I have a confession: I don’t like country music. It’s less that I hate it, and more that I just feel so neutral and unimpressed every time I hear another song about a good old American man with his pickup truck, a beer and a dream.
And I know that’s the entire point of country music – it’s just not for me, which is ironic because I’m from Georgia and half of my family is about as Southern as it gets. Maybe it’s the trauma of country being all I heard around the house when I was young.
But, because I’ve noticed a trend in my blog of me writing about music that is in my regular repertoire, I wanted to expand to a new genre and hopefully adopt a new genre into my regular listening.
So I asked a couple of my country-listener journalist friends to recommend some country music. They recommended starting with Kenny Chesney, condemning the loss of “real country” music today. So, they put together a playlist for me to listen to. Here are my thoughts.
My main takeaway is unfortunately a negative one. I just can’t stand the lyricism. As someone who listens to music for lyrics first, and instrumentals and melodies second, the constant shallow lyrics killed me. I’m not pretending that this is not normal for country music. For country songs, I think they’re pretty good compared to some of the stuff I’ve heard. But, in comparison to my prioritization of deep and flowery lyricism, I just can’t get behind it.
The most extreme case of this comes in the track “She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy.” Can I please have 4 minutes and 8 seconds of my life back? This goes far beyond the regular country tunes about pickup trucks and tractors. The pure vanity and conceitedness throughout this track was appalling to me.
I know this was more than twenty years ago, but it still pains me to hear him assuming that just because a girl glances at him she’s obsessed with him and thinks his tractor and farmer’s tan is sexy. You’re not that cool, I promise.
Okay, I’ll stop hating for a second. A consistent plus throughout the playlist were the instrumentals – they were great on every single track. Not only did they feature the expected guitars and banjos, but they explored a wide variety of tempos, instruments and moods.
From beachy steel pans in “When the Sun Goes Down” to the melodramatic cinematic feel of “The Big Revival,” I was impressed with the sheer variety of instrumentals. I feel like every time I listen to country music, the backtrack sounds the exact same – Chesney diverts from that in the most delightful way. I also tended to love both the intros and outros of the tracks.
Another consistent pro was the harmonies. There were great harmonies in all of the songs, more so than I regularly hear in most country songs. And as a choir kid, I’m a sucker for a good harmony. I particularly love the female harmonies on “All the Pretty Girls,” because it aligns well with the (albeit mediocre) lyrics.
While we’re on the topic of what I enjoyed, my favorite track on the playlist, “American Kids.” While it still doesn’t have the lyrics I so desire, it makes it work. The chorus is perfectly catchy and quintessentially American. I could just picture this in the background of a Fourth of July party.
Although I don’t live in Georgia anymore, it reminds me of my cousins down there, and our chaotic Southern family reunions, which is the vibe country music should give. It’s with the rest of the pack on unimpressive lyrics, but the upbeat instrumental and nostalgia makes me overlook that.
Unfortunately, “American Kids” was the only song that stood out to me. Other than “She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy,” which you know my opinion on, I just don’t really have a strong opinion either way on the tracks, which is arguably worse than me absolutely hating a song.
It loops back to my original issue with country music – I just don’t care. Nothing they’re saying is that interesting. None of what they’re saying hasn’t already been said by another artist. Throughout my listening, I found myself wishing for it to be over the entire time, a good sign that maybe it’s simply not the music for me.
I can see the appeal for those who just want to kick back and enjoy an upbeat song about life in the South. Objectively, there’s nothing wrong with Kenny Chesney and other country artists.
But I listen to music to dissect the lyrics, and challenge my thinking. Sadly, country music just can’t live up to that standard.
