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4. The Collapse of the Progressive Country Alliance
- Wesleyan University Press
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C H A P T E R F O U R The Collapse of the Progressive Country Alliance Although the recording industry had difficulty packaging progressive country for a national audience in 1974, local performers, radio disc jockeys, and nightclub owners were offering almost no other music for popular consumption. For the next two years, music-making in Austin became wholly identified with this contradictory genre. The year 1975 has been called the "peak year of the progressive country period," with 70 percent of the entertainment acts during one weekend performing "some kind of country or country-based genre."' In February 1976, the Austin Sun, an independent weekly, published its first reader's poll indicating the most popular musicians performing in Austin during 1975. Not surprisingly, readers voted Willie Nelson the best male vocalist, and Marcia Ball the best female vocalist. They declared Asleep at the Wheel the best country band, while Balcones Fault took the rock division . According to the Sun's editors, they received more than 125 ballots a day, considerably more than they had anticipated. Along with Nelson, progressive country singers Jerry Jeff Walker, Steve Fromholz, Willis Alan Ramsey, and Towncs Van Zandt appeared in the male top ten. Marcia Ball's band, the Misery Brothers, were acountry act,and shewas joined in the female top ten by country singers Lisa Hattersly of Greczy Wheels, the Reynolds Sisters, Chris O'Connel (of Asleep at the Wheel), and Cassel Webb (of B. W. Stevenson's band). Nevertheless, the poll was not completely dominated by progressive country acts. The editors wrote that, "Many ballots revealed an appreciation of a varietyof music, with selections of more obscure artists and write-in votes coupled with mainstream choices. The first five finishers for Band of the Year, could be categorized as playing hard rock, eclectic rock, country, blues and jazz, in that order."2 The tight grip that proD I S S O N A N T I D E N T I T I E S / 6 6 gressive country had held on the musicaltastes of Austin clubgoers was beginning to loosen. Paul Ray, leader of the blues band the Cobras, noted the variety of styles in a letter to the editor in the following issue of the Sun. He referred to the poll as "a veritablerented warehouse of useful information on the musical proclivities of Austin clubhoppers." He went on to say, The most interesting aspect of the results is the diversity of musical taste best exemplified in the "Band of the Year" vote. . . . [T]he top six vote-getters purvey a wide range of musical idioms. . . . The three year deluge of progressive country music that inundated Austin has somewhat subsided, or at least, it has been diluted. There is evidence that the "Armadillo Seal of Approval" is not a prerequisite to local success.3 The dissatisfaction and sense of frustration displayed in this letter had been building up among groups of Austin's musicians and clubgoers for some time. One year previously,Jeff Nightbyrd had published a thoughtful critique of the progressive country movement. Acknowledging that it successfully articulated an identity for its fans, Nightbyrd pointed out some of the more unfortunate elements in this reconstruction of traditional Texan manhood. He argued that, "Cosmic Cowboys didn't become a phenomena because of Michael Murphey, Armadillo World Headquarters or businessmen wanting to make Austin Nashville II, it worked because people wanted to feel they had some identity. And what better identity in Texas than cowboys," he continued, "even if it's a bit nostalgic and everyone really rode Schwinn bicycleswhen they were kids." According to Nightbyrd, the success of this identity was at least partiallydue to the fact that, Any young dude can come in from Amarillo, grow moderately long hair under his cowboy hat, smoke a little grass, maybewear a little simulated Indian jewelry, and be a cosmo cowboy. It doesn't take much. Particularly it doesn't require any changes in attitude like being a hippie in the sixties did. You don't have to know anything about the war, give a damn about race, tussle with psychedelics , or worry about male chauvinism. No internal restructuring is required. . . . You don't have to be a peaceful guy, or a hip guy, gentle or persuasive. Cosmo cowboydom allows you to be just what you always were . . . it's a relief. . . . Where hip consciousness created an unrealisticUtopianvision of brotherhood, the cosmo cowboys fall back on the old mythology.4 It...