An e-mail from someone in the country-music biz down there (in response to the Jenkins/ Nashville tripping post Friday):

1.) Don’t assume all country artists are from/live in Nashville. George Strait and many other performers live in Texas, Keith Urban was born/raised in Australia, Merle Haggard would never live anywhere but California . . . you get the idea.
2.) Don’t assume that all people connected with country music are conservative. While a good mix of artists are Republican or conservative, there are quite a few that eagerly participated in the activities sponsored by the Music Row Democrats, a hard-core collection of extremely influential country music executives/insiders from all aspects of the industry that were very visible during the 2004 election. So while Tennessee and many of the country music artists may be “red,” the country music industry itself – just like its rock and hip-hop counterpoints on either coast – is decidedly “blue.”
Pity the handful of us that furtively sneak peeks at the NR website during the day . . . strictly as a means of self-preservation, we’re a pretty silent minority.