How To Get (Back) Into Country Music: A Guide for Disaffected Southerners & the Country-Curious

For when you’re craving country music without the trucks, beer, misogyny, and references to the Confederacy 

Conjure up an image of what a typical country music fan looks like. If you imagined a pickup truck-driving, American flag-toting, Bible-thumping individual from rural America (particularly the South)  who is conservative and most likely white, you wouldn’t be alone. Country music is generally thought of to be the domain of cultural and political conservatism, and as far as modern country music goes, you wouldn’t be far off. Country music is rooted firmly in Black and working class musical traditions. But ever since Nixon co-opted the genre as part of his Southern strategy, country music has taken a hard right turn. Country music artists frequently lend their support to conservative causes and candidates, and the majority of chart-topping country music centers on traditional heteronormative values and Southern conservative cultural symbols: trucks, beer, overly sexualized women, and Jesus. But for those who would rather not associate themselves with music espousing those values, there is a growing body of country and country-adjacent music to choose from. 

The Oldies But Goodies

Johnny Cash

While Cash sometimes called himself apolitical, his music makes his stance clear. Cash’s Bitter Tears is a concept album chronicling the way the United States has oppressed indigenous peoples. Blood, Sweat, and Tears is a working-class opus, with Cash detailing the troubles of convict laborers and coal miners and the tyranny of their bosses. Perhaps most famously, the song “Man in Black” — which also serves as an ex post facto explainer on Cash’s moniker of the same name —  is a protest song lamenting wealth inequality, mass incarceration, and the Vietnam War. Aside from the activism he embedded in his lyrics, Cash’s rich, deep baritone is a one-of-a-kind voice that lends depth and emotion to any song of his.

Start here: Hurt, Desperado, Folsom Prison Blues, Ain’t No Grave, The Man Comes Around

Dolly Parton

No doubt that you’re already familiar with the universally beloved Parton’s songs “Jolene,” and “9 to 5,” but what about “Down from Dover” about an abandoned pregnant teenager or “Dumb Blonde,” Parton’s refutation of the dumb blonde trope? Known for the rich storytelling she weaves into her songs, Parton is a prolific songwriter whose persona would remind many Southerners of their own grandmothers: a whole lot of sunshine belied by a healthy dose of quick wit and sarcasm. Parton is still going strong at 76, big hair and gaudy look (which she famously modeled after her hometown’s “town tramp”) included. If you haven’t already delved into her body of work, there’s no time like the present.

Start here: Dumb Blonde, Here You Come Again, Coat of Many Colors, Light Of A Clear Blue Morning, Why’d You Come In Here Looking Like That

Modern Classics

The Chicks

If you’re tired of conservatives whining about cancel culture, just mention The Chicks. After taking a vocal stand against George W. Bush and the invasion of Iraq in 2003, the band was blacklisted and even received death threats. Their next album, Taking The Long Way, featured the single “Not Ready To Make Nice,” a direct response to the criticism they faced and a treatise against the notion that artists (particularly women) should just shut up and sing. Another highlight: “Goodbye Earl,” the tale of best friends Mary Anne and Wanda who conspire to murder Wanda’s relentlessly abusive husband — a song that practically begs Greta Gerwig to adapt it for the big screen. The Chicks returned from a nearly fifteen-year hiatus in 2020 with Gaslighter, the title track a not-so-subtle reference to the president at the time.  

Start here: Not Ready To Make Nice, Travellin’ Soldier, Goodbye Earl, Long Time Gone, Tights on My Boat

Brandi Carlile

If you’ve ever wondered what country music might sound like if it originated in the Pacific Northwest, you’d find your answer in Brandi Carlile. Carlile, who grew up in rural Washington and lives there today on a ranch with her wife and two daughters, has garnered critical acclaim for her genre-spanning work — her six Grammy nominations in 2019 made her the most-nominated woman that year. The folk-rock singer also fronts the country supergroup The Highwomen alongside Maren Morris, Natalie Hemby, and Amanda Shires, created in homage to The Highwaymen (Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, and Kris Kristofferson). And not to mention Carlile’s expressive, rugged voice, which defies the laws of the larynx according to CMT. 

Start here: The Joke, Heart’s Content, Most of All, Everytime I Hear That Song, Harder To Forgive

Bonus: “Highwomen” by The Highwomen

Country for the Pop Fiend

Kacey Musgraves

Musgraves is best known for Golden Hour, her genre-defying Grammy Album of the Year that manages to be earnest in its expression of mesmerization with the world and the human experience without being cloying or cliche or ignoring the painful parts. Her follow-up star-crossed (dubbed a “divorce album”) handles the nuance of love and heartbreak in a refreshing way, with Musgraves refusing to demonize either party. But don’t discount her earlier fare. Musgraves first two albums, Same Trailer, Different Park and Pageant Material are classic country albums that perfectly embody what it’s like to grow up in the South and emerge a little bit jaded and a little more defensive of anyone who tries to bad-mouth it. As Musgraves quips in “Family is Family,” “can't live with or without 'em, you might talk about 'em, but if someone else does, well, then you'll knock 'em out.”

Start here: High Horse, Merry Go Round, The Trailer Song, Velvet Elvis, Follow Your Arrow

Allison Ponthier

“It took New York to make me a cowboy.” In just one line, Ponthier articulates what it’s like to leave the South and experience a fondness for your upbringing you only began to feel once you finally left. After leaving Texas, moving to Brooklyn, and meeting her girlfriend, “Cowboy” was the first song the young singer-songwriter penned. Now, Ponthier expands her catalogue with her first EP, Faking My Own Death, a record that cements her as a rising star reminiscent of both Phoebe Bridgers and Kacey Musgraves while still promising to put a fresh spin on the genre. 

Start here: Cowboy, Harshest Critic, Tornado Country, Hell Is A Crowded Room, Late Bloomer

Country for the Indie-Folk-Americana Fan

The Secret Sisters

Laura and Lydia Rogers’ singing career started the same way many Southern musicians’ careers did: in their church choir. Their debut album was a low-key covers album while their second was a commercial and critical failure, but the sisters found their groove with their next two albums: You Don’t Own Me Anymore and Saturn Return, the former earning them their first Grammy nomination. The latter was recorded at Brandi Carlile’s in-home studio, and was praised by Rolling Stone as a “stunning country-soul opus.” Hailing from Muscle Shoals, Alabama, the sisters treat their roots with equal parts respect and critique. “Cabin” is a fiery ballad inspired by the sexual assault accusations against Justice Kavanaugh, while songs like “Mississippi” and “Tennessee River Runs Low” pay homage to Southern culture. As Carlile told Rolling Stone, “It’s Southern songs with real perspective...that hold the weight of someone who actually lives inside that narrative. They’re complete fucking unicorns.”

Start here: He’s Fine, Kathy’s Song, Water Witches (feat. Brandi Carlile), Mississippi, Tennessee River Runs Low

Waxahatchee

After disbanding the feminist punk band P.S. Eliot she had formed with her sister, Katie Crutchfield named her solo project after the creek in her Alabama hometown, and her Southern roots are undeniably infused into her music. Crutchfield credits Emmylou Harris, Lucinda Williams, and Linda Ronstadt as inspiration, and her latest album, 2020’s Saint Cloud, is her twangiest yet. She even released three bonus covers of country-Americana classics: Bruce Springsteen’s “Streets of Philadelphia,” Lucinda Williams’ “Fruits of My Labor,” and Dolly Parton’s “Light of a Clear Blue Morning.” Crutchfield’s incisive, soul-bearing storytelling and masterful voice make her a powerhouse. 

Start here: Talking Dust Bowl Blues (cover), Ruby Falls, Arkadelphia, Hell, Lilacs

Classics with a Twist

Breland

Yes, this list promised to offer alternatives to songs about trucks and booze rather than recommend them, but make an exception for rising star Breland. The New Jersey-born, Atlanta-based Breland fuses country, R&B, soul, and a bit of hip-hop into his music, the result being something akin to what Lil Nas X might have sounded like had he continued to make songs like Old Town Road. In classic Gen Z fashion (and to continue the Lil Nas X comparison), the 26-year-old’s song “My Truck” went viral on TikTok, plucking him from relative obscurity and landing him a record deal at Atlantic within a week. As a young Black artist, Breland hopes to continue to defy people’s expectations of what country music and its fans look like.

Start here: Hot Sauce, Throw It Back (feat. Keith Urban), My Truck, Cross Country, Strawberry Wine (cover)

Orville Peck

Known for his unknown identity and queered spins on classic Western tropes, Orville Peck takes the cowboy ballad and updates it for a new generation. As Rolling Stone notes, Peck plays on themes of masculinity, cowboy ruggedness, and queer desire, delivering all this “in a romantic, trembling croon.” His catalogue is expansive, including a duet with Shania Twain and a cover of classic gay anthem, “Smalltown Boy,” but all of Peck’s songs feature characters experiencing deep loneliness — a theme reflective of Peck’s own experience growing up as a queer kid in rural America. 

Start here: Roses Are Falling, Dead of Night, C’mon Baby Cry, Turn to Hate, No Glory in the West