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For a while this summer, Nashville seemed headed for another polarizing season.
In May, superstar Jason Aldean released “Try That in a Small Town,” a middling single from his 11th studio album, if not for the incendiary music filled with urban scenes released two months later. Video, this single is likely to be a flop. The dog whistle of unrest and culture wars. It became a hot topic of conversation and was widely considered a symbol of a less underlying conservatism in country music.
Then, out of the white-hot climate, came “Rich Man North of Richmond,” a rousing, suddenly anti-establishment song by a previously unknown musician (Oliver Anthony Music) , a statement of anti-elite skepticism. What started as a no-frills YouTube video filmed by a local public radio station has become perhaps the biggest viral sensation of the year, going straight to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. “The Rich North of Richmond” seemed like conservative manna to many, with its allusions to Jeffrey Epstein’s conspiracies and comments about the welfare state.
But things were not as they seemed – it was a fire that was quickly extinguished. Lately, men in country music — and as usual, they’re mostly men — have been singing songs about sin and redemption, personal struggles, and the fragility of emotional bonds. The music is emotionally inward-looking, only sometimes expressing broader political and social issues. It hints at a genre that, at least intermittently, might be slowly moving away from sectarianism and toward ecumenism.
In “The Rich,” it’s shocking how quickly the tide turns. When the song was played during the first Republican presidential primary debate in August, Anthony posted a deeply bewildered video response: “I wrote that song about those people,” he said, laughing. It turns out he doesn’t want to be neatly positioned politically, avoiding confirmation bias on the left and right.
Even the Aldine eruption prompted some pushback: A few weeks after its release, Tyler Childers dropped the video for “In Your Love,” which featured a pair of male miners at the center of its romance story, this choice triggered consequences that were pretty much what many imagined. Aldean’s work. The timing is almost certainly coincidental, but competing sources point to a larger tent than is typically pitched in the genre.
The tug-of-war points to a more complex, perhaps even radical, story unfolding in country music, which has moved away from the strident jingoism of the early to mid-2000s while still making limited progress on gender and racial diversity. .
Two songs that have topped Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart in the past four months are nods in that direction. Luke Combs’ cover of Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car” was one of the year’s unexpected breakthroughs. The fact that it made Chapman the first black woman to write a No. 1 country song only highlighted the pre-existing lack. It’s a weak read: Combs doesn’t have Chapman’s shuddering uncertainty, and he largely sets aside his own power and pomp, but still retains some of the song’s essential hopefulness at its core, that individuals have the power to overcome the most overwhelming systemic struggles.
More interesting is “I Remember Everything,” a duet between Zach Bryan and Kacey Musgraves from his self-titled fourth album, released in August. It’s a reluctant, back-and-forth story about a relationship too broken to survive. For a successful country piece, it’s particularly restless, melancholy, and somewhat aimless. (Bryan has resisted national monikers throughout his young career, anyway, but those who make a living by classifying them continue to include him in their caucus.)
But Bryan’s choice to duet with Musgraves was pointed—she’d been performing versions of country’s progressivism that rejected it for a decade, and country music couldn’t decide whether to reify or marginalize her. Her first time at the top of the country charts (excluding 2016’s Franconia-cut single “Forever Country”) came through a collaboration with the equally reluctant People, suggesting the genre may well be expanding . (That said, Maren Morris announced this year that she would no longer have her music serviced through country music outlets, frustrated by the implicit creative limitations they imposed.)
Until now, Bryan’s presence has been more in the streaming ecosystem than in country radio, which has remained more conservative and sluggish. But progress has even been made on that front, beyond the long-term impact of Morgan Wallen, so popular and ubiquitous he’s almost invisible. Several of Warren’s songs have dominated the airwaves this year, including “Last Night,” “Thinkin’ Bout Me” and “Thought You Should Know.” According to HitsDailyDouble statistics, 18 of the 50 most played country songs this year are Wallen’s solo or collaborative songs.
Wallen follower Bailey Zimmerman found major success with the emotionally charged album’s title track, “Religiously.” The broadcast also featured two emotional swipes from Jelly Roll. Jelly Roll, a 39-year-old ex-rapper with facial tattoos, has found a second life as a sentimental pop-rocker: “Need a Favor” and an updated version of his viral breakthrough with Lenny “Save Me” with Wilson. Jelly Roll even defeated Bryan and others to win the CMA Newcomer of the Year award.
Looking ahead, country music appears to be gearing up for a post-Bryan era adjustment, with many young artists tending to move away from the polished style of country music of the 2000s and 2010s. The changes are small and not always clearly visible, but are evident in the texture of the singer’s voice and the uninhibitedness of their vocal production.
It can also be reflected in the clothing – a slightly distressed baseball cap, sometimes with a string on the brim, is a must-have sartorial style for this generation of singers. They’re basically modern versions of the 1980s hats you might find in country thrift stores, taverns, or in ads for construction companies. It’s a symbolic shift toward a country icon, but not an overt country icon like a cowboy hat—a sign of partial belonging.
It’s right there in the YouTube recording of Dylan Gossett performing his powerful song “Coal,” one of the best country songs of the year. Gossett’s voice is rough and plaintive, and his writing is curious and emotionally rich. Sam Barber may be the most Brian-like of the upcoming crop of singers, and his breakout YouTube performance of his hit song “Straight and Narrow,” released in late 2022, sounded cool. of howls and cool hats.
The performances are filmed in nature, with just singers, microphones and lush green surroundings. (The same goes for “The Rich Man of North Richmond.”) It’s a country drama and an expression of a new piety. It values looking inward and being alone with your own thoughts. These clips show that making country music can mean getting away from the city—even Music City—and becoming country music in the real world.
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