Rednecks, Queers, and Country Music

241 Pages·2014·1.362 MB·English

by  Nadine Hubbs

Rednecks, Queers, and
Country Music
nadine hubbs
University of California Press
berkeley los angeles london
Rednecks, Queers, and Country Music
The publisher gratefully acknowledges the support
of the Manfred Bukofzer Endowment of the American
Musicological Society, funded in part by the
National Endowment for the Humanities and the
Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Rednecks, Queers, and
Country Music
nadine hubbs
University of California Press
berkeley los angeles london
University of California Press, one of the most distinguished university
presses in the United States, enriches lives around the world by
advancing scholarship in the humanities, social sciences, and natural
sciences. Its activities are supported by the UC Press Foundation and by
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information, visit www.ucpress.edu.
University of California Press
Berkeley and Los Angeles, California
University of California Press, Ltd.
London, England
© 2014 by The Regents of the University of California
An earlier version of chapter 3 appeared in Southern Cultures 17,
no. 4 (2011): 44–70, under the title “ ‘Redneck Woman’ and the
Gendered Poetics of Class Rebellion.”
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Rednecks, queers, and country music / Nadine Hubbs.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 978-0-520-28065-6 (cloth : alk. paper)
isbn 978-0-520-28066-3 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Country music—History and criticism. 2. Country
music—Social aspects—United States. 3. Homosexuality and
popular music—United States I. Title.
ml3524.h78 2014
781.642086′640973—dc23
2013049681
Manufactured in the United States of America
23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
In keeping with a commitment to support environmentally responsible
and sustainable printing practices, UC Press has printed this book on
Natures Natural, a fiber that contains 30% post-consumer waste and
meets the minimum requirements of ansi/niso z39.48–1992 (r 1997)
(Permanence of Paper).
For the Krebs twins, Jerrie and Janet,
and in memory of Jack Hubbs and Mike Cavanaugh

Contents
List of Illustrations ix
Acknowledgments xi
Intro 1
part i. rednecks and country music
1. Anything but Country 23
2. Sounding the Working-Class Subject 51
part ii. rednecks, country music, and the queer
3. Gender Deviance and Class Rebellion in
“Redneck Woman” 107
4. “Fuck Aneta Briant” and the Queer Politics of
Being Political 131
Outro 159
Notes 163
References 195
Subject Index 209
Song Index 223

Illustrations
1. Buck Owens and Don Rich in Japan, 1967 9
2. The Beverly Hillbillies’ Jed Clampett 26
3. From Foo Fighters’ 2011 video “Keep It Clean (Hot Buns)” 27
4. Country fan Janice King at a Bush campaign stop in Ohio, 2004 38
5. Loretta Lynn circa 2004 55
6. Merle Haggard circa early 1970s 66
7. Tina Turner album cover, Tina Turns the Country On!, 1974 71
8. Hank Williams circa 1950 77
9. Gretchen Wilson, country music’s Redneck Woman, 2006 108
10. Calamity Jane circa 1901 123
11. David Allan Coe album cover, Nothing Sacred, 1978 132
12. David Allan Coe in the 1970s 135
ix