>
> I would think that the most extreme red-neck element would not be from the
> middle-class liberals...
Me too, and I thought that was what I was saying. The hippies in the
South when the movie came out were basically from Northern middleclass
backgrounds, and not Southern rural ones. The Southern rurals didn't come
into the movement until well after Dylan started Country-Rock, and rural
muscians had started picking up on that genre.
A couple of things:
As much as i love him, it is a misnomer that dylan started country rock as
the Byrds' Sweetheart of the Rodeo predated the release of bob's Nashville
Skyline. although recorded in nashville and featuring steel guitar on the
last two tracks, John Wesley Harding really can't be labeled as country
rock; it's more folky than that.
Sweetheart was released in late summer of 68 and the byrds also played
the Grand ole opry that year. nashville skyline came out in 1969.
the impetus behind this shift in the byrds music was gram parsons who
probably recorded the first country rock with his group the international
submarine band several years earlier. parsons later left the byrds to
influence mick jagger and keith richards and to form the flying burrito
brothers - the ultimate country rock group.
also flatt and scruggs with their nashville airplane album may have
predated dylan as well. i don't have the album with me but i'll check.
marty