The politics of country music

Country music's message reaches a big audience. The ABC's Australia All Over has an estimated audience of two million. Research cited by the Country Music Association of Australia (CMAA) found that about three million, or 20 per cent, of adult Australians named country as their favourite music.

It is more popular in the regions than in the capital cities. According to the CMAA, 47 per cent of all regional interviewees said they enjoyed listening to country music compared with 31 per cent of interviewees from metropolitan areas. In regional areas, 38 per cent of interviewees nominated country as their favourite music type compared with only 16 per cent in metropolitan areas. Queensland, with the highest proportion of its population outside the metropolitan area of any Australian state, produced the greatest number of fans, with 44 per cent of interviewees indicating that they liked country music.

When most of these people listen to country music, they are not consciously seeking a political message, although these can be found, especially on the subject of war. In the Australian context, there are songs opposing globalisation and the selling of national assets, processes that erode traditional values. There are songs hostile to economic rationalism for the damage it has done to many rural industries and regions.

Political meaning, however, can also be found in songs dealing with less topical issues. Country music, in its monoculturalism, idealisation of ordinary people and their values, anti-elitism, nostalgia and dualism, presents a fundamentally populist message.