Is The Stagecoach Festival Reinforcing Clichés?

After Coachella, the Indio grounds are the site for Stagecoach, the country music festival, which also brings tons of people to see Miranda Lambert, Merle Haggard, Steve Earle, Tim McGraw, Blake Shelton and many others. According to the LA Times, it is a total success this year, with an attendance up 18%… wow people really have money!

But this is not what bothers me, what bothers me are the clichés that the festival seems to reinforce about the type of population attending country music festivals. First these tasteful shirts (above) were on sale: ‘Titties & Beer Thank God I Ain’t Queer’, or ‘Roses Are Red, Areolas Are Pink, Show Me Yours And I’ll Buy You A Drink.’ What kind of message is this sending? That country lovers are a bunch of homophobic misogynist rednecks? It’s pretty sad… Consequence of Sound reported that the vendor was removed from the grounds, probably because people were offended, but the fact that he was there in the first place tells it all. And the most absurd part of the story is that there is a country song entitled Titties & Beers by Rodney Carrington.

And if you wanted to reinforce even more stereotypes, the LA Times is reporting that alcohol stands were more numerous than ever, but among the beer, wine, margaritas signs there was also a different sign outside a Safe Harbor Room tent: A sign sponsored by the Recording Academy’s MusiCares Foundation, supporting recovering alcoholic and offering them the option to stay sober. Inside were ‘crew members and support staff, and all routinely participate in 12-step recovery programs’

What can I say, each festival has its dresscode and fav drug, Coachella-goers are crazy about this Indian-headdress-flower-crown-bohemian look and are all on ecstasy, while Stagecoach-goers are all drunk hillbillies wearing denim… to each its own.