So maybe this isn’t politics, per se, but in the absence of a blog this week (time just got away from me) here is a fantastic song by Mandolin Orange addressing an issue that’s been in the news a lot lately: A poignant story of a love deemed sinful , Hey Adam explores the drawn out pain of … Continue reading Bluegrass with a Stance →
Month: March 2015
Politics in Bluegrass
One of our readings this week is a text titled simply “Music and Politics” by John Street. He describes how music, despite being considered one of the purest and powerful forms of free speech and expression, is constantly subjugated to censorship, political pressure, religious bashing and threats, and sometimes outright bans. Every genre of music … Continue reading Politics in Bluegrass
Bluegrass Business
Many people will claim that success in music is all about the music. Quality music produced by quality musicians begets success. Such is the common belief in many people, especially budding musicians with dreams of making it big. But is that the reality? Within popular music, I’d say yes and no. Many often feel and […]
Potentially Political
John Street argues that music and politics are active extensions of each other (I haven’t read the whole book so that’s the simple version). It’s hard to disagree; politics feed off power struggles and music retains power as a voice of human expression. Street hesitates with the idea that everything is political or that all music is political. There … Continue reading Potentially Political
“Everything is Political”
Being in the Department of Political Science at Virginia Tech I inherently have a strong interest in politics. John Street makes a connection that I somehow often times insensibly forget to link, the correlation of music and politics. Of course, I was informed on instances where regimes took over radio to build their ideology but … Continue reading “Everything is Political” →