James Akenson
You just never know. The prompt for a International Country Music (ICM) piece can come from unexpected places. The prompt, the inspiration, the idea can come from things you wish never happened. Just recently an EF4 tornado with windspeeds of 267-322 kilometers per-hour killed nineteen people and destroyed more than one hundred homes just west of Tennessee Tech University and Cookeville, Tennessee.
Five miles west of Cookeville resembled a war zone.
The response to the tornadoes was remarkable. Local volunteers caused traffic jams on Jefferson Avenue, the main street of Cookeville. Tennessee Tech closed for two days to allow faculty, staff, students, and student-athletes to volunteer. The response was so great that volunteers had to be asked to stay away until things could be organized. President Trump even visited the disaster site. A former student and friend got to shake President Trumps hand.
So….what has this to do with Country Music? Good question. Unlike years ago when communication was slower, there won’t be many, if any, Event Songs, that tell of the great Cookeville-Putnam County tornado. The Cookeville-Putnam County tornado won’t be made more famous by songs such as Floyd Collins. The 1925 song described Kentucky resident Floyd Collins who received national attention when he became stuck in a cave and couldn’t be rescued.
The tornado won’t be made famous like Roy Acuff’s Wreck on the Highway made a deadly 1937 car crash famous. Times change and news travels at warp speed around the internet in social media, electronic media, and immediate radio and telly coverage. We don’t need Event Songs like they were needed back then.
It does relate to Country Music because of an insensitive comment by a personality on 107.5 FM The River located in Lebanon, Tennessee and particularly targeting the Nashville market. BUT…lots of folks in Cookeville and Putnam County heard Zac Woodward say the following.
“They (first responders) also said that they see more deaths in those areas because people don’t have as much education or money or resources to protect themselves. And if you think about the structure of the homes in more of those rural communities, a lot of them are pre-manufactured homes, so they don’t really have a safe place. If a tornado comes through, the whole house is going.”
It doesn’t sound so bad, does it? BUT…just like areas outside of Sydney rural southerners in the U.S. have often been stereotyped as stupid, uneducated, gap-toothed, racist rednecks. In times of stress such comments by outsiders might rub folks the wrong way even more than normal.
Here are a couple of responses to Zac and 107.5
Hey WOKE FOLKS on 107.5…
This is for Zac with 107.5 the River Nashville Radio. Comments are being deleted so I invite any & everyone to share as you please.
Cookeville residents are not uneducated. It was not a mobile home park that was destroyed. Yes, they have access to news! Apparently you are the uneducated one Zac. The destruction was worse because the tornado was an EF4 traveling at 175 MPH. Cookeville and surrounding counties may not have the financial resources Nashville has available to them, but they are educated, even better they have compassion for others. People showed up in masses to assist other human beings in need. You owe Cookeville an apology. I sincerely hope you lose your position of trust. We need someone with compassion and integrity reporting the news.
We have a pretty amazing community that will certainly continue to rebuild. The insensitive and idiotic statements that were made about our awesome neighbors, friends, and community will be hard to erase. We didn’t listen before and will definitely never turn on 107.5! Seriously!?
Now that brings us to some serious talk about Country Music. Just like Cookeville and Putnam County, the Country Music community is sensitive to the way it has been perceived. Even today Country Music talks about itself….the artists, places, trucks, red dirt, small towns, and related items. Let’s take a look at some that are particularly appropriate given the reaction to Zac Woodward ‘s 107.5 FM The River comments.
Hank Williams, Jr certainly has identified the strength and ability of country folks to survive difficult times. Take a look at the video of his A Country Boy Can Survive. The country boy can do it all and doesn’t need big city folks Up North to get by in difficult times.
In fact, Hank Jr says If Heaven Ain’t a Lot Like Dixie I Don’t Want to Go. Hank Jr mentions a variety of things about the South including the Grand Ole Opry. If heaven doesn’t have them he might as well go to hell or New York City. A lot of Cookeville and Putnam County folks would agree and say Amen. Take THAT Zac Woodward. Go jump in The River 1907.5 FM!
And…there are plenty of other Country Music songs that fit the Country Folks Can Survive, Cookeville Strong, and We’re the VOLUNTEER State theme. Professional wrestler Hillbilly Jim…. yes, the bib overalls are a bit stereotypically country… but at least James Morris was born in Scottsville, Kentucky and billed as being from Mud Lick, Kentucky.
Hillbilly Jim advanced his career with Don’t Go Messin With a Country Boy. It’s not a profound song, but the message is clear that You’d be biting off a hump bit and chew Bit and chew bit and chew. Not bad at all as it uses a metaphor based on chewing tobacco. A lot of Cookeville and Putnam County folks would agree and say Amen. Take THAT Zac Woodward. Go jump in The River 1907.5 FM!
I did some crowd sourcing…no make that FaceBook sourcing…and asked blokes and blokettes for recommendations of similar songs. Ethan Grissom suggested a great Glen Campbell song Try A Little Kindness. You’ve got to show a little kindness….and overlook the blindness of the narrow minded people… Yes. Lend a helping hand will indeed help someone along their tornado ravaged way.
A lot of Cookeville and Putnam County folks would say Amen.Take THAT Zac Woodward. Go jump in The River 1907.5 FM!
I’d thought of it as well, but Ethan Grissom came up with John Denver’s Thank God I’m a Country Boy. Yes. John Denver was a bit of a crossover from pop music…what isn’t these days….yet all the references say it clear Thank God I’m a Country Boy. No wonder John Denver also wanted country roads to take him back to heaven in West Virginia with the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Shenandoah River. A lot of Putnam County and Cookeville folks would say Amen.
Take THAT Zac Woodward! Go jump in The River 107.5 FM!
Sacred and Profane, Heaven and Hell Country Music guru Randy Williams suggested Lynyrd Skynyrd’s I’m A Country Boy that they don’t like the smell of the city and that I’m a country, I’m as happy as I can be. Williams also suggested Charlie Daniels Long Haired Country Boy.
Charlie Daniels sends a clear message that he may not have any money, but he’s got it made and you can leave this country boy alone. A lot of Putnam County and Cookeville folks would say Amen. Take THAT Zac Wooward! Go jump in The River 107.5 FM!
Friends like James Allan Barry in Minnesota and Andrew Smith in Tasmania suggested songs that flat out like being country. Smith suggested I’m Just a Country Boy by Leon Pappy Self and His Blue Ridge Playboys from 1940. Barry suggested the Don Williams classic I’m Just a Country Boy who loved the country live even though he was poor. A lot of Putnam County and Cookeville folks would say Amen. Take THAT Zac Wooward! Go jump in The River 107.5 FM!
Andrew Smith suggested Aussie Lee Kernigan’s Boys From the Bush as in the right spirit. I like it! Australian Country Music has lots of songs that reflect love of the country life style. Adam Brand’s Comin’ From/Khe Sanh says it well. They may be in their dusty, dirty trucks and don’t forget what we stand for the same way that country folks in the U.S. think.
Just like a lot of Putnam County and Cookeville folks no doubt that Adam Brand, Tex Banes, Tex Morton, Slim Dusty and others would say Amen. Take THAT Zac Woodward. Go jump in the River 107.5!
Well now…you get the idea. Country Music mentions artists, people, places, events, food, religion, rivers and mountains that mean a lot to their country folks life style. Country Music has always talked about the things country folks love and believe in. And…country folks are proud even when they call each other hillbillies or rednecks. They think they are hard working, smart, and resourceful. They don’t cotton to being looked down upon.
The fantastic response of Putnam County and Cookeville folks to volunteer and help out after the tornado killed 19 people and destroyed hundreds of homes proved that life in this neck of the woods is special. Don’t go messing with a country boy or a country girl they would say. They just might say Amen.Take THAT Zac Woodward. Go jump in the River 107.5!
