Unprepared to Die: Murder Ballads, Gender Violence, and the Rhetoric of Country Music

Sarah Blomeley, Belmont University

Location

Janet Ayers Academic Center, JAAC 4094

Presentation Type

Presentation

Start Date

28-9-2022 12:00 PM

Description

For many listeners, country music is the most carefree genre imaginable. It’s driving-with-the-windows-down music, slow-dancing-in-the-schoolgym music, cruising-in-the-pontoon music. But these lighthearted scenes belie a darker side of country music, a side haunted by the murder ballads that have been part of country music’s rhetorical identity from the very beginning. This talk traces the evolution of murder ballads–songs wherein, typically, young women are killed by their lovers–from British broadsides to Appalachian fi ddle tunes to contemporary hits. Why have romance and violence twined so tightly in the history of country music? How do they still intertwine today? What do murder ballads have to teach us about bodily autonomy, sexual agency, and gender violence in the 21st century? And what keeps drawing us to such dreadful country?

Comments

The Theme of September 28 is "Unleashing Social Innovation at Belmont University"

Convocation Credit: Cultural Well-Being

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Sep 28th, 12:00 PM

Unprepared to Die: Murder Ballads, Gender Violence, and the Rhetoric of Country Music

Janet Ayers Academic Center, JAAC 4094

For many listeners, country music is the most carefree genre imaginable. It’s driving-with-the-windows-down music, slow-dancing-in-the-schoolgym music, cruising-in-the-pontoon music. But these lighthearted scenes belie a darker side of country music, a side haunted by the murder ballads that have been part of country music’s rhetorical identity from the very beginning. This talk traces the evolution of murder ballads–songs wherein, typically, young women are killed by their lovers–from British broadsides to Appalachian fi ddle tunes to contemporary hits. Why have romance and violence twined so tightly in the history of country music? How do they still intertwine today? What do murder ballads have to teach us about bodily autonomy, sexual agency, and gender violence in the 21st century? And what keeps drawing us to such dreadful country?