Don't Wash the Cast Iron Skillet and the Power of Musical Rhetoric

 

Award-winning Americana singer-songwriter Jason Isbell may have been raised in a small Alabama town, but his lyrical commentary on the people, cultures and traditions of the American South make it clear that it never felt like his home. In a genre that often champions the sweet tea drinking, churchgoing, firefly-catching lore of the South, Isbell challenges that narrative, instead drawing attention to pervasive issues like racism, homophobia and gun violence.

Through three lyrical vignettes, Isbell’s song, “Cast Iron Skillet,” uses musical rhetoric to encourage listeners to look beyond the wholesome messages and phrases they know about the South and consider the darker underbelly of the culture.

            Jamie got a boyfriend with smiling eyes and dark skin, and her daddy never spoke another word to her again. . . She found love and it was simple as a weathervane, and her whole family tried to kill it.

Don’t wash the cast iron skillet. If that dog bites my kid, I’ll kill it. Don’t walk where you can’t see your feet, and don’t ask questions just believe it.

While the title might make people remember Southern Sunday dinners lovingly prepared by their grandmother, and the music is soft and inviting, the lyrics are a commentary on the ingrained, often-generational prejudice and bigotry that remains as much of a staple in many parts of the South as biscuits made in a cast iron skillet.

Through its stories about a young girl disowned by her family for falling in love with a man of another race and a pair of once young and innocent brothers who grew up to violently murder a store clerk, encourages listeners to challenge their beliefs about the states below the Mason-Dixon line. However, will the song have the desired impact when Isbell’s music is a part of a genre largely comprised of musicians and listeners from that part of the country? Can something as simple as a song—even one that explores important societal issues—be a catalyst for change when listeners may have been raised to turn a blind eye or remain silent about the issues being raised?

As for me, I originally added “Cast Iron Skillet” to my playlist because I am the daughter of two Southern parents, and I cook in cast iron everyday as an homage to the things I love about the South and its people. The title made me think it was a sweet tribute to that part of the country, but its lyrics have made me think much more deeply about the work that still needs to be done in Isbell’s Alabama hometown and in my small Northeast town, too.