We explore the intersection of country music and politics in the US with a report from the birthplace of American singer-songwriter, Hank Williams. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Hello and welcome to the Monocle Weekly.
I'm Laura Kramer.
On today's show, we are exploring the Hank Williams family dynasty and the intersection of country music and politics in America ahead of the US Election.
Here is Poppy Damon.
We're driving down the lost highway in Alabama, named after a famous country song.
We pull up on a street that looks like something out of a western.
Train tracks right through the middle, a rusty bridge, not a soul around.
Yeah, it's a big railway track.
All the buildings are kind of copper red.
There's signs with historical figures pinned up.
We're in a place that can genuinely claim to be the birthplace of country music.
Georgiana, which is central Alabama, south central Alabama.
And we were developed in 1855 and we were a logging town, a cotton town, and then we happened to have this gentleman called Hank Williams learn to play guitar here and grew up here as a boy.
Yes, Hank Williams and his musical family, the first family of country.
And I want to know what this dynasty can tell us about the changing politics of the South.
Country music is music from people from the country.
Right.
It's agrarian, it's rural.
It's not of the cities, it's not of the elite classes.
It's everyday music.