Redneck religion and shitkickin' saviours
Gram Parsons, theology and country music
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 5075911 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Michael Grimshaw (corresponding author) |
| Year | 2002 |
| Volume | 21 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 93-105 |
| Publication date | 2002-01-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Popular Music (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0261-1430 • E-ISSN: 1474-0095 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0261143002002052 |
| OpenAlex | W2150619540 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
| References cited | 6 |
The country singer Gram Parsons (1946-73) has in the last decade been increasingly cited as a seminal influence upon the development of contemporary alt.country and the roots/americana revivial. This article critiques Parsons and his music within the realm of contextual theology, using him as a bridge to examine the wider issue of what a theology of country music might entail. Both Parsons and Country Music in general are strongly religious in language, ethos and culture, yet the theology articulated both explicitly and implicitly is not evangelical as those outside the genre and culture might assume. Rather, the theology of country music involves a gospel of liminality, a theology of redemptive transgression that is expressed in 'white spirituals' where the song is a locus of grace. The article asks if Parsons was a locus of grace; are his songs those of liminal presence; does country music employ a theology of redemptive transgression
Divinity · Ethos · Gospel · Liminality · Linguistics · Marine transgression · Realm · Sociology · Theology · Anthropology · History · Music History and Culture · Pentecostalism and Christianity Studies · Philosophy · Race, History, and American Society · Religious studies · Religious Studies
| Citations per year | 0.15 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2006 - 2013 (8) |
| Highly cited | No |