How can the country singer’s rhinestone suit be truly authentic if it’s not what cowboys or farmers would actually wear? Continue reading

March 2, 2023
by Aesthetics for Birds
3 Comments
March 2, 2023
by Aesthetics for Birds
3 Comments
How can the country singer’s rhinestone suit be truly authentic if it’s not what cowboys or farmers would actually wear? Continue reading
January 27, 2022
by Aesthetics for Birds
1 Comment
A YouTube series features interviews with philosophers about their work in aesthetics and the philosophy of art. Continue reading
June 29, 2020
by Aesthetics for Birds
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The question of which genre “Old Town Road” belongs to isn’t just an idle curiosity. It’s pretty important. Continue reading
March 19, 2018
by Aesthetics for Birds
2 Comments
At her blog, L. M. Bernhardt has written a response to John Dyck’s recent post defending country music. In her post, “…but it’s all right.” she articulates something that worries her about Dyck’s presentation of country music as unsophisticated. There is an important difference between the music born from the life of farmers and miners and the music that deploys that life as a sign of authenticity for consumers who don’t necessarily live there anymore. She goes on to explain: it’s a major feature of contemporary bro-country, which tends to be an assembly-line-produced mess of redneck identity signifiers masquerading as “authentic” country music. A pop-country performer like Brad Paisley (who is good at his job — don’t get me wrong!) bears little to no resemblance to someone like Ralph Stanley or Hazel Dickens. He and his usual co-writers produce songs about country as an identity. Hazel Dickens wrote and sang from it, and I think that makes a big … Continue reading
March 6, 2018
by Aesthetics for Birds
4 Comments
What follows is a guest post by John Dyck (CUNY Graduate Center) I used to hate country music. I would hear it at my grandparents’ house. I remember hearing my grandma sing along to those drawling voices and crunchy fiddles. My nine-year-old self cringed inside. The music was so gauche and uncultured. My grandparents grew up poor and uneducated, and I could hear it in their music.