The Rise and Fall of Country Music

Is country music still country music? Country music has roots unlike any other genre of American music. Country music was one of the most influential styles of music in the twentieth century. It had stars such as Hank Williams and Johnny Cash. These stars represented what the South felt. They understood shotgun weddings, not knowing where the next meal would come from, and fearing the wrath of God while simultaneously loving the sweet and instant satisfaction that sin brings. They took those pains and painted beautiful, harsh, and most importantly real portraits of life. The majority of today’s country music, the country that is played on mainstream radio, has lost its serious feel and replaced it with a more laid back sound—which at times makes it hard to hear the difference between a rock song and a country song—and it has left behind authenticity for its Nashville sound and pursuit of money and popular appeal.

Country music branches off into many sub-genres. You have the blues of Robert Johnson, the more pure country music of Williams and Cash, and the southern rock of Lyndyrd Skynyrd and The Drive-By Truckers. What is the difference between this music and the music played on the radio today? Dana Jennings, the author of Sing Me Back Home and a self-proclaimed country music lover opens his book describing authentic country music like this: “Country music is the backfire of a rattletrap pickup truck creaking down a dirt road and the lowing of a lone cow. It’s music for scouring junkyards, setting out to the porch, and shooting horseshoes…its TB, orphan music, and outhouse music. It’s potato sack dresses, loyal three-legged dogs, and water lugged from the well” (Jennings 1). This is the type of music played on the radio fifty ...

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...hen I had it/ now it is gone I’m learning what that is”. This is the story of hating a nine to five job but realizing life is not easy by any stretch of the imagination. It is real.

Good country music is still being made, just not for the radio. Trampled by Turtles, Avett Brothers, Bill Mallonee, and Drive-By Truckers are all consistently putting out great country albums. There are plenty more artists like them, putting out songs not just to make a buck, but also to express their pains and struggles, songs you can relate to and songs with feeling. It makes it that much more special finding a good country band. Sooner or later, Nashville will pay for her sins. But until then, listening to Southern Rock Opera will teach you ten times more about human frailty and the daily struggles of ordinary people than listening to a hundred hours of a country radio station.