The powers that be made sure the Country Music Association Awards started with fireworks, red-white-and-blue streamers and star-spangled guitars.<\/p>\n\n
But it was Alan Jackson who stopped the show with a post-Sept. 11 anthem that had the faithful drying their eyes. \u201cWhere Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)\u201d jumped from pangs of doubt to hugs in pews, from tuning out Hollywood trash to dusting off the family Bible.<\/p>\n\n
The man in the white hat wrapped his grief and grit around a chorus that would turn an MTV programmer into a pillar of salt.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m just a singer of simple songs. I\u2019m not a real political man. I watch CNN, but I\u2019m not really sure I can tell you the difference in Iraq and Iran,\u201d sang Jackson. \u201cBut I know Jesus and I talk to God and I remember this from when I was young. Faith, hope and love are some good things he gave us, and the greatest of these is love.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
No one really needed to prove that real country music could handle hard times. After all, the year\u2019s hot song was a 1913 flashback that opens with the cry: \u201cI am a man of constant sorrow, I have seen trouble all my days.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
\u201cCountry music goes through cycles like everything else and we\u2019ve seen lot of sanitized music in recent years,\u201d said Gene Edward Veith of Concordia University-Wisconsin, co-author of \u201cHonky-Tonk Gospel.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
\u201cRight now the pendulum is swinging back toward the traditional side of things. That means we\u2019re hearing more music that \u2014 one way or another \u2014 says suffering is a part of real life. This is music about living and dying and joy and sorrow. When you start talking about things like that out in normal America, you have to use the language of faith.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Some people say traditional folk music kept the flame of old-time music alive, while others credit the late Bill Monroe and his bluegrass believers. There\u2019s blues, tin-pan jazz and English balladry in there, too. But most of all, said Veith, there is the gospel music that serves as a backdrop to everything else.<\/p>\n\n
Country music is about people messing up and then trying to make things right \u2014 sin and salvation. American popular culture knows how to handle the sin part, said Veith. But most of the people who rule Hollywood and the pop charts haven\u2019t got a clue about how to handle repentance, grace and salvation.<\/p>\n\n
At its best, country music delivers both sides of this sobering equation.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cChristianity is not a matter of moralism or positive messages,\u201d wrote Veith and Thomas Wilmeth. \u201cRather, it is about the salvation of people who need salvation. Country music, unlike other popular art forms, has a way of acknowledging the sinfulness of sin. And though it sometimes goes too far in wallowing in that sin, at some point it has a way of acknowledging the power of the Gospel.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Country music does do its share of wallowing as well as worshiping. Anyone who has punched more than two jukebox buttons knows that country musicians have always had as much to say about Saturday night as Sunday morning. But even those \u201ccheatin\u2019 and drinkin'\u201d songs tend to reveal some moral roots, said Veith.<\/p>\n\n
Many a barstool classic has included a big role for a real Satan who tempts real people with real sin that leads to a real hell. Also, country songs often portray alcohol as a futile way of dealing with moral failure. One thing this music almost never does is deny that the pain and brokenness is real. Meanwhile, it\u2019s hard to imagine many rock \u2018n\u2019 roll divas singing songs about adultery, because the institution of marriage is irrelevant in that context.<\/p>\n\n
Country music isn\u2019t perfect, said Veith. Neither is real life.<\/p>\n\n
Perhaps Johnny Cash put it best, when he described his taste in music: \u201cI love songs about horses, railroads, land, judgment day, family, hard times, whiskey, courtship, marriage, adultery, separation, murder, war, prison, rambling, damnation, home, salvation, death, pride, humor, piety, rebellion, patriotism, larceny, determination, tragedy, rowdiness, heartbreak and love. And mother. And God.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
That covers most of the big issues \u2014 from Genesis to Revelation.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The powers that be made sure the Country Music Association Awards started with fireworks, red-white-and-blue streamers and star-spangled guitars. But it was Alan Jackson who stopped the show with a post-Sept. 11 anthem that had the faithful drying their eyes. \u201cWhere Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)\u201d jumped from pangs of doubt to hugs […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":610,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n