Religion In Country Music

All quotations, paraphrases, and summaries must be referenced. Only common knowledge does not need to be cited. When in doubt, cite the material. This is an issue of plagiarism; please reference GCU’s policy on Plagiarism in the University Policy Handbook.

I have chosen a song that I would say is a country song. It is actually a song that I have known for many years and that I actually taken ato. This song would be “Chicken Fried” by Zac Brown. In this song, Brown sings about things such as enjoying his evenings with family and getting to dine on his favorite meals, being raised in the South, and giving thanks to God and the people who fought for the freedom of our nation. In the chorus, he is described to the listener that he is with his family, and presumably friends as well, enjoying each other’s company on a Friday night. He also explained getting to eat some fried chicken, drink beer, and listen to the radio. He then mentions that he was born and raised in Georgia Pine. Then in the next

always been what we recognize it as today. Country music began in the 1920’s in a town in Tennessee called Bristol and was recognized for its hillbilly and folk format. Country music artists like Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, and Jerry Lee Lewis are each responsible for creating this music format that was written mostly about everyday life. Today country music is recognized as a more modern contemporary version of music. Today’s country artists have started to change their sound in order to appeal to the mainstream audience in order to make more money. Miranda Lambert said “there’s been a shift: country music is popular now. Every other genre wants to come over to our land.”

Spirituals were not only “sung to keep spirits up” (Thompson 9), but were used as coded messages to give directions for where to go or how to proceed to freedom in the North. The slave owners believed that the slaves were happy because they sang church songs and they praised God but little did they know, that the slaves were secretly communicating. For instance, during the Underground Railroad, songs like “Follow the Drinkin’ Gourd,’ ‘Wade in the Water,’ and ‘Swing Low, Sweet Chariot,’ all directly refer to secret code about using the Underground Railroad.” As many as 100,000 slaves escaped by means of this method (Thompson 9).

Since its inception, country music has proven to be? as a powerful outlet to express the view of the contemporary culture. As a result, the lyrical value of such songs provides listeners an insight to the changing climate of social and political ideologies. During the 60’s defined gender roles dominated social lifestyle and was were? mimicked in music. In recent years, a resurgence of idealistic, stereotypical gender-specific roles have cropped up in country songs, creating a subgenre labelled “bro-country.” Jody Rosen of the New York Times first coined the term “bro-country” in order to describe songs that use lyrical tools idealizing dominant, hegemonic gender roles present in culture. Songs such as Tim McGraw’s “How I’ll Always Be,” Luke Bryan’s “Huntin’, Fishin’, Lovin’, Every Day,” Sam Hunt’s “Make you Miss Me,” and Dierks Bently’s “Different for Girls” use the lyrical discourse, under the lens of “bro-country”, to highlight dominant, male gender-specific roles, while simultaneously reinforcing prominent, often negative, views of women.

Country music is a genre that some might absolutely love and some might absolutely hate. It is a style of music that developed in the southern and western U.S. and often contains lyrics relating to the lives of people who live in the country. While there are a lot of different types of country music, a very popular country artist of this time is Eric Church. Church brings a bit of a twist to country music, with really telling us how he feels. Talking about one of his songs in particular, “homeboy” about a lost young man needing to “come on home, boy.”

Country music has changed over the past decades, as all music does, stepping away from the focus on freedom, family, friends, faith, and home, to songs about women, drinking, dirt roads, and big trucks. Many people feel that this has led to the objectification of women, creating an unrealistic expectation for women to live up to. Most artist have followed the lead of this and are writing more and more songs about these issues to stay with the trends, as many people enjoy this twist because it is coming with incorporations of other styles of music. This concept has become know as bro country, music that men can relate to when they are talking to their buddies or bros. In “Girl in a Country Song” the lyrics tell a story of the girls

Southern traditions are considered to be very static and unchanging. Additionally, this line reveals the importance of religion in the South. People in the South feel pretty strongly about religion because it is the main premise of their guiding morals. This song is a nice way to sum up the main themes of being “Southern.” They could be described as tradition, self-reliance, moral values, religion, and the importance of the place.

With the release of the single “Accidental Racist,” by Brad Paisley and LL Cool J, the lines between rap music and country music officially blurred beyond recognition. Fans of country and rap music downloaded and purchased the single to see how two completely different genres would blend. Billboard statistics show that most fans appreciated Paisley and Smith’s efforts. Yet hardcore country and hip-hop fans insist that the genres are so different on the musical spectrum that no similarities could ever exist. However, current popular music is proving this to be untrue to a certain extent. While rap and country music have many similarities, they differ in terms of lyrical content, use of musical elements, and target audience.

Robert Altman’s movie Nashville is based on the political, social, and personal problems that our country has to deal with. These problems are rooted in the battle between the need to create some false image of success and the need for truth which is the struggle that exists in every character of this film (except Jeff Goldbloom). To show this Robert Altman takes us through Nashville’s Country Music using political commentary, music and realistically portrayed dialogue to tell the story.

Country music as a whole has developed from hillbilly boogie, to honky tonk, to what we commonly hear on the radio today as Nashville sound, or country pop. The honky tonk

African American religious music is the foundation of all contemporary forms of so called “black music.” African American religious music has been a fundamental part of the black experience in this country. This common staple of the African American experience can be traced back to the cruel system of slavery. It then evolved into what we refer to today as gospel music. The goal of this paper is to answer three main questions. What are the origins of African American religious music? How did this musical expression develop into a secular form of music? What is the future of African American religious music? These questions will be answered through factual research of African American traditions, artists, and various other sources.

What do you think of when you think of an old country song? Is it singing about plowing the fields, find a young lassie to dance with in the bar, getting drunk with the boys and so on. If That Ain’t Country by David Allan Coe tries to shine a new light on what country is and that is white-trash hicks, which he suggests are forgotten people in the world. We listen to this song and will giggle at some of the lyrics or are startled by how some parts are pretty racist, but it has a very true side of it that shows that country folk aren’t all classy, church going folk.

However the middle-class critiques with irritation and distaste at the values that country music pose in their songs. They misunderstand because country songs do not reflect their type of lifestyle and because they only focus on the superficial meaning. Most importantly, as a middle class they have to create a sense of superiority and disassociate with working-class music. By practicing the “othering” they are actively engaging in a form of symbolic violence because they create a border with set differences that perceive them as deviant. The middle-class is the one that holds the privilege, has the legitimate knowledge, and creates the facts that blame the working-class people for their misfortune.

The second song I analyzed was “Paradise” by Coldplay. Similarly to “Kids”, the song “Paradise” starts with the idea of childhood. “When she was just a girl she expected the world. But it flew away from her reach so she ran away in her sleep and dreamed of paradise” is the opening verse for this tune. It talks of a young girl with big dreams expecting the world. As the girl in the song grows up she finds that life is not as simple as she believed. “Life goes on, it gets so heavy. The wheel breaks the butterfly. Every tear a waterfall. In the night the stormy night she'll close her eyes.” Those lyrics are a good example of how life has some downs, tears, and storms, but it talks of how the girl stays positive when the song says, “She’d say, ‘I know the sun must set to rise.’” I think this song is a good reflection of me. I have big dreams for myself, but as life goes on I go through some bumps in the road. I have encountered many of my own stormy nights, but I know the sun will rise to a clearer and brighter day in time. I have learned not to expect things to be handed to me, but to chase after my dreams, and my own perfect paradise to a path of success.