Unpopular Opinion: It’s Not Country, You’re Just Classist

I hear a very specific conversation all the time. It always starts the same: Someone proudly states that they love all music except for country. Then, someone else pushes back by asking about a token “acceptable” country artist like Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, or even Sturgill Simpson—a conceivably genre-bridging artist or someone whose artistry is so influential that there’s really no shame in saying you like them. Eventually, both parties work towards a middle ground where they simply agree that all mainstream country is terrible and leave it at that.

Country is constantly treated as a mockery of a genre, one that’s full of rednecks singing about cheap beer, pickup trucks, and girls in cutoffs. It’s derided as a musically stagnant genre that panders to Southerners and reactionaries through fake twangs and celebrations of rural life. But why do we feel so comfortable uniformly casting off an entire genre without further evaluation?

For one, country appeals to an aging, lower class blue collar community that few music fans outside of the South feel any connection to or sympathy for. It’s easy to ignore a relatively self-contained genre when you also can’t relate to it at all. Yet country artists have written some of the most poignant, heartbreaking ballads about the failures of American society and economy of any genre. George Jones, Loretta Lynn, and Lucinda Williams are just a few examples. Moreover, many of the genre’s biggest anthems are targeted at empowering people often seen as low class or trashy. Critics of country tend to cite mainstream or radio country as the source of the problem in pushing a pandering, overly sappy sound that’s often taken to be representative of the entire genre (see Luke Bryan or Dierks Bentley), but this view omits a massive portion of talented and complex artists on country radio stations. There are dozens of country artists who are adept at subverting preconceived notions about the genre and making clever and engaging art—Brad Paisley is a master of this. So is Kacey Musgraves. Artists obviously don’t have to be masters of satire to be good, and there are also tons of popular country artists who excel as musicians. Chris Stapleton, Keith Urban, and Vince Gill are all immensely talented in this field. Moreover, artists like Sam Hunt and Maren Morris have a flair for genre-bending incorporating sounds and styles from across R&B, soul, folk, rock, and modern pop into their songs. Claiming all country is the same misses how stunningly diverse the genre actually is.

The people who suffer most from the mischaracterization of country tend to be artists who don’t fit the mold. Because country codes for masculine in many people’s eyes, rural, and conservative, artists outside of that narrow range tend to be overlooked. Women artists, like Kelsea Ballerini, Carrie Underwood, and Miranda Lambert are all acclaimed and stunning acts. Yet sexism not only precludes them from being discussed in conversations about country artists, but it also prevents their artistry from being considered legitimate in a historically male-dominated music canon. Even though Lambert and Musgraves have never put out less than stellar albums, any time their names are brought up, they’re categorically met with complete derision as musicians. Furthermore, many of country’s biggest names are left-leaning, and their work reflects their ideologies. Because so much of the country market focuses on Southern or suburban conservatives, these views are expressed in subtle and subversive ways that are often masterful. Brandy Clark, Margo Price, and Lucinda Williams are all amazing at writing music that encapsulates their views and beliefs without alienating their main fan base. Criticism of the genre as a singular form is lazy and omits all of these facets and the work of so many talented artists.

What’s most shocking is the extent to which this perception has pervaded. Even mainstream music publications, which are supposed to review the output of artists from all sorts of different backgrounds, are far less likely to review an album by a big name country artist than they are one by a rock, pop, or rap artist. Country artists rarely make it onto year-end lists and, if they do, their work is seldom reviewed beforehand. Aside from a small handful of generally acceptable names, country artists are largely even ignored by the publications that are supposed to up their exposure.

While country appeals to a certain sensibility and style, categorical dislike or omission of the genre without putting in sufficient effort to explore its diversity and nuances is problematic. Complete disregard for a genre that so openly focuses on the struggles of frustrated, disenfranchised working class people tends to depend on some form of classism. Anti-country discourse heavily calls upon the views we have of Southerners and rural Americans, consciously or not, and far less on the music itself. Deriding the expressiveness, the imagery, or the sound because of a twang, a mandolin, or a general sense of corniness often feels like it’s in bad taste. At the end of the day, we need to reevaluate the way we interact with country music. It’s not just a bland, uniform medium for rednecks. If you treat it as such, you’re probably classist.

—Staff writer Edward M. Litwin can be reached at edward.litwin@thecrimson.com.