[A] I have very little insight into the politico-sociology of country music here in America, let alone in Europe, where language issues come into play. ("Americana" does seem to be exceptionally popular in the UK, but that lines up nicely with 1970s "pub rock.") While Christianity and jingoistic patriotism have long been saluted in Nashville, and nods in that direction sometimes get picked up by right-wing media, there has always been a subversive undercurrent in country music, as with virtually all modern forms of art. I grew up in country music country, and absorbed a lot of it, even when I thought I was rebelling against it. Friends like Harold Karabell and George Lipsitz got me to give it a chance, and these days I find about as much human interest and trenchant social commentary there as anywhere else. The notion that country music is stereotypically white ultimately means very little, if it's even true at all. (Plus, nobody likes getting stereotyped.)

I'm not aware of any research on this, but my impression is that right-wingers aren't all that interested in music, or in any form of art. I don't wish to be smug or condescending about this. It may just be that, even living in Kansas where they dominate politics, I know or even encounter very few right-wingers, and that the few I do run into aren't representative. But they're a pretty dull and unpleasant sort. Sure, some country music sinks to their level, but I doubt even they enjoy it.

Briefly, on the other items: I wrote up the "1,000 albums" piece in 2009, and added a few items later, so now it's a bit over 1,000: new albums do make the mark, although my increasingly superficial listening habits make it hard these days to find new music that I love as much as the music I grew up on. I see now that the last revision was in 2020, so perhaps another is due.

As for Speaking of Which, it just got to be too much. I've thought about quitting many times, but as the 2024 election approached, I felt obligated to see it through. Even if the results had been better, I would most likely have decided to give it up. But this backsliding into an even darker version of 2017 is just too much self-torture. While I am thankful that I have readers who appreciate what I've been doing, I'm not filled with the sense that I'm really accomplishing much. And at my age, I don't have to keep doing this, or figure out how to restart. Also, the sense of isolation is taking a toll. It's time for some kind of change.

[A] It is updated every time the website is updated, which is usually when I put a new blog post up. I make a few minor changes to it virtually every day, so in that sense it is always changing. Bigger chunks of work, like going through the AOTY new releases lists to collect ratings, and going through their publication lists to pick up late ratings, have been much more erratic. While it was in pretty decent shape through the mid-year lists, I let it slide after that. But as the first EOY lists have started to appear, I'm getting back into it -- although I'm still very busy with other "higher priority" things. I doubt this year's efforts will ever be as comprehensive as some past years. Getting harder and harder to keep everything going.

I should note that one way to track updates could be the RSS feed, but mine is hand-crafted, and I haven't gotten into the practice of updating it when I make minor changes (which, for some files, is practically daily, or weekly to you). As I'm writing this, I can think of some ways to automate reporting of changes, possibly including line differences (through the old UNIX diff program), but they all involve new programming, unlikely in the short term.