“Hillbillies”, Country Legends, and God’s Green Earth: Understanding the Sister Tourism Meccas of Branson, Missouri and Pigeon Forge, Tennessee

Keywords: tourism, country music, hillbilly, rural, Ozarks, Appalachia, Dollywood, cultural geography
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Monday
Session Start / End Time: 2/28/2022 05:20 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/28/2022 06:40 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 75

Abstract

One reason people engage in tourism is to “escape” from their normal life. As the United States urbanized in the twentieth century, many sought out experiences that evoked the “simpler” rural past. In the Ozarks and Appalachia, many of these nostalgic images involved the “hillbilly,” a historically derogatory term for the residents of these regions’ poor, hilly areas, often portrayed as uncivilized and ignorant. Despite these negative stereotypes, these places developed tourist attractions that played into the “hillbilly,” especially starting in the 1960s. At the same time, American country music, formerly referred to as “hillbilly” music, was starting to align more with the New Right. While country music is a broader geographical phenomenon and “hillbilly” cultural identity is more local, country music paints the “hillbilly” tourism landscape with its perceived themes of patriotism, conservative Christianity, family and tradition, and thus plays a significant role in the marketing and appeal of “hillbilly” tourist destinations. Branson, Missouri and Pigeon Forge, Tennessee serve as case studies for understanding how country music’s representation of “hillbillies” and rural life continue to shape the tourism created in these places and the types of tourists they attract. When country music occupies these tourist spaces, it carries a weight that can exclude certain groups of tourists, which prevents the expansion of tourist bases. Through the application of tourism geography concepts and textual analysis of promotional tourism materials, this paper will show how a strong “hillbilly” focus can hinder places like Branson and Pigeon Forge from practicing sustainable tourism.