Montgomery Gentry's "Where I Come From" in regionalist context
Montgomery Gentry's song "Where I Come From" provides listeners with an interesting view regarding local identity. The duo singing the song apparently want listeners to learn more about their background and about the 'cowboy' town that they belong to. The singers feel that society has a tendency to discriminate individuals like them and the places where they originate from in general and want society to understand that there is more than meets the eye when regarding the respective location and its people.
"Regionalist texts register the challenges to the values of village life from the combined strengthening of the nation-state" and "its association with aggressive masculinity" (Fetterley & Pryse 30). Montgomery Gentry are unhesitant about speaking about how they come from a place where "When a couple boys fight in the parking lot / No, nobody's gonna call the cops." They feel threatened by a constantly progressing society and considered that the masses are inclined to consider that they and people in their town are not able to keep up with evolution. However, they emphasize that there are many progressive aspects about their home town and that there are also concepts that the world is unable to understand there. The fighting, for example, is not as harmful as some might consider and this is one of the reasons for which no one intervenes.
Montgomery Gentry appear to put across the feeling that "knowledge rather than ownership" (Fetterley & Pryse 269) is the key to understanding small towns and their inhabitants. Simply looking at the song's lyrics is probable to make someone feel that the stereotypical image of a 'cowboy' does not necessarily apply to individuals in small towns. These people want to highlight their background and their local identity in an attempt to stop discrimination from happening.
Works cited:
Fetterley, Judith, and Pryse, Marjorie, "Writing out of Place: Regionalism, Women, and American Literary Culture," (University of Illinois Press, 17.12.2002)
Montgomery Gentry, "Where I Come From," Average Joe's, Rebel on the Run.
