Yes Walter, I’ve been radicalized

Raffey
2 min readJul 25, 2023

Medium writer Walter Rhein, Does County Music radicalize people?

Multi-instrumentalist Hubby Jenkins performing at the IBMA Bluegrass Live! festival in Raleigh, North Carolina on October 2, 2021. Please note, the banjo is an African instrument, not an American one. Wikimedia commons

Yes, Walter, country music radicalized me. I’ve been radicalized since I was a toddler. I hear country music and a voice in my head says, I belong here, I know that sound, I know those instruments, I know what they are singing about, I feel it too. One morning, we were listening to one of our very favorite country music albums and my husband said, “that’s the soundtrack of our lives.” He died a few weeks later and Iris DeMent’s, Infamous Angel album still brings our lives together back to me.

What the music industry calls “country” isn’t one bit country. Those fakes and posers don’t even play country instruments (not dulcimers, banjos, fiddles, or mandolins). Last week, in Bowling Green, Kentucky, the Liberal Redneck, Trae Crowder’s take on the Jason Aldean brouhaha was spot on hilarious.

Real country music is so deeply rooted in gospel, folk and bluegrass you can tell the difference the second you hear it. Real country music is storytelling at its very best. It’s the music of working people and you can hear…

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Raffey

Rural America is my home. I serve diner, gourmet, seven course, and homecooked thoughts — but spare me chain food served on thoughtless trains of thought.