Thanksgiving 2024 Part 3.

 

2024 Presidential Election: The Finale

There are always moments in our history that will change our lives. The 2024 Presidential election has changed our lives in many ways. This is the finale of the 2024 American Presidential election after long months of debates, tragedies, and events that are part of world history. Nothing will be the same again. In four years, President Biden has left the Presidential race, Trump experienced 2 assassination attempts, Kamala Harris raised record money involving her Presidential campaign, and we see a move to fight for our democracy. Our ancestors shed blood for our freedom. We stand on the shoulder of giants who stood up against slave traders, against Confederate traitors, against Nazis, and against Jim Crow leaders. We are against discrimination and oppression of any sort for we believe wholeheartedly in the august principle of the Golden Rule. The Golden Rule states that you love your neighbor as yourself. At the end of the 2024 election, Donald Trump and J.D. Vance won their campaign. It was shocking to many human beings, but it wasn't to me. The reason is that America is America. A lot of righteous, inspirational people live in America, but many underestimated the MAGA cult. The MAGA cult is the greatest cult in all of human history brainwashing millions of people to support a male who glorifies disrespect of military veterans, who mocked disabled human beings, and who is a habitual liar. Therefore, the Democrats have to do soul-searching, and the GOP once again went into more depths of disgrace. I have no apologies for my core convictions, and I will continue to stand on business in dealing with my precepts. Still, I have hope. The reason is that our lives are a product of a miracle. We could be nonexistent or passed away now, but we are here with the opportunity to do what is right. History teaches us that good is superior to evil, and if we want to see a better tomorrow, then we have to earnestly fight for it without permanent pessimism. I love truth and joy in seeing a better tomorrow for America. 

 

The Recap of the Events of the Election Race  

The 2024 Presidential election started after President Biden won the election in November 2020. The Trump team sued states in trying to steal the election, but they failed by the Supreme Court, which prevented Trump from stealing the 2020 election. Trump agitated a mob in the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021, in trying to oppose Congress certifying the rightful victory for Biden. This mob beat police officers, stole property, waved Neo-Nazi and neo-Confederate flags, and more National Guard troops had to come into the place to stop the mob. Mike Pence was almost killed by the insurrectionists. Trump was impeached twice by early 2021, and President Biden was inaugurated as the 46th President of the United States on January 20, 2021. Kamala Harris was inaugurated as Vice President on the same day too being the first black and Indian American President in American history. At first, President Biden wanted to run for office again in 2024. By 2022, many Presidential candidates rise up. That year saw new decisions by the Supreme Court too like Roe being abolished. The RNC decided that Milwaukee would be the site of the 2024 Republican National Convention. The FBI investigated Mar-a-Lago involving a criminal investigation of Donald Trump. The 2022 midterm election allowed the Democrats to win the U.S. Senate and the House to gain slight control of the United States House of Representatives. By early 2023, the Democratic National Committee move the primary calendar up from other dates. By February 2023, Niki Haley ran for President on the Republican ticket. Later, Vivek Ramaswamy ran for President too. By March 30, 2023, Trump was indicted by a Manhattan grand jury for his hush money scandal with Stormy Daniels. The neoliberal, centrist No Labels organization explored options to promote a unity ticket in the presidential election, but they failed thankfully. Tim Scott ran for President too as a Republican from South Carolina. He is a Senator. Robert Kennedy Jr. once ran for President on April 19, 2023, too. 2023 saw the Presidential race grow in intensity. By October 2023, Cornell West ran for President as an Independent. The October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israeli changed the 2024 Presidential race forever. Many Muslim Americans want Biden to drop out of the race over his handling of the Israel/Hamas war. This is part of the #Abandon Biden movement. By early 2023, Trump won the primaries in the Republican races. Biden won the Democratic primaries too. After Super Tuesday on March 4, 2024, Trump and Biden won their primary votes. Nikki Haley endorsed Trump. By the early Summer of 2024, Biden is encouraged by members of his own party to leave the race before his age and performance in the first Presidential debate. 

The July 1, 2024, Supreme Court decision allowed Trump to absolute immunity for acts he committed as President and no immunity for unofficial acts. It was a 6-3 decision being one of the worst decisions of the Supreme Court. By this time, Trump is a convicted felon and found liable for sexually abusing a woman. Raul Grjalva and Seth Moulton want Biden to withdraw from the race. The Democratic elites want Biden gone. The Republican National Convention took place in July of 2024 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. J.D. Vance is the new Vice-Presidential GOP candidate. Biden tested positive for COVID-19 by July 17, 2024. By July 21, 2024, President Joe Biden withdrew from the race supporting Vice President Kamala Harris to have the Democratic candidacy. Vice President Kamala Harris announced her candidacy for President. This comes after the first assassination attempt against Donald Trump in Pennsylvania. Kamala Harris had immediate support and picked Governor of Minnesota Tim Walz as his vice-presidential running mate. Many Uncommitted delegates from 8 states support Palestinians not Harris. The August 2024 Democratic National Convention took place in Chicago, Illinois with power and inspiration. By this time, the race between Harris and Trump remains close, especially in battleground states. People have debated the role of men, including black men in their views of Kamala Harris. Kamala Harris thoroughly defeated Donald Trump in the 2nd Presidential debate on September 10, 2024. By September 2024, Trump has a 2nd assassination attempt. Early voting started by September. Walz defeated Vance on October 1, 2024, by default as Vance told lies in a slick fashion. After that, Hurricane Helene and Milton damaged the Southeast, Trump lied about Haitian immigrants, and Trump increased his bigoted rhetoric against immigrants. Trump wants concentration camps to deport all undocumented workers. Trump also slandered Detroit too. 

 

The end of the 2024 Presidential campaign dealt with evidence of Vice President Kamala Harris and Donald Trump touring battleground states in the last few weeks before November 5, 2024. Kamala Harris was in Atlanta, Georgia first to make her case to the American people that she has the best policies to deal with the challenges of America (involving loss of rights, inflation, immigration, housing, health care, and other important issues). Kamala Harris said that Donald Trump was unhinged, angrier, and a threat to democracy. Celebrities like Bruce Springsteen and Tyler Perry gave speeches in favor of Kamala Harris. It is cowardly that the Washington Post and the LA Times declined to support a Presidential candidate because this election is the most important election in American history. Jeff Bezos used his influence to cause the Washington Post to not endorse a candidate. Kamala Harris spoke in Houston, Texas to promote her version of America and how Trump desire to terminate the U.S. Constitution doesn't make him worthy to speak behind a Presidential seal. Beyonce and Kelly Rowland including Tina Knowles spoke in favor of Kamala Harris in the rally. She made comments in Michigan to a large crowd and in Philadelphia on October 27, 2024, to advocate for tax credits for parents with children, for loving your neighbor, and for turning a chapter in American history. Trump has campaigned in Arizona, Nevada, and Pennsylvania. Military leader John Kelly has called Trump a fascist including other people. Trump is a clear and present danger to the world, because he wants a Muslim ban, lied and called the Central Park Five guilty, disrespected military veterans and the military in general, wants more tax breaks for the super wealthy, desires to shut down media organizations like CBS if they don't comply to his agenda (when the media should be an independent body as cited in the American Constitution at the Bill of Rights), and seeks the police to have immunity (even if some officers are guilty of police brutality). Sellouts who support Trump like Amber Rose, Trick Trick, Judge Joe Brown, Lord Jamar, and others should be ashamed of themselves. Rose allying with Trump outlines her anti-black colors once again.  Some good news is that early voting in Georgia has surpassed 50 percent of the 2020 ballots cast. We have a record of early voting turnout in America involving voting. 

The October 27, 2024, Madison Square Garden rally will go down in history as a bigoted, racist, sexist, and xenophobic rally. That rally shows what the MAGA movement is all about and what Trump relates to division, hypocrisy, and hate. Trump's closing argument has been disgraceful. Trump said that America is an occupied country which is a lie. Also, many speakers at the rally spoke profanity and racist remarks in front of kids and adults in the crowd. Anyone who is a Trump supporter is totally wrong, and I don't care who it is. You have former Congressional candidate David Rem calling Kamala Harris the antichrist and the devil. You have others bashing Hillary Clinton and undocumented human beings. Tony Hinchiffe called Puerto Rico a floating island of "garbage." He compared black people to just eating watermelons. This is the evil that Trump and his supporters promote. That is why artist Bad Bunny showed support for Harris after the comedian made offensive comments about Puerto Rico. Vice President Kamala Harris never said that language and has talked to Black and Latino voters in Philadelphia on the same day the Trump Klan hate rally existed at MSG. Another disgraceful thing is that many CEOs are supporting Trump despite his narcissism, his extremism, and his lies.

Election Day 2024

Tuesday, November 5, 2024, was a disgraceful day in American history. It is not shocking to me, because we have been here before (when Reagan and Bush Jr. were elected for two terms) experiencing disappointment in certain segments of Americans who care more for ego, flash, division, political divisiveness, the agenda of white racism, and bigotry than the betterment of America collectively. The history of America is filled with racism (as most of the signers of the Declaration of Independence owned slaves), genocide, bigotry in general, and the activism of progressive people to resist oppression in America too. Tons of Trump supporters advocate massive budget cuts hurting Americans, but they don't care. Trump is a person who was found legally liable of sexually abusing a woman, disrespected many women, slandered Vice President Kamala Harris, and glorified the Nazis (according to one General), but Trump voters don't care. Many of them lied or hide their real views (in polls and in public), so people won't know that they are aligned with Trumpism in public (under the guise of calling themselves "undecided"). Therefore, we realize that Donald Trump has been elected President according to the Electoral College. Trump has 312 Electoral votes and Kamala Harris has 226 Electoral votes. Yet, we will not surrender our fight for justice. Trump won most of the popular vote as he has over 74 million votes and Kamala Harris has over 70 million votes. 

The following is a true story. Before the election was over, something in my spirit mentioned the phrase, John Henry (back in 2020 in real life I had a dream of people celebrating proving that Biden would win the election in 2020). I didn't know what that phrase John Henry meant until that day. That meant that Kamala Harris ran the best that she could, but she ran out of steam. That thought was John Henry. John Henry is a fictional story about a black man dying after facing against a machine. That thought or vision in my mind (before the election was over) means that Kamala Harris was the black woman version of John Henry. Kamala Harris ran as hard as she could, but the Wall Street interests, and the Trump movement defeated her campaign in the end. Trump is Wall Street as tons of billionaire Wall Street acolytes have funded his campaign from start to finish. It is not Kamala Harris' fault that she lost the election. She did the best that she could. She gave eloquent speeches, refuted Trump in a debate, and gave details about her policy positions. My state of Virginia voted for Kamala Harris which I am thankful for. My state of Virginia is the most progressive state of the South which will continue to shine bright. Virginia is for Lovers indeed. Also, Trump is no victim. He was legally charged with many felonies and convicted of many felonies. He was born into privilege (being descendants of German immigrants ironically enough) who lies habitually, and the MAGA movement is the largest cult in American history. Many Democrats must do self-searching to appeal to a wide spectrum of Americans (involving many issues and trends in society), but this election proves that America is not a liberal country or even a center-left country.   

This country of America is very conservative filled with theocrats, misogynists (found in the incel and red pill cultures), and racists plus xenophobes who hate democratic freedoms, who hate black people, and who hate diversity. I know that many people can't ascertain that truth, but to get to the Promised Land for real, we must be honest with reality. This is America now. Many of Trump supporters believe in the Apple pie myth that only white men are superior to all other people, and Trump is a near Messiah who can solve problems. This lie has been embraced not only by many white men (and many white women), but many sellouts of color who embrace MAGA instead of human liberation. For the record, Trump wants mass deportations of many legal immigrants as he hates birthright citizenship (which is found in the 14th Amendment). I also want to acknowledge the people of every color who oppose the views of Donald Trump. Their work shouldn't be omitted. The political results of Florida and Texas should shock no one. Many historical firsts have been made in Congress, but the Senate belongs to the Republicans. 

This is a new era of American history with fascism could be on the horizon. The majority of black people voted for Harris, the majority of white people voted for Trump, the majority of young people increasingly voted for Trump, most Latina women voted for Harris, and most Latino men voted for Trump. The economy was a motivating factor for voting along with democracy and immigration. The problem was that the House blocked any progressive legislation to deal with these important issues, and the Senate had an issue with massive Republican opposition too. Authoritarian policies from Trump will exist, and this fascism must be opposed. Trump said that he wants to heal the nation, but he refuses to apologize for his nefarious views. He is an evil person.

The Image above showed the 2024 Presidential election results via the Electoral College. 

A New Time

A new era of time is here with a new challenge and a future new President coming about by 2025. In the quarter-century mark and nearly 250 years of American history, we have seen massive changes. The MAGA cult is very brutal. Likewise, many moderates and conservatives like Joe Scarborough are coming out to blame progressives for the Kamala Harris loss. They are lying for many reasons. The first reason is that the vast majority of black men and black women voted for Kamala Harris (despite what Joe Scarborough said about black men. Joe has once again shown his conservative ways with his mocking and lying about blaming progressive activists for Trump winning the 2024 election). Also, millions of Americans stayed home, and voter apathy contributed to the Trump victory.

Not to mention that Kamala Harris has come to the center on many issues from immigration to fracking (which is not what many progressives supported), but that wasn't enough because it wasn't her ideology (as millions of Americans refused to vote for a black and South Asian woman to be President) that caused the defeat. It was Kamala's identity and the influence of the Trump movement brainwashing millions of Americans to cause a convicted felon and instigator of the January 6th, 2021, insurrection against the U.S. Capitol to be the new President in the future. Republicans readily obstruct progress, and many Democrats stayed home believing that their vote didn't matter after Republicans obstructed policies. have you noticed that the Republicans in years haven't passed legitimate legislation in Congress. The big lie is that Kamala Harris never had detailed policy positions. She had tons of positions on helping working-class people, on investing in businesses, on addressing student loan debt, and on other issues from the environment to human rights (when mainstream economists said that Harris's economic views would improve the economy better than Trump's economic plans). The other lie is that Harris is obsessed with identity politics when Kamala Harris made it clear to downplay her identity in speeches and interviews. She never talked about her race and gender in campaign rallies constantly. This refutes the notion that identity politics caused her defeat. In fact, Donald Trump ran an explicit identity politics campaign talking about his "beautiful white skin," questioning Kamala Harris' black heritage and dehumanizing minority groups in his campaign. Trump supported far-right white grievance. Kamala Harris did her job. Also, Trump used identity politics constantly by trying to appeal to young white men constantly in his campaign. Many people criticize "identity politics" as coded language as an excuse for them to ignore the real issues of racism, sexism, and bigotry in general in America plus the world. Now, it's time for the American people to do our jobs to resist fascism in our country.

Vice President Kamala Harris gave her concession speech on this somber day. Most Americans voted for a narcissist in a disgraceful fashion. Yet, Kamala Harris spoke about being engaged in the fight for freedom and respecting the dignity of all people. In the end, we will win. Kamala Harris wants people to never give up on trying to make the world a better place. She gave a speech at Howard University. She spoke to the youth at Howard University and the audience of the world to never despair and to roll up our sleeves to fight for our rights as human beings. Trump has made it clear his love of the world's dictators and autocrats from Putin to Orban. Trump said that he may not honor America's alliances.

President Joe Biden wants people to continue with the work in promoting justice and a defeat is not an excuse to give up. Biden wants a peaceful and orderly transition. The lie is that we must unconditionally support what the majority of Americans support at every instance. For example, during the 19th century, most Americans didn't want to abolish slavery. I oppose slavery. During the 20th century, the majority of Americans once viewed the Civil Rights Movement as going too far. I disagree with that perspective. Trump promotes himself as a working-class promoter, but lobbyists support him, Susie Wiles has her lobbying firms, and she is promoted as Chief of Staff. Billionaires and Wall Street interests fund the Trump campaign explicitly. The richest person on Earth, Elon Musk, supported Trump politically and financially. Sellouts like RFK Jr., Tulsi Gabbard, and other people agree with Trump when Trump wants to deport over 11 million undocumented human beings, glorify Hitler, wants to have a massive tariff plan, and seek to punish his political opponents. Some positive news is that 2 new black women Senators are in office. Also, voters in many states approved minimum wage increased, paid sick leave programs, and rejected school privatization. We should know that Trump got more votes for many reasons. Many people didn't vote, because, in the 2020 election, the Biden/Harris campaign talked about voting rights and living wages more overtly. There has been not the massive increase of the federal minimum wage either. Progressive policies are still popular as proven by the passage of many state ballot initiatives.  

There are many people who are legitimately upset that Trump won the 2024 election. Yet, some people, who oppose Trump, have turned into the wrong path to desire mass deportations of Latinos and allow Israel to turn Gaza into a parking lot. We know that the Israeli war crimes in Gaza and other places in the Middle East have no justification (Hamas harming innocent people on October 7th have no justification either) and Trump is a big supporter of the far-right Netanyahu regime. We should accept the Presidential 2024 election results but not respect the result. I accept it, but I don't respect it. We should criticize many of the pro-Trump sellouts of color who voted for Trump. The people of color who voted for Trump are wrong, traitors to their people, and hugely misguided. Yet, our dissent with them must be filled with true facts, not xenophobia, racism, or Islamophobia. We should oppose the views of Trump supporters without embracing the bigotry of Arabic people, Muslims, Latino people, etc. at the same time. We must fight for economic justice, defend our democracy, protect our environment, and reject cynicism. Trump advocating mass deportations will definitely split families and cause economic damage to America.  

Also, many Trump supporters have attacked black people and other minority communities. There are signs in Texas University saying women are property, promoting slavery, and glorifying evil. There are recent text messages sent to black Americans (sending racist text messages). According to TVOne, Georgia and North Carolina police are investigating possible Klan threats to attack black people from now through inauguration. Pelosi is wrong to say that there should be an open primary when time was very limited. Trump supporters voted for Trump, who bragged about promoting evil, and we have to accept that America is filled with racist, sexist, nativist, and xenophobic thought (beyond just economic or class issues) that brainwashed many voters to support a narcissistic fascist. Anti-blackness and sellout people of color desiring proximity to white racist power contributed heavily to why Kamala Harris lost the election too. I believe in economic justice, but you have to fight for both economic, gender, racial, environmental justice at the same time. The truth is that inflation is down to 2.1 percent, unemployment is 4 percent, GDP is up by 3%, we have a massive growth of jobs (including manufacturing jobs). Therefore, many people are suffering today, but the economy of today is much better four years ago proven by the metrics. 

Likewise, we must realize that economic inequality persists today, and the suffering of many people economically can't be minimized. The super-wealthy are getting richer and many Americans voted for Trump wrongly for frustration over the economy. Democrats, if they want to win, would increase their words on giving voice to the anger and show how record inequality has harmed the system and advocate to limit the political power of big corporations and the super-rich. Republicans have promoted cut taxes on the wealthy, and many neoliberal centrist Democrats (not all Democrats) have supported NAFTA, deregulated finance, and empowered Wall Street too. Both major parties bailed out Wall Street as well. President Joe Biden, to his credit, did many good things economically like enforcing antitrust laws, investing in manufacturing jobs, grown infrastructure, invested in semiconductors, gave student loan debt relief to millions of Americans, and reduced childhood poverty in half. There is a myth that this 2024 election was a political realignment of Democrats when there is about a one percent difference among the popular vote between Harris and Trump. 

Continued Fight for Justice

The continued fight for justice continues. It is never our responsibility to force people against their will to embrace the truth. People have to embrace the truth voluntarily. We, who are black people, are not the world's mules. Yet, we have free speech and the human right to express our ideals in public in a peaceful fashion. A loss in a battle doesn't mean that we give up, so we should never give up. That is the lesson of the results of the 2024 Presidential Election. Project 2025 is a real threat to our freedom. Donald Trump denies being part of it, but many of his high-level advisors are part of that document. Project 2025 wants to lessen workplace safety and nondiscrimination laws, eliminate public sector unions, defund the Department of Education (when low-income families need free lunch and other investments), and gut child labor protections. We should never move to the far right in trying to gain votes. Many people would vote against any progressive or Democrat regardless of policy. We should maintain our core convictions like the defense of democracy, advance the rights of black people, equality, voting rights, economic rights, the rights of women, and the rights of immigrants. Vice President Kamala Harris lost the election for many reasons (from grassroots organizing issues, racism, sexism, economic frustration, and the reality that most American voters desire a far-right, pro-Trump nation as proven by the polls). We, who oppose Trump's agenda, must be firm to have a clear economic populist agenda of paid family leave, Medicare for all, stronger higher education, stronger unions, fair taxes on the super wealthy, and housing credits. Folks need to realize that pay has been bad for decades because of large corporations and the super-rich rigging the market (not liberals, immigrants, black people, other people of color, women, etc.). If the Democrats want to be viable, they must end their allyship with corporate centrists (who love capitalism more than true human economic justice. Capitalism is not God) and be an anti-establishment party for real. In the end, we have to maintain joy and hope plus faith in the future. You must find that space in life where you embrace true light to go forward and help humanity with sincere motivations. 

 

 

The History of Country Music Part 3 (The 1980's and the 1990's)

By the 1980's and the 1990's, country music changed to be even more diverse. Western, rock, and pop elements came into country music. There has been a renaissance of new fans of country music by the 1980's and the 1990's. We know about Willie Nelson and Juice Newton. We know about Kenny Rogers with a duet with Dolly Parton in the song Islands in the Stream. There has been the growth of country rock too that existed since the 1960's. Later, by 1980, there was the style of neo-country disco music. This music was popularized in the film Urban Cowboy. There was an increase of pop country crossover artists like Bill Medley (of the Righteous Brothers), England Seals, Tom Jones, and Merrill Osmond. Marie Osmond became a country star too. There were the truck-driving country and the neo-traditionalist movement. By the 1990's, country music expanded into FM radio more. Back in the day, country music was on AM for the most part. One of the most popular country music artists of the 1990's was Garth Brooks. He had one of the most successful careers in country music. We saw a new school group of country music stars with country and a vibe appearing to younger people like Clint Black, John Michael Montgomery, Cleve Francis, Tracy Lawrence, Tim McGraw, Kenny Chesney, Brooks and Dunn, and other people. There has been an increase of women country musicians in the 1980's and the 1990's. Their names are Reba McEntire, Patty Loveless, Faith Hill, Martina McBride, Pam Tills, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Lorrie Morgan, Shania Twain, and other women who released platinum-selling albums. By the end of the 1990s, the Chicks had their 1998 debut album Wide Open Spaces being 12 times platinum, and their 1999 album Fly went 10 times platinum. So, this era saw country music reach new heights from Hootie and the Blowfish to LeAnn Rimes. From line dancing to alternative country, country music reached into another level of cultural prominence. Country music is global too being expressed by artists in Australia, Canada, Japan, Mexico (and the rest of Latin America), Ireland, the UK, the Middle East, etc. 

 

The 1980's

By the 1980s, country music started to have a shift. More pop influences came into country music. Pop music is a different style that has been beloved and hated by many people in the world. Willie Nelson and Juice Newton each had two songs in the top 5 of the Billboard Hot 100 in the early eighties: Nelson charted "Always on My Mind" (#5, 1982) and "To All the Girls I've Loved Before" (#5, 1984, a duet with Julio Iglesias), and Newton achieved success with "Queen of Hearts" (#2, 1981) and "Angel of the Morning" (#4, 1981). Four country songs topped the Billboard Hot 100 in the 1980s: "Lady" by Kenny Rogers, from the late fall of 1980; "9 to 5" by Dolly Parton, "I Love a Rainy Night" by Eddie Rabbitt (these two back-to-back at the top in early 1981); and "Islands in the Stream", a duet by Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers in 1983, a pop-country crossover hit written by Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb of the Bee Gees. Newton's "Queen of Hearts" almost reached No. 1, but was kept out of the spot by the pop ballad juggernaut "Endless Love" by Diana Ross and Lionel Richie. The move of country music toward neotraditional styles led to a marked decline in country/pop crossovers in the late 1980s, and only one song in that period—Roy Orbison's "You Got It", from 1989—made the top 10 of both the Billboard Hot Country Singles" and Hot 100 charts, due largely to a revival of interest in Orbison after his sudden death. 

By the 1980s, the world has changed. Fashion and culture became more eclectic. There was a massive conservative movement in the West from Reagan in America to Thacher in the UK. The only song with substantial country airplay to reach number one on the pop charts in the late 1980s was "At This Moment" by Billy Vera and the Beaters, an R&B song with slide guitar embellishment that appeared at number 42 on the country charts from minor crossover airplay. The record-setting, multi-platinum group Alabama was named Artist of the Decade for the 1980s by the Academy of Country Music. Country rock grew, and it mixed rock music and country. It has been around since the 1960s. Bob Dylan and John Welsey Harding had this style along with Gene Clark and The Flying Burrito Brothers. Gram Parsons' work in the early 1970s was acclaimed as one of the pioneers of country rock. This genre would be expressed by Hank Williams Jr., Hank Williams III, Gary Allan, Shania Twain, Brooks & Dunn, Faith Hill, Garth Brooks, Dwight Yoakam, Steve Earle, Dolly Parton, Rosanne Cash and Linda Ronstadt moved country further towards rock influence. The 1980 film Urban Cowboy popularized neocountry disco music. This has been shown by many pop starts like Bill Medley (of the Righteous Brothers), "England Dan" Seals (of England Dan and John Ford Coley), Tom Jones, and Merrill Osmond (both alone and with some of his brothers; his younger sister Marie Osmond was already an established country star) all recorded significant country hits in the early 1980s. Sales in record stores rocketed to $250 million in 1981; by 1984, 900 radio stations began programming country or neocountry pop full-time. As with most sudden trends, however, by 1984 sales had dropped below 1979 figures.

There is the truck driving country music. It is a fusion of honky-tonk, country rock, and the Bakersfield sound. Its lyrics discuss the truck driver's lifestyle as many truck driver drives for days listening to the radio constantly. It has the tempo of country and the emotion of honky-tonk. Many artists in the genre were Dave Dudley, Red Sovine, Dick Curless, Red Simpson, Del Reeves, the Willis Brothers, and Jerry Reed, with C. W. McCall and Cledus Maggard (pseudonyms of Bill Fries and Jay Huguely, respectively) being more humorous entries in the subgenre. Dudley is known as the father of the truck driving country. By the mid 1980's, a new generation of country music artists didn't want the more polished country pop sound. They wanted a back-to-basics neotraditionalist country music style.  Many of the artists during the latter half of the 1980s drew on traditional honky-tonk, bluegrass, folk, and western swing. Artists who typified this sound included Travis Tritt, Reba McEntire, George Strait, Keith Whitley, Alan Jackson, John Anderson, Patty Loveless, Kathy Mattea, Randy Travis, Dwight Yoakam, Clint Black, Ricky Skaggs, and the Judds. Many of these artists carried over into the 1990's. George Strait is a pioneer of the neotraditionalist movement and has been called the "King of Country." He is one of the bestselling musicians of all time. 

The 1990's

The fifth generation of country music was in the 1990s. The 1990s was the decade when most of my childhood existed when I had some of the greatest joys in my life. The 1990s was the start of the post-Cold War era filled with celebrity culture growing, the ascendance of black celebrities to the next level, the modernization of the Internet, and the increase of international globalization. Country music was aided by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Docket 80–90, which led to a significant expansion of FM radio in the 1980s by adding numerous higher-fidelity FM signals to rural and suburban areas. At this point, country music was mainly heard on rural AM radio stations; the expansion of FM was particularly helpful to country music, which migrated to FM from the AM band as AM became overcome by talk radio (the country music stations that stayed on AM developed the classic country format for the AM audience). Country music spread into more by the 1990s. In 1990, Billboard, which had published a country music chart since the 1940s, changed the methodology it used to compile the chart: singles sales were removed from the methodology, and only airplay on country radio determined a song's place on the chart.

By the 1990s, Garth Brooks helped to make country music grow into the next level as a permanent worldwide phenomenon. Garth Brooks was like a rock star with sold-out concerts, tons of fans, and music anthems. He became one of the most successful artists in country music with pop elements too.  The RIAA has certified his recordings at a combined (128× platinum), denoting roughly 113 million U.S. shipments. Other artists who experienced success during this time included Clint Black, John Michael Montgomery, Tracy Lawrence, Tim McGraw, Kenny Chesney, Travis Tritt, Alan Jackson, and the newly formed duo of Brooks & Dunn. George Strait, whose career began in the 1980s, also continued to have widespread success in this decade and beyond. Toby Keith began his career as a more pop-oriented country singer in the 1990s, evolving into an outlaw persona in the early 2000s with Pull My Chain and its follow-up, Unleashed. 

The 1990s saw more women carry the torch of country music too. Even where I am from, during the 1990s, most people in America heard of Reba McEntire, Shania Twain, and LeAnn Rhimes. LeAnn Rhimes was on the show Moesha in 1999 to promote country music as the actress Countess Vaughn is a fan of country music in real life. Other women artists spreading their music during the decade of the 1990s are Patty Loveless, Faith Hill, Martina McBride, Deana Carter, Mindy McCready, Pam Tillis, Lorrie Morgan, Shania Twain, and Mary Chapin Carpenter. All of these human beings had released platinum-selling albums in the 1990s. Shania Twain's whole name is Eilleen Regina Twain. She was born on August 28, 1965, at Windsor, Ontario, Canada. She loved to mix country music and pop to the point that she is known as the Queen of Country Pop. She sang at a young age and worked with Mercury Nashville Records by the early 1990s. Her debut self-titled debut studio album came about in 1993. The Woman in Me in 1995 was the album that gave her widespread success. It sold 20 million copies worldwide with singles like Any Man of Mine and earned her Grammy Award. Come On Over was released in 1997, being a bestselling album with songs like You're Still the One, From This Moment One, That Doesn't Impress Me Much, and Man! I Feel Like a Woman! Twain was inducted into the Canada's Walk of Fame and the Hollywood Walk Fame plus the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. Shania Twain was a predecessor of Taylor Swift, Meghan Trainor, Britney Spears, and Haim. She defined fashion and culture in modern day culture music. 

The Chicks became one of the most popular country bands of the 1990s and the early 2000s.  Their 1998 debut album Wide Open Spaces went on to become certified 12× platinum while their 1999 album Fly went on to become 10× platinum. By the 21st century, The Chicks became more overt in their progressive politics. Country music is not based on geography, birthplace, race, color, sex, nationality, or background. It's based on music period. The only thing that matters is that you make inspiring, great music for the masses of the people. After collaborating with producer and later husband Robert John "Mutt" Lange, she rose to fame with her second studio album, The Woman in Me (1995), which brought her widespread success. It sold over 20 million copies worldwide, spawned eight singles, including "Any Man of Mine" and earned her a Grammy Award. Twain's third studio album, Come On Over (1997), is recognized by Guinness World Records as the biggest-selling studio album by a woman solo artist. It also became the best-selling country album, best-selling album by a Canadian, and one of the world's best-selling albums of all time, selling over 40 million copies worldwide. Come On Over produced twelve singles, including "You're Still the One", "From This Moment On", "That Don't Impress Me Much" and "Man! I Feel Like a Woman!" and earned her four Grammy Awards. In the early-mid-1990s, country western music was influenced by the popularity of line dancing.  

The band Hootie and the Blowfish was very popular in the 1990s and beyond too. The band met in Columbia, South Carolina, and formed in 1986. It was started by Darius Rucker and Mark Bryan who were freshmen at the University of South Carolina. Bryan was a guitar player and Rucker was the vocalist. Their mainstream debut album was Cracked Rear View (1994). Released in July 1994, the album's popularity grew after its release, becoming the best-selling album of 1995, and was one of the fastest-selling debut albums of all time. The album was certified platinum in the United States in January 1995, and incrementally rose to 12× platinum by January 1996, and 16× platinum by March 1999. In May 2019, the certification was updated from 16× platinum to 21× platinum.

The album featured four hits, "Hold My Hand" (U.S. No. 10), "Let Her Cry" (U.S. No. 9), "Only Wanna Be with You" (U.S. No. 6), and "Time" (U.S. No. 14). The album's last single, "Drowning", was not as successful as its predecessors, peaking only on the Mainstream Rock chart. In 1995, Hootie & the Blowfish and Bob Dylan reached an out-of-court settlement for the group's unauthorized use of Dylan's lyrics in their song "Only Wanna Be with You." Miami Dolphins' Hall of Fame quarterback Dan Marino appeared along with several other athletes in the band's video for the song "Only Wanna Be with You." On February 28, 1996, at the 38th Annual Grammy Awards, Hootie & the Blowfish won the Grammy for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal (for the single "Let Her Cry") and the Grammy for "Best New Artist."  The band appeared on MTV Unplugged on the eve of the release of their second album, Fairweather Johnson (1996). The album contained the hit single "Old Man and Me" (U.S. No. 13), and sold four million copies in the United States.

In 1998, the band performed on Frank Wildhorn's concept album of the musical The Civil War. Hootie & the Blowfish released their third studio album, Musical Chairs, on September 15, 1998. It spawned the singles "I Will Wait" and "Only Lonely." 

The group covered the 1968 Orpheus hit "Can't Find the Time" for the soundtrack of the Jim Carrey movie Me, Myself & Irene (2000). The song's writer, Bruce Arnold, traded verses with Darius on several occasions when the band played live on the West Coast. The band kept to an extensive touring schedule, including an annual New Year's Eve show at Silverton Las Vegas (formerly known as Boomtown Las Vegas) in Enterprise, Nevada. Recently, Kris Kristofferson passed away at the age of 88 years old. He was an actor and country music star whose politics inspired the world. 

What Lies Ahead in the 21st century

The country music of the 21st century will go through many changes. By the 2000s, we saw the war on terrorism, especially in dealing with the Iraq War. So, country music had a group of people who wanted to support the Iraq War and the war on terror in general with certain songs. The late Toby Keith made such music. Yet, the truth is that you can love America and critique political policy legitimately at the same time. Both concepts are not mutually exclusive. Also, there was a branch of country music that loved to be influenced by pop, rock, R&B, and hip hop music. Readily in the 2020s now, many country artists even rap some hip hop lyrics before expressing their country music notes or songs. A country music artist that represents that side of the coin is Kacey Musgraves. Musgraves is a pioneer who is steadfast in her views, unapologetic, and desires country music to be a beacon to appeal to everyone. That is what real music is a part of. Music is meant for all people. 21st century country music has grown internationally too. 

Conclusion

The country music of the 1980s and the 1990s set up a major foundation for the country music of the 21st century. That time saw old-school country artists expressing their talents like Dolly Parton and George Strait. New school artists came on the scene like The Judds, Alan Jackson Reba McEntire, Garth Brooks, and Shania Twain with their unique set of style and charisma. These artists appeared to a wide spectrum of human beings, sold out stadiums (with thousands of people going into their concerts), and had a pop star popularity. Among rock, country, hip hop, and R&B music, these genres readily have folks who try not to go into the pop label. On the other hand, there is no growth among any musical genre without breaking the mold and expanding into many places of the world. Country music by the end of the 20th century evolved to allow the younger generation to establish their own standards of artistic expression found in people like Jewel, Lorrie Morgan, LeAnn Rimes, Mindy McCready, and Long Ryders. By the 21st century, we saw country music both have patriotic themes and more hip hop, pop, and rock themes merged into one. Country music's legacy will certainly be written more among the years and decades into the future indeed. 

By Timothy