I have been thinking of the supposed radicalism of the Annie's position of late, especially considering the natue of country's recent conservatism. The critical opinion seems to be that they are breaking apart the Post-Garth soft rock politeness. But country has not been very polite.  The pendulum has swung of late--critics ignore what has occurred in the work of John Rich and his eventual descendants. The great thing (and I think the under rated) thing about this age of Rich, is that it's pretty gender neutral. From Gretchen Wilson onward--the fun has occurred to women as much as men. The Annies position on pleasure is not radically new. What is radically new, is it's use of pleasure as a disruptive strategy against a slew of targets, that seem to be obvious but haven't really been addressed. In Hush Hush, we can list family (especially the silence of the front pew), alcoholism (rehab, vodka being snuck, eggnog instead of beer), performative peity (the spectacular line "Well daddy's reading propaganda/And he's talking about the end of days), and even a discussion of grass so casual it might as well come from 70s outlaws. So what becomes new, is a different kind of integrative either/or.  this is not partying on Saturday and church on Sunday--but a recognition of the tense negotiations between the south as a libertine's playhouse and the south as a sanctified space. The tension, is that though both of those exist at the same time, in the argot of the time, the Annies suggesting that not only the hypocrisy of it, but the silence of it is foundational is what is really left unsaid. That to expect the south to exist without the "hush hush" is to expect the south to exist not at all. (It's actually what makes the Annies great--but it sells, and it ends up on CMT, and it wins awards, and people sing along--so it's not subversive--one wonders what that means, if everyone knows what's going on, and everyone is speaking it aloud, does it become a steam valve where the real work doesn't need to be done--we talk about drugs and sex and Jesus and pot, but we don't write songs about how grand daddy fucked the maid, or that the one drop law is still a growing concern, or that Billy can't take his husband to Sunday dinner, or why all of those foreclosures, or the real history of slavery or what exactly happened at theTallahatchie Bridge) The personal is political. This is a political song. But it's politics will only go as far as the market will allow. (As a song--the brilliant chorus, the harmonics, the guitar work, how brilliant the whole thing hangs together, it's a ten--but the Annies always make me a bit nervous).