[2019—it’s been
real, it’s been good, but it ain’t been real good. Actually, I’m not even sure
I’d say it’s been good, but it has definitely been eventful. So this week I’ll
AmericanStudy a handful of major 2019 stories I haven’t been able to cover on
the blog, leading up to a few predictions for what’s likely to be an even more
eventful 2020.]
On three
contexts for one of the
year’s (and music
history’s) most surprising smash hits.
1)
Black Cowboys: Yes, that’s the title of an underrated Springsteen song
from his Devils and Dust album, but
for once I’m not (mostly) talking here about Bruce. Instead, I’m talking about
an even more under-remembered group of historical figures, the African
American cowboys who constituted a striking percentage of that labor force
(one in four!) yet remain nearly invisible in our collective myths and
narratives. The wonderful, equal parts historical and mythic autobiography Life
and Adventures of Nat Love (1907) offers one compelling way in to
engaging with this largely forgotten American community. But so, in its 21st
century way, does Lis Nas X’s “Old Town Road.” As much
as the song is part of an evolving country music tradition (on which more in a
moment), it is even more directly part of cowboy culture, right down to the stereotypical
“Wranglers” about which I wrote
in this post. A playlist that, yes, could start with an evocative pairing
of “Road” with Springsteen’s “Black Cowboys.”
2)
Cross-Cultural Country: “Road” was already a hit
before Billboard temporarily banned it from the country
music charts for “not embracing enough elements of today’s country music,” but
that controversial (and eventually
rescinded) move certainly helped take the song to a new level of attention
and popularity (and seems to have led to the
remix featuring Billy Ray Cyrus that really sent the song into the
stratosphere). I agree with takes
that Billboard’s move was at
least frustratingly discriminatory (if not outright racist), not least because many
other crossover hits, such as last year’s Bebe Rexha and Florida
Georgia Line track “Meant to Be,” have had no such challenges. But the
decision was also historically misinformed, both to the long
legacy of African American country artists and to the related and even more
overarching reality that country
music has always been an amalgam of many genres, sounds, styles, and
cultural forms. For all those reasons, “Road” belongs not just on the country
charts, but in the country pantheon.
3)
Out Artists: While the song’s success was a huge
surprise, I think it might have been an even bigger twist (at least for those
of us not initially familiar with Lil
Nas X’s album or career beyond the song, which I have to believe was most
of us) when Lil Nas X came out publicly
as gay on the last day of Pride Month. We have of course come a long way
from the days (only a few decades back) when an artist
like Freddie Mercury had to keep his sexual orientation secret in order to
avoid backlash (if not blacklisting), but I would argue that genres like
country and rap (the two that Lil Nas X combines so potently in “Road”)
continue to suffer from homophobia (although of course there are other openly gay
artists in both those genres).
In any case, for Lil Nas X to come out at precisely the height of his song’s
popularity was a striking and bold choice, and one that added another vital
context to the ground-breaking success of “Old Town Road.”
Next 2019 review
tomorrow,
Ben
PS. What do you
think? 2019 stories you’d highlight?