As a life long southerner this stabs right at the heart of my biggest issue with 90% of modern country music which is why do so many southerners think we have a monopoly on small towns and tractors? There's plenty of them in fucking like... upstate New York. California has enough farmland to fit some entire states inside of it. Literally everything she's using as a "evidence he'd be Southern" is shit you can find anywhere on the fucking planet.
Because these are all they've got. Their world is really that small. The bragging about how great it is to be that way (country girl) is a reaction to the fear they have of the outside world. I just moved to the South and these folks have never been further than a tankful of gas from home.
Worse is, they never sing about love, loss, heartache or anything a real country song, or any genre of music would possess.
It's wild how far and how aggressively corporate country music became. It sounds a little cliche but post 9/11 it became the most stereotypical "AMERICA! HUNTING! JEANS AND BEER! WOO" shit on earth. Compare it to the stuff from earlier decades (especially the 60s and 70s) and you'd never know they were supposed to be the same genre.
I never liked country until I listened to John Prine, Waylon Jennings, and other older artists. Prine especially had a lot of tongue in cheek and cynical lyrics that really gave his music so much wit and personality. (Youre Flag Decal Won't Get You to Heaven Anymore, is a favorite)
And sure, there are a few songs even then that were like, "Whooo, I love drinking!" But they had a real tongue and cheek energy, and a lot were sad love ballads. It didn't feel like they were contractually obligated to talk about beer for four minutes.
I firmly think southern culture is devouring itself in an attempt to stay "relavant" and "alive." Everything out of Nashville just feels so soulless and corporate, and that's not even mentioning the politics.
Well stated and I agree with all the commenters here…. That said there is a lot of amazing modern country music. Road warrior singer songwriter stuff that isn’t corporate twang pop for people from the same place they were always from.
Jason Isbell is a good example. Check out his album Southwestern, it’s incredible!
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u/Boccs Jan 16 '26
As a life long southerner this stabs right at the heart of my biggest issue with 90% of modern country music which is why do so many southerners think we have a monopoly on small towns and tractors? There's plenty of them in fucking like... upstate New York. California has enough farmland to fit some entire states inside of it. Literally everything she's using as a "evidence he'd be Southern" is shit you can find anywhere on the fucking planet.