Last Sunday, Al Barger of Blogcritics wrote an appreciation of Grandpa Jones that convinced me there's a major hole in my CD collection. He ended his piece by quoting the lyrics of Jones' early 1950's song "I'm No Communist". That's not the only old country song guaranteed to shock or offend a contemporary college professor. Ernest Tubb did "America, Love It or Leave It" in 1970, and the Louvin Brothers had several pertinent titles. "Don't Let Them Take the Bible Out of Our Schoolrooms" (1962) seems to be available only on the 8-disc Bear Family Oeuvres Complètes, but When I Stop Dreaming: The Best of the Louvin Brothers, which is indeed the best introduction to the Louvins, includes both "Broadminded" and "The Great Atomic Power" (both 1952). The first begins:

That word broad-minded is spelled S-I-N:
It says in my Bible they shall not enter in.

The second argues that all-out nuclear war would be no big deal compared to the wrath of God. This is orthodox Christian theology, but the kind even most Christians don't want to hear these days. The Louvins' album Satan Is Real features one of my all-time favorite album covers, though I've never understood why an album with that title would depict Satan in such an obviously fake manner.

Other things I have learned in the last ten years:

1. When I first heard Hank Williams' duets with Miss Audrey, I realized that Yoko Ono ("She ruined the Plastic Ono Band!") was not the worst thing ever to happen to a foolish husband's career.
2. As far as I'm concerned, the only good Hank Williams is the dead Hank Williams. Note that I did not write "a dead Hank Williams": I don't mean to imply that when Hank Jr. and Hank III die they'll become good. And I do wish them long and happy lives and even successful careers, as long as I don't have to listen to their stuff.
3. Rockers were not the first to make a habit of destroying their instruments on stage: Ira Louvin (d. 1965) was smashing mandolins on-stage long before. Fortunately, he was a skilled mandolin repairman, at least when he was sober.