In Fighting: Why it's happening and where we stand.

Like all groups of "like-minded" people, the outlaw(?)/underground/roots- country scene has it's fair share of fractures and offshoots based on differences in opinion or taste.  Hell, we here at BRR hold no pretenses about our loathing of the pickled cunt Trigger-Man, and have few qualms about expressing disdain for any of the other asshats who find themselves in possession of just enough influence to over-inflate their egos and begin considering themselves more important than the music.

The newest and most popular trend in intra-scene bashing has been to root out the "posers" or "johnny-come-latelies" that are just now discovering our beloved scene or genre or lifestyle or whatever you want to call it.  My friend J.B. Beverly went off on a day long meme-centered diatribe the other day on this group.  The central argument was that those that are trickling into our ranks are basically lifestyle-hopping based on an ill-informed perception of what the newest and most original counter-culture is.  I understand JB's point of view, and can definitely see where he's coming from.  If anyone has traversed the landscape of musical influences that have created this mutant-almagamation of a country music scene, it's JB fucking Beverly, and for that reason, I'll excuse his prejudice and write it off as simply reacting to the symptoms rather than the underlying causes.

The reality, as I alluded to above, is that this "scene," or whatever the fuck it is, has exactly one thing that holds it together, and it's not music anymore.  It was in the early days of the Hank III renaissance that took place around 2005-2008, but that's over.  Now, people are more important.  Artists with similar INTERESTS became emboldened by Sheldon's success and his support of other unknowns showed a lot of us that he wasn't out there by himself.  There were a lot of musicians with the same spirit as Hank III, even if the music was dramatically different, and not only brought the artists into a more or less unified camp, but produced the phenomenon of fans who claim to be a part of a scene that embraces both Those Poor Bastards and Jimmy Martin.  We (the fans) finally felt like there was something to which we could belong.  There are plenty of people out there who have been fans of Wayne Hancock and the Dead Kennedys, but the last five years are the first time we felt like that was right and it fit somewhere in a larger set of influences and interests.  Many of us have forged friendships that will last our lifetimes, and at the very least have a web-based society that we can feel a part of.  For our own reasons and because of our own experiences, we identify with this "lifestyle" and are proud to be a part of it.

When others stumble across us and our music, then, it's no surprise that they find in it a community of fellowship and shared interest that they want to be a part of.  What we must remember is that more often than not, these newcomers discover the scene in the exact same way many of us (yours truly included) did.  One flagship artist (be it Hank III, Shooter Jennings, or a love for more vintage country like Cash and Nelson) sparks an interest or further exploration.  Before you know it, someone has discovered something that they can identify with.  Sure, maybe a year ago they were bobbing their heads to Shaggy 2-Dope and chugging Faygo, but people change.  The first CD I ever owned as a kid was the Space Jam soundtrack, and I'm from fucking SOUTHern Alabama.  Who are we to judge someone's past interests and assert that it invalidates their present ideas?  No-fucking-body, that's who.  Here's a newsflash, I can name more ARTISTS (with label affiliations and strong connections in the scene) for whom I have exceedingly more disdain than any reformed juggalo in Ariats.

What Mr. Beverly seems to not understand (or simply not care about) is that his success as a musician is based SOLELY on his ability to attract new fans.  Without them (us), his endeavours are doomed.  It doesn't matter where those new fans come from.  If it were really "all about the music" for him, he'd see that it's the power of his lyrics and the allure of the images they create... in a word, his fucking talent... that have won over the unlikely listener.  I'm not saying that we're sitting on something that ever has any hope of going mainstream, or becoming huge, but if we become so exclusionary that one of the best in the business is actively demeaning the possibility of a growth in the fan-base, then we're doomed.  We'll be listening to Straight to Hell and Deguello Motel long into our fifties because the scene will die.

Now, I know this has been a fairly liberal interpretation of the acceptance of all newcomers to the scene.  It's an inflated ideal of the best possible scenario, if you will.  I hold no illusions that next month at MR12, there will be those in attendance that I see as misplaced and, for lack of a better term, uncool. They won't get it.  They were dragged along by someone else, or worse, they came with a gross misinterpretation of what the festival is all about.  There are those that are unwelcome, for sure, but it's not because of where they came from, per se.  It's because they do not fit.  They are misinterpreting the message and the spirit of the underground that we hold dear.  Here's the thing, though, if they realize that they don't fit in with us, they'll stop coming.  There are no doubt thousands of people out there with Johnny Cash CD's in the sun visors of their Z71s that would be so grossly put off by our little counter-culture that we'd never see them again.  That's not to say they aren't at home listening to the same music, but their interpretation and expression of that interest is different from our own.  It doesn't take a genius to see that we're all straddling a line of interest and insanity.  Anyone who's met Scott Biram can attest to that.  The atmosphere isn't for everyone, even if they like the music, but attacking them hurts the artists by putting album sales in jeopardy.  I may own several Wu Tang albums, but you'll sure as fuck never see me at a show.  Guess what, though?  Wu Tang still has my money, regardless.  They're still benefitting rom me, even if their body guards would beat me with a pipe for asking to get backstage.

The sad thing is, there already exists such a pervasive attitude of "we're better than you" in this scene, that we're most likely already over the edge and heading toward further fracturing and bad blood.  There's plenty of it in the Southeast already, and it'll spread and grow as shitty artists continue to get breaks, and people begin to feel excluded or alienated in what they thought was their social safe haven.   To me, the only way to stop it is try to remember back just a few years ago and see how close knit everyone was.  The solidarity seen at Muddy Roots last year was a fine example of it, but it faded away as the hangovers subsided and the mud-stains washed out.  If that spirit's gone in the scene writ large, then what's the fucking point of it?   As a military man, I've seen first hand the power that across-the-board equality has and the strength and solidarity that it creates.  If people from all over the country and world, with completely different cultures, experiences, backgrounds, interests, and personalities can overcome their bullshit and not just tolerate, but truly care for one another, then what the fuck is wrong with us, a group of people so closely linked by interests that it borders on the cultish, when we can't pull our shit together?  Who can say who belongs more than anyone else?  Certainly not me, and if any motherfucker thinks he's in a position to posit any sort of opinion on my own inclusion, I've got a brand new pipe wrench just itching for some teeth marks.

Andrew is sick of your bullshit.