Country Music Has Plenty of Democrats

Here's a take on country music singers that goes against the conventional stereotype: Very few of them are hard-lined right wingers. In fact quite a few of them are left of center, liberal, or just good ol' Democrats.  One of the most famous country music singers in the world, Johnny Cash, was a self-described liberal.  One of my favorite quotes from him is "let's just say I didn't vote for George Bush," from 2005.

I've been a fan of country music pretty much more whole life.  I know way more about country music than any other genre.  So I've always found it odd that more people don't realize country music is more than just right wing Republicans.  One of the biggest stars in country music today, Toby Keith, is a Democrat.  Tim McGraw and Faith Hill are huge Democrats.  Arguably one of the biggest names ever in country music, Garth Brooks, is also a Democrat.  Willie Nelson, yep a Democrat.  Todd Snider, Steve Earle (a personal favorite) and Kris Kristofferson are all Democrats.  Let us not forget, either, Merle Haggard, pure country music royalty, is a Democrat.

Speaking of Merle, he tells Rolling Stone the media gets very little right about President Obama and the lying is abundant.

It was also nice to meet Obama and find him very different from the media makeout. It's really almost criminal what they do with our President. There seems to be no shame or anything. They call him all kinds of names all day long, saying he's doing certain things that he's not. It's just a big old political game that I don't want to be part of. There are people spending their lives putting him down. I'm sure some of it's true and some of it's not. I was very surprised to find the man very humble and he had a nice handshake. His wife was very cordial to the guests and especially me. They made a special effort to make me feel welcome. It was not at all the way the media described him to be.

The whole interview is a good read and worth a few minutes.(H/T TPM)