Bruce Springsteen sang the Edwin Starr classic War [What is it Good For?] in a Melbourne concert the day the US invaded Iraq. Green Day, The Beastie Boys, Rickie Lee Jones, Public Enemy and many others have all penned anti-Bush songs with sentiments such as Spearhead's Bomb the World: 'We can chase down all our enemies/ Bring them to their knees/ We can bomb the world to pieces/ But we can't bomb it into peace.'

On the other side of the puddle, senior citizen rockers, the Rolling Stones, are weighing in next month with a new track called Sweet Neo Con. Mick Jagger told Newsweek magazine that Keith Richards was a bit worried about a backlash to the song. Richards now lives in the US, though Jagger does not. They sing to Mr Bush and his neo conservatives: 'You call yourself a Christian/ I call you a hypocrite/ You call yourself a patriot/ Well, I think you're full of s***; How come you're so wrong, my sweet neo-con?'

It's no great surprise that political music is echoing a split political nation. What is surprising is that country music, the bastion of a conservative fan base, is showing signs of splintering into a diverse political cacophony.

Whereas two years ago, the Dixie Chicks withstood death threats and play list boycotts after they told a London audience, 'Just so you know, we're ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas', last Christmas, Willie Nelson got next to no press over his song How Much Oil is One Human Life Worth? when he sang: 'But how much is a liar's word worth/ And whatever happened to peace on Earth?'

Jason Cother's country haiku poem perfectly nails the growing divide, even inside country music circles: 'Two countries: red, blue/ Dixie Chicks or Toby Keith/ So, which one are you?'

Keith's song titles alone put his politics right up front with Shock in Y'all, The Taleban Song and his four million selling hit, Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue, which warns: 'We'll put a boot in you're ass, It's the American Way.'

There's no doubt flag-wavers have garnered the most hits. Charlie Daniels sings This Ain't No Rag, It's a Flag, and Darryl Worley recorded Have You Forgotten? as a reminder to stay the course of war in memory of the burning twin towers of September 11.

But there's a flip side. If one could ever point to the unlikely country music left, Steve Earle would be its poster boy. Nicknamed 'Country Radical' or 'Lefty Redneck' depending on your politics, not many country artists turn up in left-leaning magazines like Mother Jones. Last year's Grammy-winning The Revolution Starts Now album has titles such as Rich Man's War and the ode, Condi Condi.

And he's not alone. Bucking the country conservative cliche is a surprisingly long list of artists: Emmylou Harris, Rosanne Cash, Merle Haggard, Lucinda Williams and Nanci Griffith, among others. Many signed a full-page ad in the New York Times condemning the war under the banner group, Musicians United to Win Without War.

Earle told Country Music TV: 'I hate to say it but there are some really dark times coming up, and some memorable music will come out of it.

'You haven't seen the end of this kind of music. It always happens. Anybody who tells you that music didn't help end the Vietnam war wasn't there ... maybe what I do isn't just window dressing. Maybe it does mean something.'

Perhaps the most telling marker of change may be in the small surprises. Old guard artist Merle Haggard had two prominent hits that were pro-Vietnam war songs in the 70s. Today, he's singing a different tune. He released a decidedly anti-war title called That's the News.

Without doubt, US President George W. Bush and country music are still walking happily hand in hand. No one questions why Clint Black has been invited by US Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld to perform at a September 11 memorial concert. Black's politics still reflect the bulk of country audiences. However, fans may begin to notice country artists not known for political statements showing signs of being heard.

The politically quiet and ever-savvy Dolly Parton has just recorded Bob Dylan's anti-war anthem, Blowin' in the Wind and John Lennon's Imagine, to be released this October. At a concert several weeks ago, at Radio City Music Hall, Salon's Rebecca Traister reports that she highlighted particular verses as she sang: 'How many ears must one man have before he can hear people cry? And how many deaths will it take till he knows that too many people have died?'

The audience, who'd listened in silence for the first half of the song, stood up for a massive ovation by the song's end, Traister wrote.

This reaction from a Dolly Parton audience? Perhaps the times, they are a changin'.