The Nature Of The South Is Changing

Country Music Historically Has Been Sort Of Middle-aged People's Music.

I've Occasionally Wished I Had Caller Id. Even Telemarketers, I Hate To Hang Up On Them. I Try To Explain I'm Not Interested, But They Have All These Canned Responses So I End Up Having To Hang Up On Them Anyway.

Every Southerner, I Think, Knows People Like Bill Clinton, Maybe Not Quite As Smart And Maybe Not Quite As Liberal, But Kind Of A Glad-handing, Country-club Yuppie Southerner. The Problem Is We Don't Have Labels For Middle-class Southerners.

I Think There's A Suspicion In The South Of People Putting On Airs. You See It In Most Successful Southern Politicians, But You Also See It In Someone Like Richard Petty, Who May Be A Multimillionaire Stock Car Driver, But He's Also Beloved Because He Has A Nice Self-deprecatory Way About Him.

Any Southern Nationalist Movement, Especially One That Wraps Itself In The Confederate Flag, Is Going To Be Viewed With Suspicion, Given The Historical Record.