Country music has always been the art form for a sizeable, largely blue collar, chunk of the American population. It should therefore not really be surprising that there have always been plenty of country songs about soldiers. The genre has always enjoyed being sentimental, and that kind of emotion often applies to soldiers being away from home at war.
Much of the genre's output is overtly and often crudely nationalistic in tone, unashamed in its populism. Other numbers often explicitly refer to being a long way from home and family, children or siblings. Of course, being separated from a romantic partner is one of the recurring themes of all popular music.
Dean Brody, a Canadian musician, addressed the theme of missing family with a number entitled 'Brothers'. One of the most mainstream and populist of singers, Toby Keith, wrote a very popular piece of patriotic bombast with his 2003 number entitled 'American Soldier'. The issue of being away from family was left to John Michael Montgomery and his 2004 effort 'Letters From Home'.
Not all singers in the genre are unequivocal patriots though. Outlaw and rebel country singers often take a more nuanced and balanced view of the experience of war through a soldier's eyes. Many singers are in outright opposition to the whole concept of fighting wars in other people's countries.#
This does not mean that they do not respect fighting men. One artist who maintains a consistent line when it comes to matters of militarism and war is Steve Earle. His song 'Johnny Come Lately', recorded with London-Irish folk punk act The Pogues, is a song which deals with an American airman in London during World War Two. A touching and rousing story of the battle against Hitler, it also draws a sad political contrast between how World War Two veterans were treated and the reception their later counterparts in Vietnam received.
There have been country songs about soldiers for many years. With the amount of conflict participated in by American service people looking in no immediate decline, there are sure to be many more. This is an art form which readily lends itself to the kind of sentiments this type of song expresses.
Much of the genre's output is overtly and often crudely nationalistic in tone, unashamed in its populism. Other numbers often explicitly refer to being a long way from home and family, children or siblings. Of course, being separated from a romantic partner is one of the recurring themes of all popular music.
Dean Brody, a Canadian musician, addressed the theme of missing family with a number entitled 'Brothers'. One of the most mainstream and populist of singers, Toby Keith, wrote a very popular piece of patriotic bombast with his 2003 number entitled 'American Soldier'. The issue of being away from family was left to John Michael Montgomery and his 2004 effort 'Letters From Home'.
Not all singers in the genre are unequivocal patriots though. Outlaw and rebel country singers often take a more nuanced and balanced view of the experience of war through a soldier's eyes. Many singers are in outright opposition to the whole concept of fighting wars in other people's countries.#
This does not mean that they do not respect fighting men. One artist who maintains a consistent line when it comes to matters of militarism and war is Steve Earle. His song 'Johnny Come Lately', recorded with London-Irish folk punk act The Pogues, is a song which deals with an American airman in London during World War Two. A touching and rousing story of the battle against Hitler, it also draws a sad political contrast between how World War Two veterans were treated and the reception their later counterparts in Vietnam received.
There have been country songs about soldiers for many years. With the amount of conflict participated in by American service people looking in no immediate decline, there are sure to be many more. This is an art form which readily lends itself to the kind of sentiments this type of song expresses.
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