Christian Music Could Be The Next Craze for Country
Regardless of what the next craze in popular country music may be, you can guarantee that there will be one, whatever it is. The copycat nature of Music Row is more alive than ever, and whenever one label or publishing house thinks they’ve found the next hot thing, it spreads up and down 16th Avenue like a bad rash by lunchtime. Popular country music is a veritable echo chamber in the head space devoid of original ideas.
It may sound strange to consider something so reverent as what mainstream country may adopt next in wholesale fashion after the smut and iniquity of Bro-Country and its continuing incarnations and spinoffs. But even though much of that music may have been quite carnal, the performers almost all consider themselves Christians.
There certainly are plenty of examples to cite as possible signs of the emergence of a potential trend towards Christian music in popular country. After 15 years in the business, Blake Shelton delivered his very first single to Christian radio a couple of weeks ago called “Savior’s Shadow.”
I’m standing in my savior’s shadow/He is watching over me
I feel the rain/I hear the thunder/As He cries for me
And standing in my savior’s shadow/Grace will lead to where I’m free
I take His hand/We walk together/His light shines on me
Shelton said he wrote the song (with multiple co-writers of course), during a “dark time” during his divorce from Miranda Lambert. Shelton hopes to follow up the success of Carrie Underwood’s religiously-themed “Something in the Water” that became a #1 hit on Billboard‘s Hot Christian Songs chart. Meanwhile Hillary Scott of Lady Antebellum is taking advantage of the band’s hiatus to release a gospel album entitled Love Remains, and she too has released a new Christian single called “Thy Will.”
I know You see me / I know You hear me, Lord
Your plans are for me / Goodness You have in store
Thy Will Be Done
But this move to Christian music might not always be so pious, and instead simply employ Christian and religious wording and phrasing when the overall message is quite secular. Consider it as switching the buzzwords of Bro-Country like “beer” and “truck” for “church” and “holy.” Take for example Maren Morris’s big debut hit “My Church,” which compares religion to rolling down the road and listening to classic country.
I’ve cussed on a Sunday / I’ve cheated and I’ve lied
I’ve fallen down from grace / A few too many times
But I find holy redemption / When I put this car in drive
Roll the windows down and turn up the dial
Florida Georgia Line does a similar switcheroo with their new single “H.O.L.Y.” Though the title and some of the language may have some thinking it is a Christian song, it ultimately utilizes religious language to describe carnal love. Calling it sacrilege is probably a stretch. More aptly it is trying to draw from the increasing popularity of religious themes, while still keeping one foot in the secular world to maximize the commercial audience.
Let me lay you down, get me to ya
Get you singin’ babe, hallelujah
We’ll be touching . . .
We’ll be touching Heaven.
Craig Campbell’s new single “Outskirts of Heaven,” which pound for pound might be the best-written Christian-tinged country song so far in the new trend is also gaining some traction on radio, and with listeners.
Lord when I die / I wanna live on the outskirts of Heaven
Where there’s dirt roads for miles / Hay in the fields and fish in the river
Where there’s dogwood trees and honey bees and blue skies
and green grass forever.
Drawing in as many listeners as possible is what the move to Christian music is all about, just like all the crazes that grip Nashville’s Music Row with effusive and widespread penetration until that’s pretty much all anyone is doing for 18 months. That doesn’t mean that these artists aren’t expressing sincere sentiments based on their own religious beliefs, or that it isn’t a much more healthy or palatable alternative to what came previous. But don’t be fooled that all of a sudden Music Row has found religion. If it doesn’t make money, it doesn’t makes sense for mainstream music. And financial calculations are what’s driving this trend. The artists may feel a renewed inspiration to express their religious beliefs, but the industry wouldn’t be on board if they didn’t think it was fiscally wise.
Christian music may be the way some labels and producers see a way out of the Bro-Country jungle that is mired in criticism for its low-brow content and (at times) immoral bent, yet at the same time continue to broaden the appeal of country by adding a new demographic to the audience in Christian listeners. Even if this trend only lasts 18 months before it begins to become a parody of itself like Bro-Country and Metro-Bro did, the industry may be hoping some of those Christian listeners will stick around for the long run.
Christian music listeners are known as super consumers, and country music and Christian music have been very close cousins for over half a century. Many Christian labels are located right alongside country labels on the Music Row campus in Nashville, or have Christian imprints as part of their label group. Curb Records just acquired the massive Christian label Word Entertainment in March–a company the country label previously had a 20% stake in. Tapping into the Christian market with top-name country talent is a way to “unlock synergies” for many of these labels.
Another factor might be the current Presidential election in the United States, which is ready to heat up in earnest in the second half of 2016, and last into 2017. This invariably causes the population to more strongly identify with their native demographics, with religious beliefs factoring heavily into the equation. Getting on the right side of the Christian music listener is one of the factors given credit to George W. Bush securing his Presidential election.
None of this necessarily means a move to Christian music is a bad thing for country. Gospel music is at the very heart of country’s roots, and is certainly a more reasonable and healthy thing to be broadcasting out to the masses, no matter what your personal religious beliefs are (unless you’re Florida Georgia Line, and figure out how to sexualize your religious message). Many non believers still can appreciate Gospel-style Christian music, as long as it doesn’t get too preachy. Religion may be a divisive subject, but spirituality is much more universal, and many non religious country and Americana acts do quite well with Gospel material.
Whether Christian music becomes the next major country music craze remains to be seen. But if current form holds, you likely to hear a lot more of it in the popular country mix.
May 4, 2016 @ 9:51 am
I heard Blakes Christian song. It was terrible. That said, if country goes gospel, I’m staying with oldies! I belive to an extent, but I don’t want it shoved down my throat. Don’t preach at me. I just want to hear about real life. Nobody believes that the things these people sing about when it comes to some of their lyrics, really happens. It’s just like a movie. It’s exaggerated, greatly! I can handle God, country, family, even work, but if it’s strictly about God and how awesome He is, I’m changing the station. I can’t stand gospel.
May 4, 2016 @ 12:33 pm
I will disagree with you on Blakes song. Thought it was really well done.
May 4, 2016 @ 1:23 pm
I can respect that.
May 5, 2016 @ 1:09 pm
Foul mouthed, Peacock Blake Shelton can’t be taken seriously on a religious song…sorry. Just cause it is better than his current non country single doesn’t make it good.
May 4, 2016 @ 2:50 pm
Give me a good Christian song where I can tell you believe what you’re singing and it’s genuine and new. I’m a Christian I’ll like it, and I bet non-Christians would too if they could identify with the passion and belief, albeit in something they may or may not believe in. But pandering for album sales sucks. I hate that H.O.L.Y. song on so many levels, it’s ripped straight off an old praise and worship song.
May 4, 2016 @ 2:55 pm
I heard that, and thought it sounded so beautiful….then came the punchline! 😮 . I have a newfound disrespect and almost hatred for them, now, and I couldn’t stand them before!
I’m betting there is going to be some hatred for that song! I was shocked to hear that! Not much shocks me, but that was not something I wanted to hear on my car radio!
October 11, 2018 @ 4:50 pm
i haver an idea how about Christian music saving souls and we will not have to worry about country music
May 4, 2016 @ 9:52 am
What if, instead of switching out the bro-country words, they just combine them? It’d be even worse when SOY awards start going to things like “Jesus on muh tailgate”, “virgin Mary’s cutoffs”, or “baptized in beer on a red dirt road.” I bet Dallas Davidson’s already drooling at the asinine possibilities.
May 4, 2016 @ 10:19 am
I’m thinking their theology will be about as deep as their understanding of daily life in rural America. Namely, not very deep.
May 4, 2016 @ 11:02 am
LMAO! ;D
May 4, 2016 @ 11:14 am
“Virgin mary’s cutoffs” holy crap so wrong but damn funny….thanks I needed that laugh.
May 4, 2016 @ 8:03 pm
Love that. “Buy me an Arc,” “Sodom and Gomorrah Line,” “You Should Resurrect and Be Here,”
May 31, 2016 @ 6:48 pm
Bro Country has been doing this for years, lol… here are some examples…
Chase Rice –
Lately I’ve been trading
A good sermon and some praying
For a stranger in my bed
And a night that needs explaining
I’ve opened more bottles than I ever have my bible
This dirt road communion sure won’t lead me to revival
FL GA Line –
Six string pickin, solo cup sippin, and when the moments right, grab ya phone and get them digits,
Crankin that Bocephus, we all good with Jesus.
Come Sunday morning that preacher, he bout to preach it
Kid Rock –
Sometimes I’ve had too much to drink
Get all stoned and play some Hank
I guess that’s just the way I am
And I love the man from Galilee
Because he died for you and me
I met them both in Dixieland
I could post more… but don’t want to give anyone a headache.
May 31, 2016 @ 7:58 pm
Fuck you for making me read chace rice and FGL lyrics. That’s about as below the belt as it comes. I thought SCM was a safe place…
May 4, 2016 @ 9:59 am
How about we go in a different direction and have “Black Metal Country?” We can have some country music versions of Gorgoroth, Burzum, Dark Funeral, etc.
May 4, 2016 @ 10:32 am
Yeeeeaaaaah – or Death Metal Coutry with Lyrics like Cannibal Corpse uses 🙂
May 4, 2016 @ 11:13 am
True, we can have songs like “Tailgate Smashed Face,” “Entrails Ripped From A Country Cutie’s Cut Offs,” and “Rotted Lipgloss Landslide!!!”
May 5, 2016 @ 2:25 am
German Black Metal Band Nargoroth got a song named “Black Metal ist Krieg” (means Black Metal is war) – I am waiting for Luke Bryans Song called “Bro Country is war – pure f*cking war” 😉
May 5, 2016 @ 11:10 pm
Jeff Walker, the lead singer of Carcass, did a country music CD where he covered a lot of old tunes. And not in a death metal kind of way. It is actually pretty decent. I could see Gaahl from Gorgoroth or Glen Benton from Deicide doing something similar.
October 11, 2018 @ 5:13 pm
I stabbed a man in Oslo…just to watch him die…
May 4, 2016 @ 10:17 am
I like the idea of Christian country. I’d rather my kids listen to songs about forgiveness and the power of Jesus than songs about being drunk on a plane. I see the same movement going on in the Texas/Red Dirt (yes, I know there’s a difference) scene. Wade Bowen’s new gospel album is right in line with your theory Trigg.
Check out this dude Brandon Grissom. He’s a Christian artist who’s also an Okie. He’s been in Chicago (?) for a few years and just announced he’s moving to Colorado (Yeah!). He has a red dirt influence that pours out of his music. His new album, Pain and Promise, has a very Stoney Larue feel.
https://youtu.be/oCyMSvAoIZE
May 5, 2016 @ 9:50 am
But Wade’s album was authentic. He can work one of those Gospel songs into his set on Friday night at Gruene Hall and pull it off. Much like Sean McConnell. End of the day, music is about honesty. FGL song sounds like a Young Life theme song with some secular lyrics mixed in. This trend won’t last.
May 4, 2016 @ 10:18 am
Oh, great. They’ve ruined country and now they have their sights set on another genre. Why can’t they go after dubstep?
May 4, 2016 @ 11:52 am
Contemporary Gospel and worship music has already been ruined by pop influences, perhaps even more so than country. The music is bland, and the words are sentimental and saccharine with little theological content. “Yeah God loves you,” “God is supercool and awesome”, “look at what God gave me” and so on. It is the “Christian” equivalent of trucks and beer, and reinforces the “you are a special” message of the millennium. Songs that actually challenge people to deepen their faith or live a live of service to others are almost non-existent. Even the staple of genuine Gospel music, the song of comfort in times of deep trouble, is relatively rare.
May 4, 2016 @ 12:04 pm
Our church has a contemporary service and a traditional service. I choose the traditional because of the music. The contemporary Christian music comes across as phony to me. Never been able to stand it. Just give me a hymn book and I’m good to go.
May 4, 2016 @ 11:30 pm
Yup. I was raised in a pretty conservative Southern Baptist family but I haven’t attended service, like I should be doing, in years and the other day someone told me how I’d like church now because they have a contemporary service.
I was wondering, “The heck is a contemporary service?”
They told me and I was like, “No thanks, that don’t sound like church to me.”
May 4, 2016 @ 11:26 pm
In his later years, my late father and his wife attended an evangelical church that featured a “worship band” (or whatever the heck they called it) and I attended a couple of services when I was in town. The music was beyond bland. “Bland” would be a step up. The lyrics were simplistic and the theology was questionable. The songs would have one verse and a chorus, repeated over and over and over. Some of the “better” songs would actually have a second verse. And of course instead of hymnals they projected the words on a big screen up front.
Maybe I’m just an old fuddy-duddy, but there is a rich tradition of some great songs — I’ve heard Charlie Louvin refer to them as “blood music” — in the Christian church. New isn’t necessarily better.
May 5, 2016 @ 8:26 pm
There’s a huge difference in “Christian Music” and “Gospel Music”. I’ll take the latter any day. Billy Joe Shaver’s “You Can’t Beat Jesus Christ” is one million times more real than anything called “Contemporary Christian” these days. Same with Kristofferson’s “Why Me, Lord” – even Tom Waits’ “Jesus Gonna Be Here” and “Way Down In The Hole” (both covered by the Blind Boys of Alabama) have more guts and true emotion. These are all songs sung by men who have lived a hard life and are appreciating what their Savior has done for them or the patience they’ve been shown.
And give me the Fairfield Four or the Soul Stirrers or the fantastic Staple Singers or Sister Rosetta Tharpe any day.
Much like the Bros, today’s contemporary Christian artists come across a little bland and milquetoast, and I am POSITIVE Nashville is gonna be following that lead. In fact, POSITIVE COUNTRY was a thing in the mid-to-late ’90s, so there’s nothing new under the sun. In fact, it recycles every decade or so.
May 4, 2016 @ 10:22 am
I’ll also mention Joey+Rory, Wade Bowen, and the new gospel album from Shenandoah on the good side of this equation – and I say that as someone who generally isn’t into modern religious music. A religious song I liked from the Steeldrivers that wasn’t on their albums is ” I Will.”
May 4, 2016 @ 10:32 am
Gospel music used to be a staple of country music. Every artist worth their salt released gospel albums. Went away, but after the success of the two releases from Alan Jackson, it must be in vogue again. Agree with Phil above, the new Wade Bowen gospel album is top shelf.
May 4, 2016 @ 11:55 am
Folk music as well. My father listened to a lot of early 60’s folk (my Mom liked country) and almost any artist of that era included Gospel standards in their repertoire.
May 4, 2016 @ 10:36 am
These are supposed to be Christian songs, yet many of them mention beer and/or sex in some way.
May 4, 2016 @ 10:38 am
Music Row repenting of their sins.
Eye roll.
May 4, 2016 @ 10:40 am
I have always felt that a lot of gospel music and country fall under the same umbrella. Think of all of the country artists in the past that have done gospel albums: Alabama, Ricky Van Shelton, Charlie Daniels, Alan Jackson, Randy Travis just to name a few. The grand Ole Opry also has gospel artists perform on a regular basis. I think this is a good move for country. In the past one thing that has set country apart from other types of music is that as immoral as some songs and artists are almost all still respect God and the Bible.
May 4, 2016 @ 10:42 am
I never minded when Johnny Cash did a gospel song… but have you HEARD Christian music these days? It’s terrible! There’s a local station here, 99.1, that plays that stuff. The singing is terrible, the lyrics are the whiniest you’ll ever find, and every guitarist sounds like he watched one fifteen minute YouTube video about “how to play like The Edge from U2” and decided he never needed to learn anything else. God help me, I’d rather listen to “We Went” on repeat before I endure eighteen months of that!
May 4, 2016 @ 10:52 am
I think the point is that Christian singers don’t need talent cuz it’s all about praising God.
May 4, 2016 @ 11:08 am
That’s where Christian rock comes in
Skillet, Red, Thousand Foot Krutch, Disciple, Impending Doom, Living Sacrifice, Stryper, the list goes on…..
May 4, 2016 @ 11:42 am
I love country but I also love some Red and Thousand Foot Krutch. Red is one of the best post-grunge style rock bands out there.
May 4, 2016 @ 1:23 pm
I can’t speak for the others, but if they’re anything like Skillet they’re not doing the job right. My fiancé loves Skillet and while I don’t think their music is bad, I certainly never got the sense that they were all about their faith. First couple of albums and their Ardent Worship Live release aside, they’ve moved farther and farther away from anything explicitly religious with each release (and their recent success). More to the point, my fiancé had to TELL me they were a Christian band, I didn’t come to that conclusion on my own. I’ve even had arguments with friends who were fans in high school that they were a Christian band, with those friends claiming otherwise. Heck, Creed’s music was more explicitly religious and they spent their entire career telling the media that they WEREN’T Christian music.
Not that all Christian music must be fire and brimstone, but if there isn’t some explicit or even subtle connection to God, Jesus, the Holy Ghost or scripture, there really isn’t any point in listening to it over anything else. Or at least that’s my opinion. I myself have never really understood the tendency for people of faith to draw comfort from the idea of listening to Christian music without any sort of contemplation of what the songs are actually saying/avoiding just because it makes them feel like they’re doing the “right” thing. And that’s not a criticism, it’s the mindset that’s allowed contemporary Christian music to devolve into what amounts to a bunch of modern interpretations of the same old hymns and interchangeable songs that all say more or less the same thing. I gain more in the way of faith from listening to songs like Styx’s “Show Me the Way” and Creed’s “My Own Prison” and “Faceless Man” than anything from Skillet. Casting Crowns is the one band I can think of that call themselves a Christian outfit but also tackle difficult themes and challenge the listener.
May 5, 2016 @ 4:06 am
I know how you feel man. Sometimes Skillet can be a little unclear on faith in their music. But their newest album Rise has a few songs on it that brings back the faith based format, Salvation, My Religion, Hard to Find, and What I Believe.
May 5, 2016 @ 11:31 pm
Haven’t listened to Rise, though I bought the deluxe edition for my fiancé. I have a certain nostalgia for their 2006 album Comatose, particularly the track “Yours To Hold”, but that’s about the extent of my fandom. Call this ironic given my endorsement of certain other artists, but there’s a generic angsty rock sound to Skillet’s music, especially John Cooper’s gravelly “emotional” voice, that turns me off. It just SOUNDS like the stuff 15-year-olds would eat up, and that annoyed me even when I was 15. Not that I think I’m better than anyone else, but even when I was a kid most overly kiddy media annoyed me. To put this into perspective, allow me to offer a brief background: aside from a few classics like The Lion King and a personal favorite in the form of Tarzan, I never cared much for Disney movies even when I was a part of their target audience. I always preferred to watch movies like Jurassic Park or Jaws, or westerns with John Wayne, Randolph Scott and Charles Bronson with my grandpa. So I freely admit that I’m usually biased against what I consider immature kitsch, whether that definition is correct or not (though I’m a huge fan of Godzilla, particularly the Japanese films, go figure).
May 4, 2016 @ 1:26 pm
Don’t forget NeedtoBreathe! Sorry I just really like them
May 5, 2016 @ 4:04 am
Oh yeah, I love Needtobreathe too! And Switchfoot, their awesome as well.
May 4, 2016 @ 11:57 am
Just said something like this above…. but added that the theology is paper thin, to the point of meaninglessness.
December 5, 2016 @ 8:14 am
Y’all need to listen to “real” Christian Country before you bash it too much, I’m not talking Southern or Contemporary Gospel. Look up Tommy Brandts song Broken. I’ve got one out called “Hammer Down” and it’s charting well, Listen to anything from James Payne, Bruce Hedrick, Mike Manuel, Chuck Hancock, Kevin Rowe. Even Shenandoah is back and doing a lot of Christian Country. If you don’t like Christian Music, it’s probably cause you ain’t heard Christian Country music yet.
May 4, 2016 @ 10:49 am
Country songs that praise Jesus/God while glorifying drinking and screwing? Now THIS may be the Country Music Apocalypse, or even the real Apocalypse. I swear there’s a verse about this in Revelation.
May 5, 2016 @ 8:36 pm
Merging the sacred with the profane is as old as the Blues, and it’s the struggle of mortals every day.
I get your point, but I don’t mind mixing Saturday night and Sunday morning. It’s always been done. It’s just always been done better than it is now. 🙂
May 4, 2016 @ 10:57 am
I’m sure anything that comes out of this will be dime store religiosity and mega church craziness and hypocrisy. An “end times wealth transfer” from the sheeple to the record companies…
May 4, 2016 @ 11:06 am
I did realize during the ACCA (?) awards that there was a lot more thanking “my Lord and savior Jesus Christ” as opposed to the usual “God” or omission altogether. They were also followed with heavier applause than everything else.
May 4, 2016 @ 12:56 pm
I noticed that too. Seemed odd to me at the time, and now I see this article. Maybe there’s something to it after all.
May 4, 2016 @ 1:25 pm
Nobody told me they were handing out awards in my name. Might have to look into it. 😛
May 4, 2016 @ 11:15 am
I was kind of hoping Chris Stapleton style country/soul would be the next big thing. But I dream…
May 4, 2016 @ 11:46 am
Since Music Row really has no clue what Chris Stapleton is or how he’s been so successful, I think the way they’re answering his success is by pushing the actual country artists on their roster, and signing some new ones. Even though they’re really nothing similar, to a Music Row pointy head, Chris Stapleton and Jon Pardi are pretty much the same guy. The result might be that we actually get more true traditional-style country than even Chris Stapleton.
May 4, 2016 @ 12:00 pm
I see what you mean, that would be great. I also wouldn’t be surprised if some artists like Luke Bryan(but not Florida-Georgia Line or Sam Hunt) start releasing some more traditional sounding singles soon. Luke Bryan already did(more or less) with “Huntin’, Fishin’, and Lovin’ everyday.
May 5, 2016 @ 6:24 am
I’ll add that Chris wrote this outstanding Christian song with Ronnie Bowman many years ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBYeh6xwPd8
May 4, 2016 @ 11:41 am
We closely followed contemporary Christian music (CCM) in the 2000s, though we were very selective in our purchases and were mainly introduced to new material through church camps, concerts, and worship services. Overall, the music felt real and inspired, and you felt a genuine connection to the artists and to the Lord through the experience. Near the end of the 2000s, CCM went through an odd transition that seems to mirror the advent of Bro-Country: Songs became less story-based, less creative, more worship-based, and more laundry-list. In the same way that country music became less real and more corporate, CCM became a factory for worship music at the cost of creativity. Suddenly, most CCM songs began to rely heavily on repetition, Christian buzzwords, and vague theological statements in order to appeal to a broader range of consumers through CCM radio, online streaming services (Pandora, Spotify), and local worship services.
The contrast is most stark when you compare, say, the creativity and quality of Audio Adrenaline’s “Bloom” album (which was critically acclaimed by secular rock) versus Chris Tomlin’s newish single, “Good Good Father”, which basically consists of this refrain for a staggering SEVEN TIMES:
“You’re a Good, Good Father
It’s who you are, it’s who you are, it’s who you are
And I’m loved by you
It’s who I am, it’s who I am, it’s who I am”
Of course, any genre of music is guilty of excessive repetition in songs, and some repetition is healthy in creating positive earworms through songwriting. That’s also not to say that modern CCM isn’t genuine and doesn’t carry meaning for the artists and listeners. However, when an entire genre’s major offerings become repetitive, three-chord chants that can’t hold a candle to the creativity and passion found in the four-part, four-verses Baptist Hymnal, something is amiss. Also, from the publisher end of things, there’s a lot of money to be made by licensing on-screen lyrics and sheet music to churches, and the simpler the music, the better for widespread use.
In a way, the increasing partnership between modern country artists and modern CCM is a mutually beneficial agreement that will cross-pollinate the genres with new consumers. However, it remains to be seen if it will halt the watering down of modern CCM and modern country or only exacerbate it.
May 4, 2016 @ 11:44 am
Great insight.
May 4, 2016 @ 1:00 pm
Unfortunately, My bet would be we end up with song writers and their laundry list of hooks, clichés, etc. etc.
I am not a huge fan of CCM, but I’ve ended up listening to quite a bit when on road trips..
I’ve noticed repetitions quite a bit last couple years.
May 4, 2016 @ 2:14 pm
Couldn’t have said it better myself. And it seems like every song has to have a Maroon 5-style “Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh” bridge. Not to mention a paucity of female performers, though not nearly as bad as that in country music. Christian music has become equally as bad as country for giving in to EDM/R&B influences. It’s gotten to the point where I can actually tell right away that a station programs CCM just by the way the songs sound without hearing a single lyric. It all sounds exactly the same.
There’s a CCM oldies show in syndication called Streets of Gold, and if you’re within listening range of one of the stations that carries it, it’s an interesting listen, if nothing else than to hear how much more diverse and compelling CCM music was in the ’80s and ’90s.
May 4, 2016 @ 12:06 pm
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ Christian Nashville Sound. In the name of god. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$
May 4, 2016 @ 12:10 pm
Given who our next President is going to be, I think we are all gonna need a good washin’ in the blood of the lamb.
May 4, 2016 @ 1:51 pm
Amen to that, Charlie!
May 4, 2016 @ 2:09 pm
You’re absolutely right, no matter which way the election goes. If it’s down to a choice between Hillary and Trump I’m just going to not vote this year. Neither of them deserve my support.
May 4, 2016 @ 12:22 pm
There’s a big difference between music business people today and those of the past.
In the past, they wanted to make money first, but some of them were able to see that putting out something new, something different could make them money.. like the brothers that started Atlantic records.
The Doors were completely unlike anything before them. They made huge amounts of money for their companies.
The business people now just can’t comprehend this as far as I can tell. All they can do is make faded copies of something else.
May 4, 2016 @ 1:28 pm
That’s because risk is less rewarding than playing it safe in the age of streaming, piracy and social media personalities that release CDs as exclusives to Walmart.
May 4, 2016 @ 12:58 pm
This is the only thing that could be worse than r&bro country
May 4, 2016 @ 1:08 pm
Speaking of gospel, check out Zach Williams. He had some prior success with the southern rock band Zach Williams and the Reformation, and is now making southern gospel. Dude can sing.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=z59wHC_ZoxY
May 4, 2016 @ 1:14 pm
I think I will just stick to listening to NeedtoBreathe. Their music is awesome, it always has a great message, and it has always been christian music. Plus Bear and Bo write just about every song, and there is not one I can skip over. To me they are like the Jason Isbell of the CCM world. I would like to trust these country artists’ intentions with them releasing christian music, but I know its sadly just for the money.
May 4, 2016 @ 1:32 pm
This is kind of interesting. One of the most popular stereotypes of country music is that it’s for Southern conservatives that swear on the Bible and condemn everyone else. As has been noted in other comments and elsewhere, Biblical allusions and gospel albums were quite common in country music once upon a time; what makes this a new trend? Just the idea that it’s going to be a fad that everyone and their brother tries to get in on? They’ve been doing this “cuss on them Mondays, pray on them Sundays” bad boy during the week/ask for forgiveness at church stuff for years. Are they just contemplating dropping the bad boy angle now?
May 4, 2016 @ 2:07 pm
Overt religiosity had gone out of fashion at country radio during the bro country years. By the time Carrie Underwood’s “Something in the Water” was released in September 2014, labels were under the impression that overt religiosity might actually be a hindrance at country radio. A Billboard Country Update feature (page 2) noted that “the label [Arista Nashville] did test the song’s religious content internally, and the promotion department briefly debated whether it would receive any pushback.” Late last year, in a Music Row interview (I’m working off a print copy, so I don’t have a link), former Arista Nashville VP Promotion Lesly Simon said of “Something in the Water,” “There were a lot of reasons why that would be a hard song [to promote] because ‘Amazing Grace’ is on the end of it, but we knew it would connect with people on a personal level.”
So I think that the resurgence of overtly devotional tunes from mainstream country acts in the wake of “Something in the Water” going big is notable. Michael Ray attempted to hop onto the emerging trend by going from bro to the equally silly, empty “Real Men Love Jesus,” but the latter fizzled at radio. Blake Shelton’s song isn’t being promoted to the country format, only Christian radio (where I’m guessing it won’t get much traction, though I could be wrong). In his case, it’s hard for me not to be cynical and just think of it as an imaging tactic as much as anything else, but the song itself is nice enough. Hillary Scott’s tune is being promoted to both the country and Christian formats (and I’m not expecting much traction in either place). Hers is a family project being produced by Ricky Skaggs, so I think she comes by this release honestly.
I think it’s fair to say, as Trigger suggests, these religious turns are being greenlit by labels because they see a market opening after “Something in the Water”.
May 4, 2016 @ 2:43 pm
Ugh, I HATE “Real Men Love Jesus.” That’s the kind of song that kills two birds with one stone by making Southerners AND Christians look bad (and that’s particularly important to note since not all Christians are Southerners, and vice versa). That, and the simultaneous combination of arrogance and pandering was too much to bear. I don’t hate Michael Ray and “Kiss You in the Morning” wasn’t any more offensive to my ears than anything else, but I don’t care to hear “Real Men Love Jesus” or any song like it for the rest of my days. It’s basically the church-friendly version of Justin Moore’s “Bait a Hook”: you’re not a man (specifically a country boy) unless you do x, y and z. Sometimes I wonder why a lot of people hate country music and view it as “ignorant” and whatnot. Then I remember songs like these and it becomes clear.
May 4, 2016 @ 2:50 pm
At least when Merle Haggard put out “Okie From Muskogee” he had the good sense to phrase it in such a way that it was a comparison, not so much an indictment (though the latter was very much implied). He also was clever enough to start talking the song down afterwards as “parody”, though whether he originally meant it that way or not is up for debate (he surely meant it as parody in his later years, especially the time he performed it with Willie Nelson and both of them were smoking joints the whole time).
May 4, 2016 @ 1:45 pm
Christians are the most gullible consumers so it makes sense to market to them
May 4, 2016 @ 1:54 pm
You’re painting some of us with a mighty broad brush, sir. Stop.
May 4, 2016 @ 4:51 pm
He’s painting most Christians that way, and he’s right. While there are enlightened Christians out there like you and I who can think outside of the box, or, in more straightforward terms, use our critical thinking skills, there are far too many who refuse to. They slam their fists on a book they’ve never read and can’t have legitimate conversations with people.
The Bible is for reading, not bruising, and the point of my post is this–shallow, banal Christian music posing as country is only going to make thsee people worse.
May 4, 2016 @ 5:47 pm
Don’t waste your life on nursery rhymes,
Of fairy tales and blood and wine.
It’s turtles all the way down the line.
May 5, 2016 @ 4:18 pm
I got my foot in the door now
Don’t care too much for this crowd
Think I’ll sing like Waylon and use steel
Broaden my country music appeal
Cover old pop and rock songs
I’ll have a fanbase, won’t be long
Then when they’re not looking, jump ship
Tell them I’ll make more country if they lose their shit
May 4, 2016 @ 2:47 pm
And here I thought tween girls and the like were the most gullible. At least most Christians can distinguish between liking a person’s art and thinking they’re “hot.”
May 4, 2016 @ 4:17 pm
I think what you mean is that the subset of Christians that listen to and buy all the CCM garbage are the most gullible consumers.
May 4, 2016 @ 1:56 pm
That’s good that Christian music ties in to country music it’s better than rap-pop or sometimes rock in country music. A lot of Christian songs has tie in to country music in the past like George Strait “I saw god today” and in the past. Forester Sisters songs were on country radio in the 80’s with Christian based songs and other past country songs from 2000 and beyond.
May 4, 2016 @ 2:45 pm
I don’t know, I’d prefer rock. The problem is that Christian music isn’t a defined sound, it’s a defined subject matter. You might say something similar about rock, but I think it has a more distinct (but still loose) template from which to draw. Drawing from Christian music basically amounts to just throwing in mentions of God or praises in the lyrics. Rock is a much more diverse well of ideas as far as the actual music is concerned.
May 4, 2016 @ 4:35 pm
I think country and CCM are the two most similar sounding formats today. This is because neither has a specific sound that they need to adhere to, asides from being generally agreeable pop music. The only distinguishing features are the buzzwords.
Thus, both country and CCM are a nondescript mix of pop, rock, R&B and hip hop phrasing. And they both feature pretty bombastic power ballads. We end up with a lot of songs that sound like 3 Doors Down mixed with Andy Grammer with electronic drum beats and slight hip hop phrasing.
Also, both formats have lots of listeners that are fans of the “lifestyle” not necessarily the musical ideas (instrumentals, lyricism).
May 4, 2016 @ 2:07 pm
Blech…no return to the radio for me anytime soon!
May 4, 2016 @ 3:07 pm
I’m not a religiously-minded person, but I wouldn’t have any aversion to Christian musical influences surfacing more than we have observed in the music if it comes to that. Though country music shouldn’t be confused as exclusively geared to Judeo-Christian values, faith and spirituality have nonetheless been an integral part of country music’s lyrical identity for decades and so it wouldn’t be any real stretch to see this trend be actualized.
What I DO lament is how a lot of the music that loosely falls into this category lacks teeth. It is as bland as instant milk formula. The sincerity may be intact in songs like “Thy Will” and “Savior’s Shadow”, but the pedestrian, dentist-office geared Adult Contemporary production fails to elevate these cuts above the rank of pleasant-yet-forgettable. “Thy Will” may come from a genuine place of darkness in Scott’s father being diagnosed with cancer and pleading to make sense of all her and her family are going through, but despite Scott doing a better-than-average vocal performance……………….the production just fails to convey those nuanced emotions. And “Savior’s Shadow” also features one of Shelton’s stronger vocal performances in recent memory, but the production of that track is so rudimentary and makes for a missed opportunity of sorts.
Admittedly, I have a limited knowledge of Christian music, so I’m not going to dare assume anything or put words into the community’s mouth. But I have heard a little Third Day previously, and I can say they have a certain grittiness in plenty of their sound (as well as the lead vocalist’s timbre) that actually reminded me of Sister Hazel in their earlier years and I recall a song of theirs titled “Alien” that reminded me of Pearl Jam somewhat. I also have heard some MercyMe and I have to say I recall appreciating some of the chances they took stylistically with tackling different atmospheric soundscapes and they seemed to put great care in detailing their lyrics.
The final band I definitely recall hearing out, out of curiosity, was Casting Crowns. Casting Crowns are easily the band that most closely fits this developing trend. And while it’s not hard to see their appeal given that they basically sound like the Rascal Flatts or Lonestar of Christian Adult Contemporary………………..I just never got into them myself. The music was just too painfully paint-by-numbers, saccharine and lacked teeth.
*
So, if say Country radio artists would feel inclined to derive from acts like Third Day and MercyMe as influences instead of Casting Crowns……………….I wouldn’t mind quite as much. At least those acts sounded comparatively interesting and left you guessing on occasion.
May 5, 2016 @ 11:22 pm
Third Day is a pretty good band. I’ve always thought Mac Powell sounded like Travis Tritt, to be honest (he’s actually released two solo country albums, FYI). Kinda surprised you think of Casting Crowns as adult contemporary. Perhaps I’ve always paid more attention to the lyrics, but at least on Lifesong they were definitely challenging for people of faith. “Praise You in This Storm” is one of my favorite Christian songs of all-time, and as a rule I don’t particularly care for Christian music for many of the reasons iterated in other comments, including my own.
May 4, 2016 @ 3:17 pm
I’m a big fan of “Lord Loves the Drinking Man,” so I believe it’s possible to mix up the themes and create a good song. But do I believe any of the current Music Row songwriters have the brainpower to do such a thing? Uh, no.
May 4, 2016 @ 4:19 pm
Why can’t Country just be country (e.g. Stapleton, Jamey Johnson, Ashley Monroe, etc.) If I want to listen to Christian Music, I prefer Chris Tomlin or Mercy Me over Blake singing a song with Jesus casually mentioned. And if I really want some Jesus music, then, I turn to southern gospel (e.g. the Kingsmen or The Kingdom Heirs)
May 4, 2016 @ 5:39 pm
I watched groups of people walk out of an outdoor festival, during Ricky Skaggs, (in the deep South no less) when he went on a 15+ minute Bible sermon. Sing about it in your songs, that’s fantastic, but don’t beat people over the head with it from the stage. That goes for any subject. People are paying good money to see you perform, not preach.
May 4, 2016 @ 8:58 pm
That’s exactly what I was afraid of, and the reason I didn’t go to the Ry Cooder-Skaggs-White show last month. If I wanna sermon, I’ll save it for Sunday.
May 4, 2016 @ 7:05 pm
I really just like Craig Campbell’s new single. I know he has had Christian themes in his music before, overall it’s just a good song.
May 4, 2016 @ 8:33 pm
Can’t handle a cheeseburger like Blake Shelton preaching about his ‘Father’ while watching him cheat on his wife in public eye. Take that fake shit and try to sell it to someone else.
May 5, 2016 @ 11:56 am
sheez, you know they got a divorce right? Or is she cheating too? Do we really need to invent reasons to bash Blake? I sort of feel like he gives us enough……
May 5, 2016 @ 12:17 pm
Yea divorced after cheating in public on his tv show
You mean like chew tobacco chew tobacco, spit? What a clown
He can go preach to someone else. I ain’t buyin’ but thanks for checking
May 4, 2016 @ 9:07 pm
Why bother? Give me agnostics like Joe Huber and .357 String Band any day. .357 can quote gospel just as well as any feel-good preacher– and then shred it.
May 5, 2016 @ 11:14 am
“Well, everytime I sing, I sing for the Lord! Glory, glory, glory, Amen!”
May 4, 2016 @ 9:17 pm
Let’s not confuse good Southern Gospel with the drech called CCM. Blakey song is pure gospel. Alan Jackson had a platinum+ album of southern gospel and Price, Jones, Loretta & Tammy all had at least 2 Gospel albums in their heyday.
The state of actual CCM is cliche’ U2, Matchbox, creed melodies with comically clunky lyrics (how many times can u rhyme Jesus with We Just?). Need To Breathe is a notable exception. And don’t start me on Toby Mac white boy rap. I do notice, in concert, Toby, MercyMe, King & Country, are expert hawkers of albums, merch, fanclubs, jewelry (??).
I’d love to hear country artists do a song over album of pure southern gospel with a quartet behind em.
I do like Craig Campbell’s song. A lot. Just a damned good song.
Blake actually had a huge hit with a previously recorded CCM song, ” God Gave Me You”.
Rant Over…..carry on
May 5, 2016 @ 5:39 am
Hayes Carll was out in front on this trend, see this song
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhkHG-oKCEU
May 5, 2016 @ 6:01 am
There is absolutely nothing country about H.O.L.Y. I could only stand 30 or 40 seconds of the song before stopping it. Just sounds like straight pop music to me.
Just awful.
May 5, 2016 @ 8:57 am
Reaction to hearing Amy Grant and 4HIM: might as well have “failed”¦fill the genre” act tattoed on their foreheads.
May 5, 2016 @ 11:58 am
Think Trigger is lumping two distinct things together here to make a point. Country artists performing Christian songs for Christian radio & Country artists using Christian imagery while continuing to make the same old Country song. If you want to do a religious song and release it to Christian radio, than ok fine. But I don’t really want a proliferation of Jesus mentions on my country radio stations.
And H.O.L.Y. is just a terrible bastardized so wrong song
May 5, 2016 @ 12:52 pm
Oh please no. My desire for Christian music (not overt. I cannot stand overt Christian music unless it’s proper gospel) is basically filled by Sixteen Horsepower, Red, and TFK. The last thing we need is saccharine-sweet crap mixed with the usual drinking-and-screwing themes.
May 5, 2016 @ 12:55 pm
I don’t think you just try christian music. Carrie and Hillary Scott are more known to be spiritual and seems genuine. Blake on the other side (load mouth, twitter bully, alcohol pushing artist) is ALWAYS out for the most $. God Gave Me You did well, mostly b/c it timed well w/ his marriage/video but Warner noticed the market. He does rock the pastor/rev hair and clothing look. His song is so over the top & seems to be his label’s attempt to get him a Grammy. Less competition & they have spent millions promoting his music but still no GRAMMY.
May 5, 2016 @ 7:22 pm
I think the Christian influences are just serving as a layer in the incoming “faux deep” trend in Mainstream Country. Which is two to three years behind schedule, so at least the Music Row execs are consistent on that. No fear though, the cool twitter and instagram kids will still be filling in their bios with FGL-approved pseudo psalms so they can appear only quasi vapid.
May 5, 2016 @ 11:15 pm
Ve are heres to announces zat Dethklok vill be releasings a country musik albums called “Dethkountry!” All I vill says is, it vill be brutals!!!!
May 6, 2016 @ 5:38 am
Heck, even Dave Cobb’s “Southern Family” closes with a Gospel song.
May 6, 2016 @ 3:00 pm
Who else is done with mythology? Might as well sing about Zues. Let’s move on. Goddaman Gallows speak truth
May 6, 2016 @ 3:43 pm
To me, it really all depends on how this “conversion” to Christian/gospel music in country is done, whether it’s done in the manner of stalwarts of the past like Johnny Cash, the Louvin Brothers, and others who sang the Word without seeming to preach from a pulpit, or whether the Bro-Country minions (Florida-Georgia Line, Blake Shelton, et. al.) will just use the style to prop up careers that are in danger of flat lining, and do so in such a commercially cynical way that it looks phonier than a counterfeit dollar bill.
We have tons of examples of how it can be done right, inside and outside of country. Elvis Presley, of course, is arguably the biggest example, as any number of songs he recorded are religious or spiritual in nature, including the immortal “Peace In The Valley”; his big 1965 hit “Crying In The Chapel”; his 1967 take on the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic “You’ll Never Walk Alone”, and his 1968 classic “If I Can Dream”, to take just four from his catalog. There’s also Judy Collins’ a capella version of “Amazing Grace”, which was a big hit for her in early 1971. And even Linda Ronstadt, someone not known for her religiosity (she calls herself a “recovering Catholic”) recorded some spiritual things in her time, including the traditional “Life Is Like A Mountain Railway” and the late Paul Craft’s “Keep Me From Blowing Away.”
But all of this tradition and history means that any re-injection of Christian music influences into country can’t be turned into a mere fad or a cynical ploy for what is in one’s wallet, because I just don’t think people are all that easily fooled. At least I hope they’re not.
May 6, 2016 @ 9:12 pm
Risky move by the country music industry. Depending on how the industry handles the transition, it can either end in massive success (if done with reverence) or in a Waterloo for the genre (if religious Christians perceive that they are being used as a gimmick). Given the experience of the last several years, I have a feeling about which way it will go…
The song posted above is just beautiful. If it attains success on the radio, it will be the single best country hit in years.
May 9, 2016 @ 4:39 pm
What a lot of people are missing is that there is a difference between Gospel, Praise and Worship and Traditional Christian Music. Gospel is stuff like “Ain’t got time to die,” “Down to the river,” and “Hark! I hear.” Praise and Worship is the shallow stuff you hear on standard Christian radio and Traditional is stuff like hymns. I’d be ok with a move towards Christian music in country music, I don’t necessarily like praise and worship music at all but it’s a step in the right direction at least I think. We all know mainstream will never head towards the other two options which is unfortunate but like I said, it’s a step in the right direction.
May 11, 2016 @ 6:58 pm
What if I told you the next craze in country was…
COUNTRY!
May 17, 2016 @ 2:57 pm
This could either be a good thing or a bad thing. I love Something In The Water, and that Craig Campbell song gets two guns up from me. On the other hand, it could lead to outcomes that are not as desirable as songs like those two. We’ll see what happens as time flies.