When Dr. Wolfe listens to this music, he hears people telling of great cities "scorched from the face of the earth" and wondering if they'll know "the time or hour when a terrible explosion may rain down upon our land."

In his own contribution to the collection, he cites what may be the first nuclear country song, "Atomic Power," released in 1946 by a well-established cowboy-country singer by the name of Fred Kirby.

The song asserts that atomic power "was given by the mighty hand of God" and suggests that those who use it unwisely will face cosmic retribution. When country music faced the bomb, it looked at the power of the atom through the prism of religion.

For the songwriters and the people who listened to their work, Dr. Wolfe said, the atomic bomb was not so much a weapon of war as "absolute proof that the deity exists and his power is infinite."

As a result, many of the country songs of the atomic age carried titles like "Jesus Hits Like an Atom Bomb," or "There Is a Power Greater Than Atomic."

# posted by Gerry Canavan @ 11:14 AM  |