figure was being rejected, not for his musical contributions, but because of his politics. Bill C. Malone
 Humanities & Social Sciences Online 
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