Country music claims to be patriotic while waving the Confederate flag. That tells you everything you need to know.

These old country music legends were real patriots. Today's GOP...not so much.

Kris Kristofferson, a Rhoades scholar, Oxford grad, Vietnam Vet and US Army helicopter pilot with a Captain's rank. Actor, musician, songwriter and advocate for common sense...Jason Aldean didn't put in the reps to develop a mental rigour necessary to intelligently advocate for any substantive goals in any public sphere. Outlaw Country RIP

I was Johnny's nurse many times in the hospital. He was a very nice man. Not pretentious or condescending. June was a character. Right before her heart surgery she had us cracking up.

Johnny Cash grew up poor, saw much injustice, and was a man of the people. He never sold out, or compromised his integrity for money. I wish we had men like Johnny today. God knows we need them.

Johnny Cash knew that people of color were the originators of country music and honored them

I love, just how great a man Johnny Cash really was and how much we really need the man in black now more than anything! May they all rest in peace!

I'm proud of Johnny Cash, Chris Christopherson and the Dixie Chicks. We need more musicians with back bones.

Johnny Cash would kick Aldean’s ass right outta those skinny jeans just before Kristoferson rung his neck

Country music went MAGA right after it decided it hadn't gone racist enough.

No wonder why I liked Johnny Cash?? Thank you for walking that line.. ❤🙏🏿 R.I.P King Cash..

People should listen to Cash. He knows of which he speaks

Country music use to be outlaws against the system, that’s why I loved Johnny Cash so much and Willie Nelson. I can’t stand it anymore.

Country music doesn’t have heart anymore. It’s pop music that is terrible. They have lost their way. Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson and others who fought for the correct things had heart.

MY dad knew Johnny Cash, he intererviewd him in 1964, then again right when he was going to sing at Folsom. My dad asked him about the reaction the label had to this. And why said it might offend many of his Christian fans. Cash replied "Well then they really aren't Christians." He interviewed him again in 1967 and Cash was beginning to get more vocal with his feelings about the Vietnam War. My dad asked if that was risky for his career to criticize the war. He said, something like I don't care

Largely why I stopped listening to country music 25 years ago, though I didn't actually realize it until later. Country music use to say important things, then around the late nineties it became canned horseshit with endless trash songs about pickup trucks, tractors and mindless pandering to rural America.

A Nixon memo said Johnny Cash should be "neutralized" and they called him to the White House to give him a chance to play ball and come over to his side. Cash sang those protest songs instead. Johnny Cash is about the first music I ever heard. I keep gaining more respect for him when I learn stuff like this. He could have stayed rich and famous without speaking up for poor people and prisoners in the way of real Christian.

Aldean wasn't dog-whistling, he was blasting his racism through a megaphone!!

I was shocked to learn that the country singer that does the commercials for the Wounded Warrior Project is a huge MAGA dude. As a Gulf War veteran, that makes me sick! I don't regard people who crap on our Constitution to be worthy of even being in any way, shape, or form associated with our veterans. He's doing it for the money and make no mistake.

Praise Cash and Kristofferson.

Too much money spent on military and not enough on education, cash was a wise man.

Fun fact, Kris Kristofferson was an Army officer, helicopter pilot, Ranger School graduate and holds an advanced degree from Oxford.

I'm a Johnny Cash fan and always have been. Screw maga musicians.

But also remember, country music didn’t use to suck.

I stopped listening to country after the Republicans pushed to ban the Dixie Chicks from the air waves.

Dixie Chicks...canceled for being antiwar...After 911

It's a sad state of our union when this kind of talk is heartwarming. Seeing legends like this speak candidly makes some of us feel less alone , and less like we were out on the edge these last 2 decades (for myself at least.) Love and kindness have to win, but speaking truth to power is absolutely necessary, no matter the "collateral damage".

Johnny Cash was a brilliant musician and song writer, he had heart. When put up next to Aldean, lol, no comparison, it's like not even the same genre.

You forgot to add, Aldean's music sucks.

Johnny would be *furious* about the whole "God made Trump" BS. Making a mockery of the religion he was so ddvoted to.

Jason Aldean and his wife are so cruel, hateful and the worst stereotype of the south.

After Toby Keith died, I read of an interaction between Kris Kristofferson and Keith, and Keith got read the RIOT act by Kristofferson for being the cowardly cheerleader he basically was.

Jason Aldean isn’t he’s the coward Who ran off stage had the house lights turned on in Las Vegas ! Which gave the sniper a better view of the crowd which killed 65 people?

God bless Johnny Cash!

Cash , Kristofferson ,Nelson and Dixie Chicks (now The Chicks) are the REAL ONES

Also Johnny Cash actually was a working class boy from a small town in Arkansas. Jason Aldean is a rich city boy from Miami.

They need to listen to Woody Guthrie more.

Is it possible that Johnny Cash was just not the norm? I never thought he was the norm musically- turns out he was a super good human being as well…

It always amuses me when conservatives screech that artists like Taylor Swift should stay out of politics, apparently unaware that entertainers have been speaking their minds about politics since the time of Plato or longer.

Kris Kristofferson is a Rhodes scholar so I can expect this from him. During the final years of his life, Johnny Cash kept the country music establishment at arm's length in favor of indie/alt rock.

There used to be two factions of country music back when I used to listen to it in the late 70s and early 80s. There were the “outlaws” Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, and Kris Kristofferson who you might call progressive these days, and then there were guys like Charley Daniels and Hank Williams Jr. who fell into the redneck category. I guess what I’m trying to say is the redneck faction took over but they were always there.

When the Dixie Chicks weren't Dixie enough was the turning point I remember

I thought I liked Johnny Cash but now I know I love him!! R.I.P Mr Cash

Another musical hero of mine who tried to make things right. God Bless THE MAN IN BLACK

Cash was spot on.

Today’s (synthetic country music) listeners, couldn’t understand Cash or Kristofferson. Doesn’t match FOX propaganda.

Johnny Cash was an honest man . He stood up for the underdog , that is the ignored , the deserved but unrewarded.

I love Johnny Cash, he was a good man.

Now I realize why modern country music makes me sick to my stomach, while at the same time, why it is that I love the old stuff!

I'm still grateful for our black country artists.

Pretty much EVERY genre of Western Music in the past century came from the minds of black people. Country, Rock, Jazz, Ragtime, Gospel, Blues, Funk, Disco, Soul, R&B, Hip Hop/Rap, House, Drum n Bass/Jungle, Reggae/Dancehall, Dub. Furthermore. People who think musicians shouldn't speak out about politics should know... Musicians/composers have been doing that, in, and outside of their music since the Medieval Era. Why should they stop now?

Its sad but we were smarter years ago

God bless Johnny Cash. A Man's Man in the New Age. RIP!

Always had great respect for " The man in black " Johnny Cash

Both Jimmie Rodgers and Hank Williams were taught how to play Guitar by Black Bluesmen. A.P. Carter, patriarch of the Carter Family, travelled around with a Black friend hunting for songs to add to his repertiore. And, Founder of Bluegrass Bill Monroe was an ardent anti-segregationist who was taught by Kentucky Blues great Arnold Schultz.

It's not just country music. It's the country itself. Widespread usage of propaganda, media, manipulation, and religious influence has caused toxic tribalization. Contrary to popular belief, this country was NOT founded on Christian values or power. As a matter of fact, the founding fathers were specifically adamant about the separation of church and state. Here we are in 2024, and you will almost certainly not get voted into office unless you make it public news that you're a Christian. Pretty sad that COUNTRY music legends from DECADES ago were more progressive and aware than modern conservatives.

This shows that the Republican Party always was an inch away from being fascist. Let's call it Fascist Lite.

When Johnny Cash says you have a problem you might want to listen.

Funny how patriotic went from questioning the country’s stances to not allowing the questioning of anything the country does and calling yourself patriotic.

Country music died when Cash died.

What is happening to white Americans? Seriously. I don’t remember it being like this back in the 80’s and 90’s. And NOT to this extent.

THANK YOU for showing what Country and Western and Folk and Bluegrass and Rhythm&Blues used to be about! When it was twisted 100% into modern NeoNazi propanda some time in the 80s and 90s, it made me sick!

Disclaimer and Trigger warning: This video contains copious amounts of truth and common sense. These values have been found to break what ever MAGA cultists use to think with!

Johnny Cash got it. Few do. Johnny is one of the few real Christians. Rest in Peace, Johnny.

Johnny Cash was on point

Modern RIght Wing Republicans- "Johnny Cash sounds woke to me..." This happened over several decades of propaganda, it is that simple.

I got introduced to country music in the 1970s, the height of the Willie Waylon Johnny Cash era! So obviously that's the kind of country music on the fan of, and those are my country heroes! The trash they call Country today is mass-produced, I hate it as much as Willie does!!

Country music used to be about propping up the little guy. Now, it's music to prop up blind allegiance to one individual (who was NEVER religious and put tons of workers out of business by refusing to pay his bills when building in casinos in Atlantic City).

Ive told conservative people for decades “at least have the politics of Johnny Cash” it has worked before it may still work

Johnny Cash to Jason Aldean, talk about going downhill

I like Johnny Cash before now I love him. RIP king!

There once was a kind of rebel or independent thinking tradition in country music, certainly Johnny Cash took some controversial stands as well as Kriss Kristofferson, Loretta Lynn, from a down to earth and no nonsense point of view. Instead of just parroting back jingoistic shallow simplistic patriotic propaganda.

The irony about Merle Haggard being cited as a cause for the shift is that "Okie from Muskogee" was meant to be ironic, and he publicly supported Obama.

Nice to know. Cash is one of the few country music artists whose music I like. Thanks!

Dixie Chicks are the best forever!

This was when country singers actually had something important to write/ sing about! When country music meant something! Now it's a bunch of rich white folk, who don't try too hard to hide their racism, classism, wealth, and complete lack of hardship!!

people get confused when I say I do like country music, just not the modern nationalistic crap.

Johnny Cash was absolutely wonderful. He lived a difficult life, but what a voice and message he left us with. Such a great man and musician.

I am a liberal Tennessean and a native of Columbia, Maury (colloquially pronounced Murray) County, TN. It is my home...I grew up in the shadow of that courthouse, admiring its architecture from nearby Riverside as a boy. This city and county, like anywhere across the South, has had a great deal to atone for in its abysmal and shameful civil rights history, and yet, it has come a long way...nevermind the bigot and racist on every street corner elsewhere in America🙄. The rise of Trumpism, however, as a result of three decades of propaganda in a post-fairness doctrine media landscape from conspiracists, ideologues, tartuffes, blowhards, and hyperpartisan hacks in the wake of Ruby Ridge, Waco, Oklahoma City, Bundy Ranch, and now January 6 have brought out the very worst of my fellow Tennesseans and countrymen...this state, as a microcosm, now bans books and pride flags, makes local library directors out to be political effigies, and has emboldened Neo-Nazis, as a result, to march in my beloved and much gerrymandered liberal enclave that is Nashville, TN. The Maury County GOP in 2020, led by Andy Ogles, brought in New Zealand Conspiracist Trevor Loudon to disparage the American-led, postwar sociopolitical order of the past 78 years with an isolationist/xenophobic diatribe against the UN, NATO, and an abundance of 🦇💩 falsehoods. I have a front row seat to dystopian Trumpland...and was furious to see them use my home for their vapid, unnuanced bumpersticker politics, social wedge issues, and support for a wannabe strongman. However, we live our lives in the shadow of monuments, memorials, and epitaphs recounting the scars of civil strife such as that courthouse. It should remind us of the peril and tragedy that comes of vilifying our fellow countrymen as "the other", especially if it supports a patrician donor class and the special interests of today like that of the antebellum plantation aristocracy and patrician republic it failed to create for a state's right to deprive the liberty and humanity of another. Do NOT take the home of the 11th POTUS James K. Polk, Sam Watkins, and others or a place that once welcomed LBJ (an architect of civil rights legislation) to task for the sins of a bygone generation from a century ago while discounting the fact that many in this area, like my mother, are from Flint, Michigan and elsewhere around the country...and growing exponentially every day. I know not what it will take to convince them to abandon Trumpism...and fear the political violence to come from my misguided, misinformed, and ideologically commodified neighbors. I will say that it demands the Democratic Party, complicit in emulating GOP neoliberal union-busting, deregulatory, and special interest-peddling policies for the past half century, take a more assertive stance in courting the working class once again in this New Gilded Age...populism knows no party, but if the rhyme of history serves as precedent, it may beget a new iteration of progressivism lest its demagoguery succeed.

This was very enlightening. I'd love to see a country music station pick up this theme and search out songs in the same vein,and play them in heavy rotation. All the while, explaining WHY they're playing these gems. What passes for country now sucks on a talent level, might as well play some decent music.

RIP Johnny. 😢❤❤

There is no country music anymore.

Texas girl here. I grew up on plenty of country in the 80s and 90s along with the classic stuff. The genre had been creeping right for a long time, but what i saw was a HUGE shift post 9/11. It was gross then and it still is now. I mostly checked out of country from then on.

Today’s CM is childish and simple so …..it kind of all makes sense

Hell yeah Johnny Cash

I remember. Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings would have stood strong for democracy and speaking out. Not like Loretta Lynn supporting trump and Charlie Daniels.

I think the shift came when the music industry became part of the corporate world. It used to be that music producers and record labels were small, independent companies that often struggled just as much as the musicians they promoted. Very few people in that industry became rich. Then corporations bought out the small companies, and those that weren't bought were buried. Now all music that gets airtime is produced by gigantic corporations that don't want to hear music that disparages entities like themselves, and instead use their power to mute voices of rebellion and protest.

The genre of Solid Country Gold was transformed into corporate owned pop... open chords with a rock solo and a singer with a southern drawl, usually feigned.

If you love your country you should criticize it

I just want to hear from the Trumpers saying they should shut up and sing.

Johnny Cash would have put nothing less than a fucking flame thrower on the presidency of the former president. I don't think he'd be too happy with the last 4 or so, either. How many Republicans remember when The Man in Black endorsed Clinton?

Country folks were hard scrabble, badass, tough, brave, poor folks. Jason Aldean? Seriously? Y'all identify with this joker( and his coworkers in the homogenized stuff they call country today?) Bad news: they are not like you. Just check your bank balance.... These folks just want you to watch the ads and go buy a big, dumb pickup truck from Ford/Ram etc.... If Hank hadn't died all those years ago: what would he say? How about Johnny? Muddy Waters? The list is endless...

Don't forget Garth in 1992, with "We Shall Be Free." In 1992, lyrics such as "when we're free to love anyone we choose" were groundbreaking. That whole song is a testament to the ideals this country has long espoused, but seldom lived up to. And, Johnny is a legend. Best there ever was, best there ever will be. The GOAT.

I loved country back then. Not now. I can hear the dog whistling…everyone can.

How the hell did country music go from Harper valley PTA to this 💩???

Johnny was the man. He knew who was shit, and who was decent.

It’s absolutely so disgusting to see where it’s gone to. It’s always been there and Trump just brought it to the surface because he’s exactly that and he knows how to work it. Shame on all of them.

And that's why I started calling myself a "folk singer" years ago.

Even Lynard Skynard had songs in favor of gun control!

You cant use Cash to classify country music. He tranceded genres. His white house concert was amazing.