This dissertation examines the work of three white, male, liberal singer/songwriters during the Donald J. Trump administration period: Colin Meloy (lead singer and songwriter of The Decemberists), Chris Thile (lead singer and songwriter of Punch Brothers), and Sufjan Stevens through analyses of their 2015 albums and the music which they released while Trump was President. Each of these artists has progressive musical and political ideas, which are largely supported by their audiences. I focus especially on the studio albums each musician released in 2015, the year which directly preceded the 2016 Presidential Election, and the studio albums which they released during Trump's presidency (2017-2021). In 2015, The Decemberists released What a Terrible World, What a Beautiful World, the Punch Brothers released The Phosphorescent Blues, and Sufjan Stevens released Carrie & Lowell. The studio albums I focus on from the Trump period include I'll Be Your Girl (2018) by The Decemberists, All Ashore (2018) by Punch Brothers, and The Ascension (2020) by Sufjan Stevens. The shift in their studio albums from 2015 into the Trump administration period was ideological – a move from observing the nostalgic past to plunging into the crisis of the present – but it was also sonic. I argue that these musicians functioned in a similar way to the flâneurs Charles Baudelaire introduced as a concept in nineteenth-century Paris; these are men who move freely between actual physical places and figurative discourse spaces due to their privilege and education, but at the same time occupy a liminal position in these settings. When Meloy, Thile, and Stevens released albums in 2015, they already occupied a position of influence in the lives of their admirers, yet, at the advent of the Trump era, they had to reassess what their music stood for and how clear a position they should take in modern discourse surrounding politics. Ultimately, each singer/songwriter addressed their political concerns during the Trump administration, but moved on to other projects somewhat quickly after the political protest albums were completed. The mobility with which each musician transitioned to new projects after such politically engaged songwriting reveals his privilege and freedom in society, a concept which can be applied to many other songwriters within and beyond Meloy, Thile, and Stevens' circles during the same time period.
