To think I just watched the skynyrd doc on Netflix showtime just two days ago. And Sweet home Alabama was not a racist call. From the doc, they say it had no racial overtones. It was the producers.

It is interesting how the song, though in no way overtly racist, has the feel of "if you criticise us, we will dig in our heels" that seems to inform the modern white right wing rhetoric. The politics of fragility and spite.

I think you nailed it.

Victims, resentful, denying their own history, then as now. But that was some good rock and roll.

Oh, no doubt. This song gets turnt up every time it comes on. The Swampers could make any questionable ideology sound good!

"Watergate does not bother me..."

It was the producers.
What did the producers do?

In the doc the band members just wanted to be viewed as southern. The confederate angle was pushed by record producers, as a contrast to Neil Young’s “southern man.”

I think you caught it just in time. Just searched Netflix and couldn't find the doc. :-( Would like to have seen it. Especially how they address the Confederate / fan balance. There are a few artists who likely have to deal with how much, if at all, to distance themselves from certain fans, or address certain controversial issues. Particularly in country music (the new southern rock).

I saw it on showtime. I think it’s still airing. Sorry for the misinformation. I thought it was Netflix until my SO corrected me.

When skynyrd was popular the times were very different.

http://www.sho.com/titles/3461827/lynyrd-skynyrd-if-i-leave-here-tomorrow

I know this is late but I found this thread doing a search and recognized him from said documentary. I caught it on the cable channel AXS which is primarily music in late '19 or early '20.

Should have stayed with Strawberry Alarm Clock, or joined Mott the Hoople, or Ultimate Spinach.