Johnny Rebel

Clifford Joseph Trahan (September 25, 1938 – 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.

Trahon used a number of pseudonyms throughout his career; 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 – 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." was born in Moss Bluff, Louisiana, Under that name, Trahan voiced sympathy for racial segregation, the KKK, and the Confederacy, and frequently used the racial slur "nigger". Two of these songs were eventually issued in album format by Reb Rebel Records under the title For Segregationists Only.

Later comments and views In a 2003 interview, Trahan claimed that he "[just made the music] 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 – 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." However, he did have an issue with reparations for slavery and said, "Blacks develop an attitude towards the whites, and they won't let it go. They won't let go of what happened. Why should we pay reparations for things that happened 200 years ago? I was run out of my country. [...] My ancestors were run out of Nova Scotia."

Death Trahan died in Rayne, Louisiana, on September 3, 2016, at the age of 77 years old. He is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in nearby Crowley.

Legacy An Anti-Defamation League report noted that "since the 1960s, when racist country singer Johnny Rebel recorded songs such as 'N-- Hatin' Me,' more than 500 hate rock bands have formed worldwide".

Johnny Rebel's songs have been covered by other singers such as Big Reb and the German neo-Nazi band Landser, which covered his "Coon Town" under the title "Kreuzberg" in 1997 (in the cover, the song's "target" was shifted from African-Americans towards German Turks and punks).

In 2003, the website of white supremacist record label Resistance Records listed Johnny Rebel's Klassic Klan Kompositions album as its No. 2 seller, second only to their video game Ethnic Cleansing.

Discography Studio albums Year Album details 1971 For Segregationists Only 2003 The Complete Johnny Rebel Collection It's the Attitude, Stupid!

Singles

Year Title Album 1966 "Kajun Ku Klux Klan / Lookin' for a Handout" (Reb Rebel 504) For Segregationists Only (Sunwheel SWCD001, 1994) "Nigger Hatin' Me / Who Likes a Nigger" (Reb Rebel 508) 1967 "(Federal Aid Hell!) The Money Belongs to Us / Keep a Workin' Big Jim" (Reb Rebel 511) 1968 "Nigger, Nigger / Move Them Niggers North" (Reb Rebel 514) 1969 "Still Looking for a Handout / In Coon Town" (Reb Rebel 515) 1970 "Some Niggers Never Die / Stay Away from Dixie" (Reb Rebel 518)