http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_of_the_United_States#Blues_and_gospel
In general, music is a good reflection of people’s life. I think Southern music would be a good material to reveal their lives and identities. For example, gospel country music, a type of the Southern music, reflects the Southern people’s strong religious leaning. The video clip here plays a southern gospel song sung by the Blackwood Brothers, one of the representative Southern Gospel male quartets which characterize the Southern style gospel.
Conversely, the gospel music seems to have led Southerners toward religious life. One example is found in the autobiographic novel, Bastard Out of Carolina, by Dorothy Allison. Bone, the main character, is inspired by gospel music and has a desire for becoming a gospel singer. As for her, listening to and singing country gospel songs means escaping stressful life and seeking “salvation” and “miracle” from God.
What other genres of music do you think characterize Southerners’ identity? How does it show and influence the South? How does it have a relation to the Southern stereotypes?
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