Antimodernism and Genre from Country-Rock to Alt.Country, 1968-98
Antimodernism and Genre from Country-Rock to Alt.Country, 1968-98 Jason Bianchi Kirby San Jose, California B.A. Sociology and Literature, University of California—Santa Cruz, 2002 M.A. American Culture Studies, Bowling Green State University, 2006 A dissertation presented to the Graduate Faculty of the University of Virginia in Candidacy for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Music University of Virginia August 2016 Abstract This dissertation is a cultural history exploring expressions of and responses to antimodernism within country-rock and “alternative country” music, drawing on reception history, intellectual history of underground and mainstream left-wing American political movements, interview discourse with artists, and close readings of songs. In this dissertation I argue that despite styling itself as a type of purer root or “folk” form of contemporary country music, in terms of its ideologies, studio production techniques, fan and critical discourse, and business practices, alt.country is a type of rock music. It embodies some of rock’s core beliefs, particularly rock’s critique of the more bureaucratic and “rationalized” dimensions of postindustrial capitalism, particularly as this relates to the everyday impact of new technologies. I argue that this anti-modernism, emerging here from the American political left, has been different in different eras, from the back-to-the-land movement of the late 1960s, to late- ‘80s/early-‘90s expressions of left populist punk’s longing for “folk” community. In this project I look beyond contemporary scholarly understandings of alt.country as mostly ironic, as ultimately I suggest that this music illustrates what Keir Keightley calls rock’s aesthetic of “seriousness,” more precisely than it does an understanding of country music ideology.
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