Johnny Rebel (musician)
Johnny Rebel | |
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Trahan as a junior in high school, 1955 | |
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| Born | Clifford Joseph Trahan September 25, 1938 Moss Bluff, Louisiana, U.S. |
| Died | September 3, 2016 (aged 77) Rayne, Louisiana, U.S. |
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| Years active | 1959โ2003 |
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Clifford Joseph Trahan (September 25, 1938 โ September 3, 2016), better known by the stage names Johnny Rebel, Pee Wee Trahan, Filthy McNasty, Jericho Jones, and many other pseudonyms, was an American singer-songwriter known for his openly racist songs. He used the Johnny Rebel name to voice sympathy for racial segregation, the KKK, and the Confederacy, and frequently used the racial slur "nigger". He used Pee Wee Trahan for more mainstream, family-friendly country music that focused on themes such as love, dancing, and rural life, and Filthy McNasty for sexually explicit lyrics. The Johnny Rebel name, inspired by Johnny Reb, the national personification of the common soldier of the Confederate States Army, was used for J. D. "Jay" Miller's Reb Rebel label in the 1960s in response to the civil rights movement.
After retiring in 2003, Trahan stated that he "just did it for the money" and that he "didn't set out to spread hate or start trouble". He said, "At that time, there was a lot of resentment โ whites toward blacks and blacks toward whites. So, everybody had their own feelings. Lots of people changed their feelings over the years. I basically changed my feelings over the years up to a point."