Can you be country in a city? (transplants, home)

[desert sun]

Can you live in a city and be a country boy or cowboy or redneck?

There are a couple country artists to come out of big cities, but I cant imagine someone being a country person in a city.

Im from a small farm town of 11,000 people and I live in Albuquerque now, there are some redneck/cowboys here but I dont see how that can be growing up in subdivisions and a busy place. As a teen me and my cousins and friends would cruise dirt roads exploring the countryside, get in trouble out there and have bonfires and keggers out in the middle of nowhere, its so peaceful.

what do yall think?

[City Fanatic]

There are pseudo-country boys, in mind and spirit. You know, "urban cowboys". They're not true country boys, however.

[NCN]

When we go to church in Charlotte we pass by a beautiful garden. I imagine the person who tends the garden has a red neck. That is where the term comes from. I doubt most red necks have ever had a beer. I know the area I was raised in had lots of red necked people, but most were church goers and would never think of drinking beer. That red neck term has lost its true meaning. Red necks are hardworking people and should be respected. We call those beer guzzling loafers "good for nothings" or "ne'er do well."

[Thomas R.]

The closest I can think of was the "Urban Appalachians" and maybe the "Okies." The first group went to the city, but sometimes kept connections to the country folk at home and went back as often as they could afford. The show "Homicide: Life on the Street" dealt with this calling them "Billytowners" and the potentially more offensive "City Goats." (The barmaid, a sophisticated avant garde artist, turned out to be one and gently chided one of the cops on his bigotry) The Okies were often people who went to California with the intent of returning home to the country. They weren't all from Oklahoma. My grandparents were from Arkansas and went to California during the Great Depression. "Grapes of Wrath" imagery aside they had a mostly positive experience in California, but returned to Arkansas a couple years after WWII.

Outside of that I think it's pretense. Like suburban white kids trying to be "street."

[john_starks]

Can you live in a city and be a country boy or cowboy or redneck?

absolutely~ that's what a city is...everything

[creeksitter]

Oh gosh yes. My neighborhood is smack dab in the middle of a minor metropolitan area and it is full of down to earth good ole country type people. Not an ounce of pretention to be found.

Remember that song from the 70's: "Doraville... country living in the city, it ain't much but it's home". I'm not too familiar with that part of Atlanta but I imagine it's the same way.

[City Fanatic]

Originally Posted by creeksitter

Oh gosh yes. My neighborhood is smack dab in the middle of a minor metropolitan area and it is full of down to earth good ole country type people. Not an ounce of pretention to be found.

Remember that song from the 70's: "Doraville... country living in the city, it ain't much but it's home". I'm not too familiar with that part of Atlanta but I imagine it's the same way.

The city of Doraville is about half-immigrants, namely mestizos and Asians.

The rest of metro Atlanta has a few country-minded people, but very few as a percentage, unless you're talking out near the fringe, where it may be roughly twenty-five percent.

[texastim]

Yes, you most certainly can. I am a Fort Worth, TX native. There are VERY country people in both Dallas, Fort Worth and points in between. You can find people who own horses and livestock within the city limits. Same goes with Houston and San Antonio.

[DeaconJ]

Originally Posted by creeksitter

Oh gosh yes. My neighborhood is smack dab in the middle of a minor metropolitan area and it is full of down to earth good ole country type people. Not an ounce of pretention to be found.

Remember that song from the 70's: "Doraville... country living in the city, it ain't much but it's home". I'm not too familiar with that part of Atlanta but I imagine it's the same way.

Doraville was "country in the city" back when the Atlanta Rhythm Section recorded the song...now it's an inner-ring suburb that has been revived by a huge infulx of Asian transplants. It's not country anymore.

Cities are made up of all kinds of people...country folks included.

[radraja]

Sure. Anyone can be whoever they want, regardless of location.