Analysis of information sources in references of the Wikipedia article "Fiddlin' John Carson" in English language version.
Much of the original material performed by Carson and his contemporaries consisted of folk tunes and hymns, but as recording opportunities increased, the need for new material spawned the first generation of country songwriters. Like the early recorded folk and gospel music, the first commercial compositions expressed the values and prejudices of the rural South. Fiddlin' John Carson was a regular at Ku Klux Klan rallies, and his "Ballad of Little Mary Phagan" helped to exacerbate the anti-Semitism that was a major factor in the lynching of Mary's alleged murderer, Leo Frank. Fiddlin' John made light of the evolution controversy in "There Ain't No Bugs on Me" when he asserted "there may be monkey in some of you guys, but there ain't no monkey in me," but his contemporary Vernon Dalhart took a more serious view in "The John T. Scopes Trial," concluding that "the old religion's better after all."
