religions Article Hell Hounds, Hillbillies, and Hedonists: The Evangelical Roots of Rock n’ Roll Clay Motley Department of Language and Literature, Florida Gulf Coast University, 10501 FGCU Blvd, South Fort Myers, FL 33965-6565, USA;
[email protected]; Tel.: +1-239-590-7440 Academic Editor: Lawrence W. Snyder Received: 7 January 2016; Accepted: 1 March 2016; Published: 7 March 2016 Abstract: This essay contends that much of the creativity driving the formation of popular folk music, such as blues, country, and early Rock n’ Roll, in the American South during the early twentieth century grew from the religious tension between concepts of “sacred” and “secular” rooted in evangelical Protestantism. This essay examines the rebellious impulse of Rock n’ Roll as, in the absence of religious boundaries, tensions, and influences, it grew beyond its Southern roots. Keywords: blues music; country music; Rock n’ Roll; South; Protestant; Christianity; secular 1. Introduction/Background Rebellion is one of the defining features of Rock n’ Roll. This can take the form of rebellion against the conventions of the previous generation, established morals or aesthetics, gender and sexual norms, the dominant economic or political order, or some combination thereof. In 1953, just as Rock n’ Roll was about to break onto the national scene, the film The Wild One captured the genre’s youthful, alluring, and sometimes menacing rebelliousness when Marlon Brando’s character, Johnny, is asked what he is rebelling against, and he intensely replies, “What do you got?” [1]. Rock n’ Roll’s rebellious dynamic can sometimes be nothing more than flaunting of parental authority or taste, with sounds, slang, and clothes sure to annoy and confuse the older generation.