On days like today I'm reminded of how much I love our country. I was born here, but I chose to live here. Soon after Nixon was elected I gave up on the U.S. and moved abroad-- maybe for a few months, maybe a few years... I didn't know at the time. Years later, as the impeachment hearings were in full swing, I decided to move back home. I could have stayed in Holland, which I had come to love and which I thought of as an alternative home. But one morning I woke up, dreaming in Dutch and I thought, "no, I want to go back to America." I haven't regretted it-- not even when Trump, far worse than Nixon in every imaginable way, occupied the White House.This morning my friend Dan suggested I listen to two new songs by one of the country's greatest living songwriters, Gary Nicholson. Never heard of him? He won two Grammies. Anyway, you've heard his music. He's written songs for artists you do know-- Bonnie Raitt, the Dixie Chicks, Buddy Guy, B.B. King (including a duet for B.B. and Buddy), Phish, Reba McIntyre, Willie Nelson, Stevie Nicks, Waylon Jennings, Garth Brooks, George Strait, Delbert McClinton, Fleetwood Mac, Etta James, Neil Diamond, Randy Travis, Jeb Mo, John Prine, Brenda Lee, Greg Allman, Tanya Tucker, Dion, Ringo, NRBQ, Charlie Daniels, James Cotton, Trisha Yearwood, Peter Frampton, Billy Ray Cyrus, Foghat...He has just released an extraordinary album, The Great Divide. He doesn't mention Trump at all-- although he constantly refers to him. I don't know what country music fans are going to think of the album but there's a song up top and a song below and "The Great Divide is also the title track. It's a love letter to our country, endorsing the values that made us who we are: immigration, tolerance, compassion. It might be songs more for a DWT reader than for a "typical" country music fan in a MAGA hat.And by the way, on the same day he released The Great Divide he also released-- or his alter-ego, Whitey Johnson, released-- More Days Like This. If you click the link you can listen to the title track, not political... but absolutely great anyway. In any case, Gary Nicholson, has a much better idea of how to communicate with rural voters and country music fans than Nancy and Chucky ever will. As The Onion noted today:
Unveiling the new nationwide messaging strategy after six months of planning and research, the Democratic Party launched its “Listen Up, Hayseeds” campaign Monday to win over rural voters. “Hey, you redneck simpletons, put down your whittling sticks, drag yourself away from the Cracker Barrel, and let us tell you how it is,” said a team of Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer on the debut commercial, part of a widespread advertising blitz that will be played at NASCAR races and monster truck rallies across the country. “We know you can barely read, so we’ll spell this out for you: The Republican tax plan will only benefit the rich. Don’t you dumb hicks get that? Democrats will fight inequality so you and all your inbred cousins don’t have to live in a trailer anymore. Get it?”
