To the Editor:

Regarding the Aug. 29 commentary, “All that twang could undercut rural pride,” the most educated person I have ever known, a remarkable speaker, had an important rule. If you use language greater than your audience understands, the only benefit is to your own ego. I would like to say that while many points of this commentary are valid, appreciation for them are lost because of the superior manner of talking down to the reader.

Perhaps the greater issue in the commentary is the age-old one-upmanship between the country bumpkin and the city slicker: each knowing in his or her heart that the other lacks common sense and that she or he is superior. In this case, writer Storie Mooser wants us to denounce the themes prevalent in country-western music. I think that goes too far imposing one person’s culture on another’s.

Regardless of Mooser’s attempt to identify with us and acknowledge us, this article felt extremely patronizing. All the points raised in Mooser’s commentary seem to be an attempt to elevate the image of us poor country folks.

Country music fans are what we are because we choose to be, not because all of us lack musical sophistication. Many of us consider country music musically pure in its simplicity, honesty and lack of pretentiousness. The musically sophisticated, and often superiorly educated, seem to think that everyone else should want to be just like them.

The truth is that country music represents all it needs to for the folks who enjoy it. Music is very much a matter of taste; and as someone has said, “In matters of taste there is no dispute.”

Music is also an expression of culture, and it belongs to those who relate to it.

I have lived the greatest part of my life here in Grant County, but in my search for new experiences and education, I have attended symphonies, ballets, and even world-class opera. I enjoyed these things tremendously, but they never diminished my appreciation for good twangy county music, nor did they cause me to want to aspire to greater cultural sophistication.

“Thank God I’m a country boy.”

Terry Steele

Ritter