Southern Music

Music in the South can mean anything from country to hip-hop, but they all basically have the same roots. This week I think it would be interesting for each of us to pick a type of southern music and do some research about it (where it started, who sings/plays it, who listens to it, what part of the South is famous for it, etc.).

For some reason I've always been a fan of bluegrass. I grew up around family members that played and listened to it. Bluegrass is almost a mixture of all southern music. It has roots in Scottish, English, Welsh, and Irish traditional music, and it also contains some jazz and blues. It mostly uses acoustic stringed instruments and occasionally vocals. There are a few different types of bluegrass that have developed over the years: traditional, progressive ("newgrass"), and gospel. I'm sure most of you have seen O Brother, Where Art Thou? It's a really good example of bluegrass in modern media.
[1]

Fun fact: Many people think that the Bluegrass Region in northern Kentucky is named for bluegrass music. It is actually named for the type of grass in the area.

Response to Southern Comics: Scott Horvath

The comic pictured here is about what makes a “Good ol’ Boy”. This is a very southern ideal and term and my interpretation of it is that it is used to describe southern men or boys who are great “southerners”. In other words, a man or boy who represents everything that is southern would be considered a “Good ol’ Boy”. The comic outlines a bunch of southern generalities that would make someone a qualify to be called a “Good ol’ Boy”. The middle pane that lists a bunch of characteristics is probably the best of the four panes. The other three aren’t as big but the addition one is quite comical.

This southern comic depicts what some people envision the entire south to be like. Contrary to popular belief there are very few southern men that would qualify as a “Good ol’ Boy” if all of these standards must be met. The fact of the matter is this side of the south is not nearly as prevalent as many people think. It has died slowly as the world has become more modernized.

Southern Comics

I've always been a fan of comic strips so I completely agree that they are just more than a form of fleeting amusement. Cartoons have been used as a form of satire for many years now, and have been an been an effective way of getting a particular point of view across about a certain issue, even if the specific manner is exaggerated. Of course, not all comics are satirical, but comics are amazing not because of the influence they always have, but because of the potential for influence they carry. I frequent a few webcomics in my spare time and one of the ones that I like to read is called Married to the Sea. While it doesn't always pertain specifically to southern stereotypes, and isn't always satirical in its jokes, I always seem to find that each of the comics are a deeper meaning underneath the surface joke. Then again, perhaps I find this meaning because I'm looking for meaning, and a meaning you derive from something, even if it wasn't the author's intention, can be just as influential, because intent on meaning doesn't belittle the meaning derived. As for the picture I posted here, while I don't know it's origins I did find it quite funny. It displays a generic hate-mongering redneck, one who believe's that he has 'birthright' to the land and that those who aren't white should go. He obviously faces the fallacy in his reasoning when he is faced with the Native American, who by name alone is suggested to have been inhabiting his land much longer than he has.

Response to Southern Cartoons: Alexis Noel

Cartoon strips are a form of art. Some people may disagree, saying they're merely for entertainment purposes only, with no deeper meaning, but I disagree. They tell a story through images and words, allowing the reader to visualize easier. Southern representations can be told through comic strips, much like southern poetry, southern novels and southern films. While they typically aim to amuse or even "poke fun" at politics or stereotypes, they still present a post southern identity. After searching online for southern cartoons, I ran across a site called Down South Comics [1]. Here was the comic that I found:The full size comic can be found here. This comic strip reminded me of Bastard out of Carolina, with Anney working at the local restaurant and encountering all sorts of truckers, hicks and eventually Glen. The stereotypes are apparent through attire, language and interactions.

The south through comics

Well we've all grown up reading comic books and cartoons. I feel that a cartoonist is a person who puts the truth out there in such a way that it appears almost comical. A cartoonist is a person who takes a look into a stereotype and present it in a way that it has the most impact. On looking up about different comics or cartoonists about the south, I came upon the website about the Levine Museum of the New South. Even a museum found comic strips about the south important and presented them as an exhibit. The comic strip I would like you all to see is on the website whose link I have provided. For this week's blog let's all find a comic strip that somehow denotes a specific southern stereotype and also give it's explanation. It would be fun to look into and present.
[link to blog image]

Response to southern superstitions

So I'm at my friend's place during Spring Break in North Carolina. I am looking at his library collection and I run into the book "Weird Carolinas" mentioned in the blog earlier by Alexis. I was excited and so I looked it up. The first section I looked up was "fabled people and places". I came across many stories one of them being a story about how there were many places in both North and South Carolina that were named after the devil. Each place along with its Satanic name also carried with it a story explaining its name. For eg. there is a broken jumble of huge rocks behind Caesar's head in Greenville County, SC that is named the Devil's Kitchen and it is said to emit smoke when Mr. S is cooking his meal. Apparently, people also get the smell of brimstone when this happens. Thinking about why a place known to be filled with religious people would be filled with places named after the Devil I could only reach to the conclusion that what the people want is to instill fear. The impact of a superstition or a story for that matter, is on how believable it seems. Here, the only thing that people truly believe is the Bible and so many other people are able to take advantage of this and thus come up with various superstitions that the other people are not able to question. That was the main difference that I found between other superstitions and southern superstitions. While the other superstitions of ghosts and monsters instilled their fear through death, the southern superstitions instilled this fear through religion and afterlives.

Response to superstitions

When I was growing up, I was always told to never kill a cricket because they were good luck, especially if you found one in your house. I was always curious as to why and if it was only a southern superstition, but never really questioned it. So, I did a little research. Turns out there's a lot of folklore surrounding the cricket. In China, many people keep crickets in cages for good luck. I'm sure most of you remember in the Disney movie Mulan they were given a cricket in a cage named Cri-kee by the grandmother for good luck. Believe it or not, cricket fighting is actually a common gambling pastime in Southeast Asia. Of course we've all heard different stories about the sounds a cricket makes. The chirping of a cricket is recognized as a way to "humorously indicate a dead silence," a sign that a night scene is taking place (movies, tv, radio), and money is coming (Barbados).[1] In Barbados, a cricket must not be killed if it chirps in a house because it is said to bring money. This is obviously the most similar superstition to the one I grew up with, but its very interesting how this came to the South. With a little more research I found that in the 1600s, many Barbadians migrated to the Carolinas becoming some of the first settlers there.[2] Its fascinating to think that this superstition about a little cricket has survived about 400 years and still remained in the South.