The Other Hardworking People

 

The Town Crew, working hard to supply water to us

Last night as I was driving home, a generic country song came on the radio. I spent a lot of time in my vehicle, so many of my thoughts come to me while I am sitting at the wheel. I had forgotten my music device, so I was stuck with the FM dial. On drives east of town, I can listen to 99.5 The Bull; the classic country station out of Helena that hasn’t yet succumbed to the corporate sameness of most radio stations. Alas, west of town, where I found myself last night, I am out of range of the Bull and have only two options out of Missoula, KISS Country and EAGLE country, basically identical nationally syndicated pop radio stations marketing themselves as “country music for the working people of Western Montana” or some other blustery jingoistic nonsense. But bad music is better than no music when there is snow on the road after a long day. 

Just like a thousand other songs you can hear on the radio anywhere in the USA, this song mentioned the word “country” maybe seventy times over a beat that sounded like an Arby’s restaurant jingle. Subtlety is no longer in the country music catalog. Most songs ram their message into your ears like sledgehammers, and that message is often incredibly generic. 

Buy a truck, get a girl, drink a beer after work, thank God, buy a farmhouse, work a shit job all week long that you hate, take a shower on Friday, pick up the girl in your truck, get shit-faced Friday night, get shit-faced and fish on Saturday, get shit-faced even more Saturday night, wake up on Sunday, go to church, thank God again, and do it all over again. I am not simplifying; this is the plotline to a thousand pop country songs as if the listeners are stock characters in a video game. Yes, trucks, girls, God and beer are cornerstones of rural American life, but they aren’t the only aspects of life by any means. They could write about these topics without it sounding like a television commercial, but they don’t. I am not sure why.  

The song went on to thank the usual suspects in the country music paradigm for their hard work; and honestly all of these occupations are absolutely necessary and worthwhile. Farmers grow our food, truckers haul our stuff around, soldiers protect our freedom, firefighters and policemen risk their skins to save ours. But as I listened, I couldn’t help but think how we give so much thanks to a small group of important blue collar workers and yet completely ignore so many others. Just like most country music oversimplifies modern life into a few generic themes, these lists of contributors to American life gets oversimplified as well. 

It got me thinking about all the people that also contribute to keeping our society functioning but never get recognized in a country song for it. The janitor at the local high school who keeps the school from becoming a virus-infested cesspool. The clerk at the local courthouse who actually knows her way through the bureaucracy so that we can legally own our houses or trucks. The excavator and dump truck drivers who build, repair and maintain all these highways that we drive our trucks on. The electrical lineman who works with high voltage all day so that we can turn lights on at night. The auto mechanic who replaces the ball joints and brakes in our trucks so we can operate them safely. The accountant working out of her basement, without whom many of us small-business owners would be bankrupt. The daycare ladies, plow truck drivers, road paving crews, septic engineers, railroad logistics operators, Fedex drivers, bank tellers, insurance adjusters, internet technicians, surveyors, lawn mowers and a thousand more jobs who classify as blue collar but never once get mentioned in a country song thanking the people who keep this country moving. These aren’t coastal elites with tech money or a masters degree in psychology. They are hardworking Americans working jobs that aren’t at all glorious or heroic but make the world go round

This is what I was pondering as I was rolling along at 55 mph on snowy roads in the dark last night. I know that pop country has fans who don’t care that the songs are generic; they are catchy earworms that can be quite entertaining. I know that there are other types of country music out there beyond what I find on pop radio and that no one song can tell everyone’s story. And I know that without soldiers or farmers or firemen, our society would likely fall apart. But the same goes for all the other hard working people who may not risk their lives every day, but we absolutely rely on to get through our work week so we can sit on our tailgate and get plastered on Friday night.