Are You Ready For 'Woke Country' Music?
Download mp3 (14.14 MB)“Travelin Soldier” came out at the height of the Dixie Chicks’ fame in 2002 — but then, at a 2003 concert in London, it all turned around.
On the precipice of the Iraq war, lead singer Natalie Maines told the crowd, “We do not want this war, this violence, and we’re ashamed that the President of the United States is from Texas.”
Billy Dukes is a country music writer and reporter for Taste of Country in Nashville and he said for a long time after that, the Dixie Chicks became a cautionary tale in country music.
Since then, the genre's airwaves have largely been dominated by what might be called "bro country" — pickup trucks and whiskey and fried chicken and girls in cutoff shorts. But, as a country music song might say, oh how the times have changed.
"Bro country" is out and, as The Economist recently referred to it, "woke country" is in.
That means some of the top artists in country music are going against many traditional country values, speaking out for LGBTQ rights and even for gun control.
Billy Duke joined the Show to talk more about this trend.
