APRIL 10, 2025 | OPINION | By James Flynn
Country music once carried the warmth of a backyard performance in rural Arkansas, where a man would strum his guitar and pour his heart into songs that connected people to their roots. It shined a light on authentic rural life with its hardships and joys, giving a voice to those who were often overlooked. Back then, country music was not designed to fill stadiums or top charts. It was folksy, entertaining and something truly special.
Today, however, the genre has taken a hard left turn. Instead of the raw storytelling that country once was, the genre now has pop-country songs like “Texas Hold ‘Em” by Beyonce steering the ship. Country music has become a sanitized product that is defined by lazy songwriting and a manufactured pop-style with a southern twang that hardcore country fans cannot help but scoff at. When people call country the worst genre out there, they are historically wrong, yet presently on point.
This modern version of country plays right into the hands of the “dumb country” stereotype that the genre once fought hard to overturn with deep, intelligent lyrics and genuine narratives. One cannot blame those who hold this view when the essence of country music is almost unrecognizable. This all begs the question: What happened to the music that once spoke the truth of rural life? To answer that, we need to dig deep into the history of country music and trace the path from its heartfelt origins to its current state.
The country genre was born in the Southern and Appalachian regions of the United States from a mix of European folk ballads and the songs of enslaved people. These ties highlight an interesting part of American history. While the Northeast is often credited with much of the European culture we see in America, the Southern accent as we know it and the Appalachian mountains are both closely tied with Europe. The Southern accent is the closest American accent to the British accent, and the Appalachian mountains split off from Scotland hundreds of millions of years ago. When settlers from Scotland came to America, the Appalachian Mountains felt like home to many.
Country music also grew from a rooted culture full of tragedy. It was a genre born from the loneliness and hardship of early agricultural America. Life for many farmers in the 19th century consisted of enduring backbreaking labor, constant debt and exploitation by monopoly owners. Slave plantations were also still very prevalent in the early 19th century, and diseases from animals ran rampant.
The song “Barbara Allen” is about a man who died out of love for a woman after whom the song is named, eventually leading her to “die of sorrow” and have her parents bury her. Songs like this portray the melancholy that permeated country culture during this time.
In the early 20th century, country music heavily shifted. Eck Robertson released the first successful country album in 1922, combining Spanish, Western and European-Appalachian styles, which forged a genre that began to represent a more general farmer identity. However, this commercialization was also the beginning of the end for the country genre’s heartfelt folk origins. The idea that country music could be economically successful hadn’t fully formed up to the release of Eck Robertson’s album, and he made it clear that country music had real potential to grow in popularity. This shift in thinking marked the beginning of a decline in the genre’s original sincerity and set the stage for further changes in decades to come.
The 1940s, however, were a big turning point for country music due to the establishment of television. Agricultural workers from all over the country would watch country television programs, and the same “country” identity that had been developing in the 1920s very much continued. This, along with economic growth post-WWII, greatly caused the rise of the “Nashville Sound,” which was the rise of Nashville as a country powerhouse. While this was great for the genre’s popularity, the “Nashville Sound” made country music into a global phenomenon, and just like in the 1920s, for artists like Patsy Cline and Jim Reeves to profit most, they had to give in to the pressures of popular music. Songs like “Crazy” sung by Patsy Cline (written by Willie Nelson) that took more of a pop approach to country show how, despite the care for the folk roots that country artists likely had, money in 1970s America talked more than culture. It was clear that the folksy representation of true country life, the genre once emulated, had turned into more of a fun television gimmick than any kind of beautiful portrayal of Southern culture.
The next big shift in the country genre came in the 1970s when America shifted to a predominantly urban state. The “Nashville Sound” only grew larger as American culture and country music blended into a popular brand of what is called “countrypolitan” music. This was the real death of country music. Even artists who are prized for their connection to country culture, like John Denver, were still falling into the trap, conforming to the norms of popular music to sell records in this era. While 1970s country music may seem old and folksy through a modern lens, it was quite similar to the fast-paced rock music the 1970s offered, as shown through songs like “9 to 5” by Dolly Parton.
This conformity to popular culture due to urbanization and economic opportunity that started in the 1920s only worsened in the 1990s with the combination of the Internet and autotune. Country songs at this point could be exchanged with pop music if it weren’t for a few instruments and a “Southern” accent. The simple and fun lyrics of 2000s to 2010s pop followed as country blended into the mainstream with artists like Shania Twain and Faith Hill. The country aspect had turned into nothing but a fun hook that seemed to think of country culture as nothing but bull-riding and cowboy hats.
The death of country music that is seen today is a representation of America’s tendency to economically assimilate cultures in a way that forces them to give up their cultural roots in the pursuit of economic survival. It is hard to blame country artists for conforming to the “Nashville Sound” when that is simply what makes money.
Even so, there are incredible artists like Chris Stapleton who are desperately trying to bring back the spirit of old country music, and we as consumers must keep that country music alive. Many people complain about the bad state of country music, but ignore the artists who are trying to bring it back. Country music has so much potential beyond a fun night out in Nashville, and we are doing society a disservice by pretending that the musical duo Florida Georgia Line is all country music is. Remembering the roots of country music is vital in the hopes of removing “countrypolitan” music from national attention forever.