Country Music’s Culture Wars and the Remaking of Nashville

Emily Nussbaum

July 17, 2023

The New Yorker

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It was a small compromise, Russell told me, since their goal was broader and deeper than party politics: they needed their listeners to know that they weren’t alone in dangerous times. There was a Nashville that many people didn’t realize existed, and it could fill the biggest venue in town.

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Two Black women, Allison Russel plays Clarinet and Sista Strings on the fiddle in a concert perfromance

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Gabriel Barreto

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Allison Russell, Sista Strings, Emily Nussbaum, Adeem The Artist, Sheryl Crow, Brittany Howard, Mya Byrne, Trans, Drag

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Country Universe

The longest-running country music blog, Country Universe was founded on and remains committed to the fact-based notion that country music has never been the exclusive purview of artists who are straight, white, Christian, Southern, and (mostly) men. When focusing on either the genre's history or its present, CU takes a "big tent" approach to the broader country universe and believes that a foundation of empathy makes country music an essential part of our shared popular culture.

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Karen & the Sorrows have been building queer country community in Brooklyn by running the Queer Country Quarterly and the Gay Ole Opry (gayoleopry.com) since 2011. Most of these bands have come to play for us, but some we're still wishing on!

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