I love country music, but my American history is terrible to be quite honest, so I figured I’d ask y’all. On the song “Country Boy Can Survive” Hank Williams Jr sings about resilience, but also what sounds like an America that is falling apart. The markets are crashing, downtown sounds like a war zone, preachers are calling it the end of time, and the Mississippi, well she’s going dry apparently.
And let’s not forget New York City, where the residents are portrayed as disdainful of country folk (“I had a good friend in New York City, he never called me by my name, just Hillbilly”), or criminals (this same friend gets murdered for 43 dollars apparently).
Now, what the hell was going on in America at this time to create such a rural-urban divide? What created this kind of song that seems to have resonated with people? As a New Yorker I’m well aware of our city’s issues back in the day, I’m more so curious about the world outside of the five boros, as Hank Williams wasn’t exactly a city boy.
I was listening to some of my older tunes today, and came across Hank Williams Jr.
I grew up in Tennessee and lived about 20 miles from his home in Tennessee. Have met him a few times, and he is a phenomenal American. However, I remember he was cancelled from Monday Night Football due to some comments he made about President Obama. He could be one of the early cancel culture candidates, and would love to see him enshrined in the museum.
Let's be honest with ourselves. Country is NOT what it used to be. I think we all can agree with that.
Music changes, it always has, it always will. There will always be crappy artist and amazing artist. It doesn't matter the genre. It all falls down to what kind of sound you enjoy. Personally for me I am the biggest fan of, right now( I shift around depending on my mood), Tyler Childers, Colter Wall, Morgan Wallen, and probably a few older ones like Waylon Jennings and Hank Jr. Guys like that.
There are also some artist now a days that are like "bad" to like. The old joke that Luke Bryan is country for 14 year old girls and on. Listen, I am not Luke's biggest fan by any means, but I will be the first to say that he does have some straight BANGERS. Rain is a good thing, What makes you country, Drink a beer. And I don't like all his songs, only a few. "New" guys in the scenes right now such as Morgan Wallen, Luke Combs, Tyler Childers, guys like that are taking over and leaving a lot of these others in the dust. We know our country world will eventually never be what it once was and that is just the cold hard truth.
And if you are wondering where some women country singers are, lets be honest, what known, female, country artist is not liked. Because all the ones I know, I love. Patsy Cline, Tammy Wynett, Kacy Musgraves, Dolly Parton, Patty Loveless, and how can I forget REBA MCENTIRE.
What I am trying to say is with one example of Luke Bryan, a lot of people say he isn't real country. Well how do you define "real country"? Is it how many fiddles you hear? Is it how many time you can mention beer, women, and trucks in one sentence? NO. It is how truthful your song sounds and how it draws someone in. It is how you try and relate with your crowd. It is how you give someone in your crowd hope because they know now that someone they look up to is going through the same stuff they are.
I have been listening to Hank Jr a lot lately. And one song that I love is called, "Leave them Boys Alone". Great tune. It has Ernest Tubb, Waylon Jennings, and Hank Jr. It discusses how at the time Waylon and Hank were going through times that people were saying they were not true country. You can also find this turmoil in the song, "Young Country".
Whenever I hear people saying, "Well that just ain't country" I always try and refer back to the one line I know better than any other. "Why don't you leave them boys alone, let'm sing their songs."
I am not defending all new
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