The Possum, the Hag, and the Rhinestone Cowboy: The burlesque abjection of the white male

Abstract The hard country galaxy glows with dimly christened stars. Counter to whatever logic glamour possesses, hard country singers use such pejorative stage names as Ol’ Hank (Hiram “Hank” Williams, 1923–1952), the Hag (ex-convict Merle Haggard, 1937–), and the Possum (George Jones, 1931–). Alvis Edgar Owens (1929–), better known as Buck Owens, changed his first name to match that of his Okie family’s mule. Johnny Cash, known as “the man in black,” evokes bad guys and mourners.1 Donald Lytle achieved stardom as Johnny Paycheck, a name borrowed “from a not-so-prize fighter who lasted less than one humiliating round with Joe Louis.”2 When they decide to preserve their given names, hard country stars stick with the fence-post plain or the downright unflattering: Ernest Tubb (1914– 1984), Hank Thompson (1925–), John Anderson (1954–), or David Allan Coe (1939–)—it rhymes with John Doe. Kentucky-born Dwight Yoakam (1956–) even shares his (real) last name with the hillbillies of Al Capp’s comic strip back-water, Dogpatch.3 Waylon Jennings’s (1937–) first name immediately suggests a downbeat approach (wailing). In contrast, mainstream country announces itself with reassuringly evocative monikers such as George Strait and Alabama.