Crowder Trae - The liberal redneck manifesto: draggin Dixie outta the dark

TRAE CROWDER grew up in rural Tennessee and has been writing and performing comedy for six years while also working for the federal government. He was the first person in his family to graduate from college and earn an MBA. After his Liberal Redneck videos went viral, he appeared on a number of television and radio shows. He lives in East Tennessee with his wife and two young sons.

COREY RYAN FORRESTER has been writing and performing stand-up comedy since he was sixteen and hails from northern Georgia. He helped his mother and sister run their family bakery in his hometown of Chickamauga while hawking jokes at night in dingy bars, and has an affinity for Southern wit and storytelling.

DREW MORGAN is a stand-up comedian, writer, and husband from rural East Tennessee. He draws on his experiences as a small-town son of a preacher man and former public defender to weave together stories with jokes and observations on culture, religion, and identity. He splits time between New York City and Knoxville, Tennessee, with his wife, Andi, and dog, Mick Jagger Pup.

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Copyright 2016 by Trae Crowder, Corey Ryan Forrester, and Drew Morgan

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information, address Atria Books Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.

First Atria Books hardcover edition October 2016

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Interior design by Renato Stanisic

Illustrations by Eric Loy

Jacket design by Emma A. Van Deun

Jacket Photograph Jason Grindle (Trae Crowder, Drew Morgan & Corey Ryan Forrester)

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Crowder, Trae, author. | Forrester, Corey Ryan, author. | Morgan, Drew, author.

Title: The liberal redneck manifesto : draggin Dixie outta the dark / Trae Crowder, Corey Ryan Forrester, and Drew Morgan.

Description: First Atria Books hardcover edition | New York : Atria Books, 2016. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2016037704 (print) | LCCN 2016039493 (ebook) | ISBN 9781501160387 (hardback) | ISBN 9781501160400 (paperback) | ISBN 9781501160417 (ebook) | ISBN 9781501160417 (eBook)

Subjects: LCSH: Southern StatesHumor. | RednecksHumor. | American wit and humor. | BISAC: HUMOR / General. | HUMOR / Topic / Political. | HUMOR / Topic / Religion.

Classification: LCC PN6231.S64 C76 2016 (print) | LCC PN6231.S64 (ebook) | DDC 818/.602dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016037704

ISBN 978-1-5011-6038-7

ISBN 978-1-5011-6041-7 (ebook)

For Spook, Granny Bain, Flo, Clem, and Ruby Geraldineyall are our roots.

H oly shit, yall! Youre readin a book by us. Us . Thats wilder than hill people on mushrooms during a thunderstorm.

We aint writers! I mean, we are, but as comedians, we just write jokes usually. You prolly knew that. Maybe not. Well, thats what we are: traveling joke salesmen. And we kinda figured wed always be just that (with hopefully a movie or TV show role peppered in). We were happy to live a life of no to moderate fame, eating fried food at three in the morning in a town no one had heard of and fallin asleep on floors and in terrible hotels with names like Tanyas Hideaway Bar and Inn. Whats Tanya hidin from? Lord knows.

Then Trae made a video and called himself the Liberal Redneck, and the world sort of changed. Lifes weird.

Wait. Like an actual book? Yall tryin to address Dixie with a damn book?! Like a readin book?!

Yes. We are. Its a book about the love/hate relationship you have with your homeland. Its a book about the South and all its problems, but also all its beauty. We thought it was time to talk about where were from with both empathy and tough loveand have some damn laughs along the way. Feelin conflicted because you support gay rights but cant help that you still crave Chick-fil-A? Buddy, we get it. Mad as hell about what the local colleges football coach and the hypocritical local senator said at their recent press conferences? Love buffets but hate yourself after you go? Well, boy, do we have something to make you feel better!

Is it pills?

No, damn it, its this book! Were talkin about all thats right about life below the Mason-Dixon line and also all thats wronglike the damn pills. Anyone who has grown up in the South in the last thirty years understands, whether theyve ever thought about it or not, that theres a central dichotomy that permeates every aspect of Southern life. Even if you dont know what half them five-dollar words mean, if youre from here, you get what were talkin about. A divide underlies the actions and words of every native Southerner. And no, it aint Ford versus Chevy. The internal conflict that has defined what it means to be from the South is that of Pride versus Shame. For example, jean shorts. We invented em. They hit. They also somehow dont hit. Proud. Also ashamed.