Music is important in our lives for various reasons. We don’t just listen to songs — we rely on them for keeping in tune with our emotions, hopes, and dreams. Music is a way for us to release stress, and assume the kind of characters we are, and the kind of things that we like.
Though, for that to occur, a person must be listening to a song in their preferred genre. Throughout the various genres of music, whether it’s rap, pop, or the electronic genre that is dubstep, each type has its own personality. Those who listen to rap are generalized as the kids who enjoy dollar beer nights and weekends at Hamilton’s Hess Village. Pop music fans are often thought to be “tweens” who aren’t yet aware of any other levels of music.
However, the one genre that is probably the most generalized and assumed, is country music — AKA, the stuff that “hillbillies” listen to.
2014 Stagecoach California’s Country Music Festival. (Image Source: Zimbio)
Unlike the majority of American patriots living in Trump-apocalypse, Canadian folks don’t tend to be as obsessed with country music, nor do they enjoy the songs featured on New Country FM as much as the southerners do.
Most of us don’t fulfill the country-fan stereotype criteria, an assumed checklist that requires fans to be booze-binging conservatives who listen to the newest Luke Bryan track from the back of their pick-up truck. They drink cheap beer, talk about girls and fantasize about purchasing the newest boat for their fishing trip.
Truthfully, each music extremist crowd has its own assumptions, but there’s something about country fans that I can’t help but defend. The stereotypes surrounding country music categorizes them as rednecks, and although singers such as Taylor Swift have fought to break that trend, it doesn’t change the fact that people seem to think every country song and artist sings about the same things: heartbreak, booze, and partying.
Not a bad stock of values for some people, and it makes the critics miss the underlying message; because sure, country music has its stereotypes, but the question is: are these songs trying to tell us something? Is this the way we should be living?
Florida Georgia Line, ‘Sun Daze’ (Image Source: YouTube)
Country music is heartfelt in delivering its message. There’s a beginning, a middle and an end, all filled with characters who we get to know deeply in a 3-minute track. It’s about having fun and being able to know how.
“[Country stars] write beautiful lyrics to express heartbreak, long work days, first loves, patriotism, and a whole bunch of other parts of everyday life,” writes Emma Harding for Odyssey. “Country music is, in my opinion, the easiest to relate to, and I know I find myself playing songs on repeat that correlate to my life.”
Like many things in the world, country stars are associated with stereotypes, but they’re not all bad. They’re thought to love passionately, and stick to their roots. They’re criticized for only discussing these specific values, but it only signifies that they stay true to what they care for and believe in.
Point is, in the deep cold north that is Canada, country music fans are hard to find — but there’s still a few of them out there. I don’t own a pickup truck, or a pair of booties, yet I’m listening to Dierks Bentley at this very moment. There’s nothing better than writing about country music while listening to a man singing about owning the same truck since the 1990s.
