Letter From thenLower Rightnby John Shelton ReednAnother CountrynMost of my news this month has to do,none way or another, with country music.nIn a roundabout way, a story out ofnSouth Carolina last fall got me thinkingnabout that particular contribution of thenSouth to world civilization.nIt seems the dean of student affairs atnthe University of South Carolina askednthe band to stop playing “Louie,nLouie” at Gamecock football games.nThe spontaneous dancing the song provokednthreatened the structural integritynof the university’s football stadium.nNow, “Louie, Louie” is a grandnperiod piece, a classic of the “AnimalnHouse” era. It’s got a great beat, youncan dance to it, and obviously peoplendo. But “Louie, Louie” is about as farnremoved from country music as annAmerican popular song can be. A remarkablenaspect of that song, almost itsnessence, is that you can’t understand thenwords. Moreover, it doesn’t matter.nWith country music, if you can’tnunderstand the words there’s no pointnto it. The best of it is just goodnSouthern talk, set to what are usuallynsome pretty banal tunes. Just listen tonCeorge Jones, or to Hank Williams Jr.,nor to Loretta Lynn. Two examples, offnthe top of my head, of the power ofnwords in country music; if the story innDolly Parton’s “Coat of Many Colors”ndoesn’t make you cry, you have a heartnof stone. And next time some judge isntoo scrupulous about defendants’nrights, you’ll find that Charlie Daniels’n”Simple Man” articulates your feelingsnso well that you may want to reconsidernthem; it is, in fact, a stirring invitationnto lynch law.nThe point is that country music isnalmost always about something — notnjust about feeling romantic or lustful,neither—and it recounts its stories withnattention to the telling detail and thenjust-right phrase. Remarkably, this isnmore true now than even a decade ago.nAfter some years of wandering in thenlush wilderness of “the Nashvillensound,” a number of young singersnhave shown that you can turn back thenclock. Among these neotraditionalists,nmy favorite (and apparently everybodynelse’s) is North Carolina’s RandynTravis, who rivals the great GeorgenJones when it comes to tearjerkers.nKentucky-bred Californian DwightnYoakum is also worth a listen, althoughnhe has become a little too mannerednfor my taste.nEven more interesting in some waysnare a few young musicians who havennot simply reverted to the classic style.nLyle Lovett, for instance, can do traditionalncountry as well as anyone, andndoes it to startling effect on his versionnof Tammy Wynette’s hit “Stand BynYour Man.” As that example indicates,nhe doesn’t hesitate to do the unexpected:none side of the album “LylenLovett’s Large Band,” for example,nisn’t country at all, but big-band swing.nBut my point here is that Lovett turns anphrase and tells a story with the best of.nthe traditionalists.nSo does another Texas singersongwriter,nSteve Earie. He, too, is nontraditionalist; for one thing, he writesnthe kind of tunes you go around humming.nHis politics are probably unsoundn(though not his contempt fornpoliticians). But his lyrics present a farnmore vivid and sympathetic picture ofnthe frustrations of small-town andnblue-collar American life than anythingnyou’ll hear from BrucenSpringsteen. He sings about hisn”Sweet Little ’66,” oil-burning andngas-girzzling, but “made by union labornon American soil.” (This is notnyour generic Beach Boys car song.) Hensings about the life of a traveling musiciannwith “a three-pack habit and anmotel tan.” And one of the all-timenbest lines in country music comes fromna terrific song about a family man’snimpulsive Mexican fling: “I threw thencar-seat in the dumpster and I headednout into the night.”nCountry music often presents litdendramas, and sometimes it’s grotesquen—like life. Let me record a few recentnnews items that could easily be the stuffnof country music. (OK, a transparentlynflimsy transition. I know.)nConsider the story of an infant putnup for adoption who grows up andninadvertently marries his own mother.nSort of a classic theme, wouldn’t younsay? As it happens, that’s the real-lifenpredicament of a Tennessean namednDanny James Bass. Mr. Bass has nownfiled for divorce, and he’s trying to sellnnnrights to his story to the producers ofnDallas. But I say it’s a natural-bornncountry song.nOr how about the saga of Mary Suenand Junior Davis? Last year a circuitncourt judge in Tennessee ruled that thendozen children of the recently divorcednDavises were entitled to the protectionnof the state, notwithstanding that thenoffspring in question were embryosnresident on petri dishes in a hospitalnfreezer. Apparently Junior wanted tonmassacre the innocents to avoid havingnto pay child-support, while Mary Suenwanted to keep the little chaps alive,nwhether out of maternal feeling ornspite was not stipulated. (Incidentally,nthe same folks who explained to menwhy only the mother’s wishes shouldnbe consulted were mightily displeasednwhen those wishes prevailed, in a rulingnbased not on her rights but onnthose of the children.) Science and lawnmarch on, and I know there’s a balladnin there somewhere.nYou think we may not be ready fornsongs about incest and infanticide (ornwhatever)? Well, maybe, but we alreadynhave a bunch about adultery andndomestic violence, and at least oneneach about statutory rape (Hank WilliamsnJr.: “Knoxville CourthousenBlues”), homophobic violence (CharlienDaniels: “New Uneasy Rider”),nand castration (Bobby Bare: “BignDupree”). If you don’t know countrynmusic, incidentally, maybe I shouldnpoint out that the last two of thesensongs are funny.nCountry music can also be downrightnweepy, of course, especially afterna few drinks. And it seems that listeningnto the “wailing, lonesome, selfpitying”nvariety of country music encouragesndrinking. After a ten-yearnstudy of a bar in Missoula and lessnintensive study of 65 other taverns innthe Minneapolis area, James Schaeferntold the American Anthropological Associationnthat slower music means fasterndrinking, and he has the numbers tonprove it. “I don’t think this warrants ansurgeon general’s warning or anything,”nSchaefer told the AP. “Butnpeople should be aware that they arenmore likely to lose their control andnself-restraint in a country and westernnbar than anywhere else.”nIt was not reported whether LeonardnRay Lee was listening to countrynmusic but he certainly had been drink-nJUNE 1990/47n