Wilson writes of his “dark spirituality . . . Williams grew up in the Baptist church, inheriting a strong feeling of Calvinist sinfulness reinforced by the temptations he faced in his life as a working-class entertainer” ([52], p. 79).
Some of this intense yet submerged religious tension stems from the fact that up through the
1950s, country music artists by and large had to publically live by the Carter Family’s concert poster
which bluntly declared “This program is morally good” [53], all the while struggling with the guilt of
their often spectacular “sinful” transgressions that belied the sacred songs and traditional morality
they sang about daily. While the commercial nature of the country music industry—led by major
Northern record labels from its beginnings in the early 1920s—would have stifled country musicians’
ability to write songs expressing their Christ-haunted struggles, the artists themselves would not have
wanted to even if they could. As Flannery O’Conner observed firsthand, “the religion of the South is a
do-it-yourself religion... It’s full of unconscious pride . . . ” ([54], p. 1107). Most Southern Christians
rationalized that with stronger faith and avoiding temptation, such sinful transgressions could be
a thing of the past; why vocalize one’s sinful struggle when greater piety is attainable with more
willpower? For example, when a “deejay offered Hank [Williams] a drink after his June 18 (1949) Opry
debut: ‘No, I quit’, said Hank. ‘I can’t handle it. I don’t ever expect to take another drop.’ And he truly,
truly meant it” ([55], p. 117). Of course, when the flesh again proved too weak to avoid sin, then the
guilt and disappointment only deepened the “fall”. To return to Ted Ownby’s argument ([22], p. 17),
the two stark sides of Southern fundamentalism, the sacred and secular, reinforced and amplified each
other’s extremity.
Before analyzing specific country musicians, it is important to note that the musicians examined
below are male singers because the culturally conservative country music industry did not allow for
individual female stars until after the scope of this study. Mary Bufwack relates of Nashville’s powerful
WSM radio station, the sponsor of The Grand Ole Opry, “the station’s conservative philosophy actually
kept women in minor roles for years” ([56], p. 161). Even after World War II, nearly all female
singers of any stature had to work “with their husbands or family groups” due to industry gender
standards ([46], p. 218). The first “bona fide female country superstar” was Kitty Wells, whose career
began in 1952, and “it would be another ten years or so before women would really begin to stand
alone as performers” ([46], pp. 223–24). Therefore, by the time Rock n’ Roll was emerging nationally
in the mid-1950s, country music was still nearly a decade away from individual female stars being
mainstream. The Christ-haunted culture of country music is more apparent in the careers of male
superstars because most country stars in this period were male.
One example of country music’s Christ-haunted culture comes from aforementioned popular
1950s country-gospel group, the Louvin Brothers. Born in Sand Mountain, Alabama in the 1920s,
Charlie and Ira Louvin grew up singing Sacred Harp music in their family’s Baptist church. Despite
their album warning listeners that Satan is Real, with songs about not accepting “Satan’s Jeweled
Crown” [57], of “The Drunkard’s Doom” [58], and promising the saving “River of Jordon” [59] to all
who seek it, Ira Louvin was an extremely troubled person. He was an alcoholic married four times; his
third wife shot him three times in the back after he tried to strangle her with a telephone cord ([60],
p. 97). When performing drunk, he would occasionally smash his mandolin on stage in anger ([60],
p. 85). Ira died in 1965 when a drunken driver struck his car; at the time of his death, a warrant for
Louvin’s arrest had been issued on a DUI charge.
Ira Louvin understood “The Drunkard’s Doom” and the allure of “Satan’s Jeweled Crown” better
than most, which allowed him to sing of and yearn for the cleansing “River of Jordan” all the more
authentically. Reminiscent of Son House and Charley Patton’s preaching, Ira’s brother and musical
partner, Charlie, traces the roots of his brother’s problems to a religious struggle steeped in guilt:
“My brother was a biblical scholar; a lot of people say he was called to preach. That’s why he led
such a miserable life, because he refused to accept the calling” ([60], p. 48). Although he spent his
professional career singing gospel music, being told by fans that “Louvin Brothers music caused them
to live in a Christian home” ([60], p. 65), he was unable to overcome the contrast between his spurned
