Lee Brice’s New Song “Country Nowadays” (A Rant)
Sure, I watched the Bad Bunny Super Bowl Halftime performance. Now I’m GAY!
I also immediately wanted hordes of illegal immigrants to flood over the American border bearing the flags of their respective countries, and armadas of refugee boats to crash onto our shores to unload throngs of unwashed masses to immediately receive health benefits and voting rights, transforming the United States of America into a Hispanic socialist utopia, subjugating all White people under an oppressive totalitarian thumb, and banishing them to gulags for re-education.
But luckily there was an antidote to the grand psychosis I’d succumb to. Just one spin of Lee Brice’s new song “Country Nowadays” and it slobberknocked the gay right out of me. And like the mighty caw of a bald eagle echoing through a canyon as it flies over rocky, snow-capped peaks with an American flag superimposed across its face, “Country Nowadays” resonated throughout every crevice of my cranium and red-blooded American heart, setting my perspective straight. Lee Greenwood, eat your heart out.
– – – – – – – – –
Hey thanks Lee Brice for making all of country music, and all country music fans look like regressive cousin f-ckers, you horse’s ass. And an a pox on your house for attempting to revive the absolute most terrible excesses and sins of the Bro-Country era with your egregiously bad listing off of American country iconography, groveling to the very lowest level of low-brow denominators.
Nobody’s trying to tell you that you can’t mow your damn lawn or wear boots, or go fishing or whatever the hell else you say in this stupid song—you middle-aged, dork-ass, washed-up third-tier country entertainer hoping to springboard yourself back to relevancy by angling for “cancellation.” I thought victim casting was the domain of the left? You’re really trying to tell me you’re having a tough time of it, Lee Brice? Why, because you defaulted on your yacht loan because you haven’t had a hit in six years? Quit being such a pussy.
Listen folks, don’t be coerced into thinking you must defend this song just because it lands on your side of the stupid culture war. I’d rather country music succumb to AI slop than this panty-waist, fear-mongering, obsequious and slavish pandering to a constituency, slobbering over low-hanging culture war issues like it’s a vein-popping male appendage.
And yes, the folks that have tried to sell us on the idea that gender is a social construct who’ve all of a sudden become more anti-Darwin than the creationists, they need to step back. How about we let kids grow up and go through the growing pains and exploration we all did before making life-altering health decisions when they’re still adolescents?
But even that issue is resetting back to a more reasonable equilibrium. “Country Nowadays” feels like it was written in 2020 or something, and for smart reasons, was left on the shelf. At least the Aaron Lewis and Oliver Anthony songs were timely. This just feels abruptly outdated.
Hey, it’s your dude who’s in power now, Lee Brice. It’s a country song that’s #1 in all of music at the moment. So why are you bitching? And as we all lob grenades at each other over stupid songs like this one, it’s the elites from both parties robbing the treasury and immiserating us all. Now that would make a good premise for a country song.
“But Trig, this isn’t even a really song yet! There’s not a studio version of it!” For the love of God, let’s please keep it that way. Don’t let this bun out of the oven. Even right wingers can advocate for this being one creation not worth bringing to term. Because if they had any sense, they’d realize this song portrays them in the most negative of negative light.
Wait, what? The studio version comes out Feb. 19th? Well screw me.
This is the kind of refuse you get when you politicize country music. Either it’s screechy Maren Morris garbage that makes you want to scrape your eyeballs out, or this crap.
“Country Nowadays” does NOT represent actual country music these days at all. It represents one man’s over-ripened perspective as he overextends himself by feverishly grasping for attention for his dying career, inadvertently working to pull the entirety of the country genre down with him.
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February 16, 2026 @ 11:54 am
I think you need to give it another listen; It didn’t seem to knock the fa-got out of ypu.
February 16, 2026 @ 3:11 pm
wait, you got that guy confused with guy who runs this site….
you know “feverishly grasping his ego” while censoring those who point it out
He is CornHoleous
February 16, 2026 @ 3:23 pm
Who’s being censored here? Kevin got the first comment in the comments section, and it was critical of me.
February 16, 2026 @ 6:05 pm
Thank God we live in a country where both sides get to make shitty music without fear or favor. It’s no worse or better than any of the left leaning whine tracks out there, it’s just not that creative. All in all I suppose I would prefer that children hear these lyrics as opposed to the translated lyrics of Bad Bunny from his Super Bowl performance. Anybody actually look into what was said by him during that show?
February 16, 2026 @ 9:04 pm
He ended the show with a 9 word message, which said “The only thing more powerful than hate is love.”
Do you consider that a left leaning whine track?
February 17, 2026 @ 9:50 am
What are the “left leaning whine tracks” in country music that this is no better or no worse than? I can think of only one, and I doubt you heard it. I am curious what lefty songs you think this is equivalent to.
February 17, 2026 @ 4:17 pm
@Michael O – it was the content before the ending that would have most definitely been censored if it were in English that I don’t believe anyone would want young children to hear or be celebrated, and I would reckon isn’t inclusive of all Latino culture.
@thedevilyouknow how can you doubt I’ve heard anything? You don’t even know me…I am curious what lefty songs you think this Lee Brice song is equivalent to…
February 16, 2026 @ 8:49 pm
your ALTER-EGO is being censored,
sir.
and doing so will prolly help
to save everything else too
You ARE what you hate
go beat on your drums
cool out, sir
February 16, 2026 @ 11:59 am
I’m not going to defend this guy or his song, because why? But I will say that there is some country music that has a political bent that isn’t horrible. The Pill, D-I-V-O-R-C-E, Ira Hayes, pretty much everything Steve Earle ever wrote. Maybe it’s not the having an opinion, maybe it’s just that this guy and Maren Morris suck.
February 16, 2026 @ 1:45 pm
The Pill and D-I-V-O-R-C-E were about social issues, not politics.
February 16, 2026 @ 1:55 pm
Come on lol
February 16, 2026 @ 2:14 pm
What are your panties in a bunch about today?
February 16, 2026 @ 3:18 pm
“Strait” (el senor personality cult zombie)…. he say
“Why you panties good?”
Anda, culero…calmete
February 16, 2026 @ 2:18 pm
The majority of this song is also about social issues if that is the way you want to try and cut the cake.
It’s basically complaining about trans kids, flag burning (apparently ol’ Lee doesn’t like the 1st amendment), gun control attempts, and cancel culture.
Was “Mama Bake a Pie/Daddy Kill a Chicken” political? Or was it a social statement about vets coming back from Vietnam maimed? Was “I Washed My Face in the Morning Dew” which includes a verse directly calling out economic inequality a social song or a political one?
The best songs that broach this subject matter tend to walk the line and leave it up to the listener – sadly Lee Brice and his co-writers decided “ChatGPT, what are some things that piss off conservatives” and decides to wrist a listical of just that.
February 16, 2026 @ 3:50 pm
: D Try to burn the American Flag with me standing next to you, sweetheart.
February 16, 2026 @ 5:56 pm
I personally don’t agree with burning the flag, but I also understand it is protected speech under the 1st Amendment.
But nice flex on the internet – attempting to look like some kind of “badass” to strangers, while also not understanding the Constitution.
Self, meet Own.
February 17, 2026 @ 9:52 am
I don’t care enough about the flag or you to want to.
February 17, 2026 @ 10:04 am
Hahahahahahahahahaha! Thank You for that.
February 17, 2026 @ 10:23 am
Try to stop someone and see what happens.
February 17, 2026 @ 1:07 pm
: D
February 17, 2026 @ 3:55 pm
That’s how you retire a flag, sweetheart. You burn it. It also falls under Freedom of Speech unless you don’t care about that, either?
February 17, 2026 @ 8:14 pm
Nam,
Having served in the U.S. Army, at Fort Campbell, KY./Walter Reed Hospital with the Corps of Engineers, in Washington D.C./And at Lajes Field on Terceira Island, in the Azores – am well aware of how to properly and respectfully dispose of an American Flag.
I do wish you a good rest of your evening.
February 17, 2026 @ 9:15 pm
This is the first time I’ve thought of you as anything other than a rail thin, speed addled 55 year old woman.
February 18, 2026 @ 11:28 am
Oh honey.. tell me you served without understanding what you were actually were charged with protecting. As a retired vet I will protect someone’s right to burn the flag even though I’m ambivalent about the whole thing. I doubt you would be much of a detractor in person but you do sound fierce on the internet.
February 16, 2026 @ 5:22 pm
It’s funny how all the songs you praise are all left wing anthems! Guess that’s probably just a coinkydink, but just thought it funny how you didn’t include any conservative artists or songs! Again, most likely just an oversight but thought I’d point that out . Kinda reminded me of the Moms who are in group chat with their mom group and text stuff like “I’m not into country (yucky) and I’m NOT a trumper but I do love Charley Crockett and Sierra Ferrell”! What a stroke of luck that the same artists NPR and NYT hypes and promotes are the only ones this demographic loves! And they always make sure to act apologetic about it, as if liking country is cringe but I’m not a fan of THAT kind of country, but I support artists who align with my values, and my friend group. Pure virtual signaling.
February 17, 2026 @ 10:01 am
Most “conservative” country songs are trite, like this one. Okie…, Courtesy… A Country Boy… are about the only three I can think of that are worth a shit (I am sure I am missing a few). Part of the reason for this is because country is supposed to be conservative. So if you are going to stand up there in your country boy cosplay outfit preaching to the choir your lyrics need to be extra special to have an impact and usually they aren’t. To be a Jason Aldean fan you either really buy in to the culture war shit, or just have a shitty taste in music.
There is a banjo player currently, I don’t know his name, but he did “the ballad of Kyle Ritinghouse”, even though I disagree with his overall sentiment I thought it was cool how he took a current event and made an old sounding murder ballad out of it.
February 17, 2026 @ 3:59 pm
Country music is not supposed to be ‘Conservative’. It’s the same as Rhythm & Blues. It’s primarily sad love songs with a twang to it. It has no Conservative/Liberal lean. It just is.
February 17, 2026 @ 9:07 pm
“Supposed to be” is definitely the wrong choice of words. Maybe “naturally” or “inclined to be”. Traditionally a big influence on country was church, and it just attracts a more socially conservative sect. At the very least I think it’s fair to say that country music more conservative, which is why if you’re gonna write yet another conservative country song it better be good or else it will just be cliche and trite.
February 17, 2026 @ 4:40 pm
That banjo player is a troll who has an alter ego that pretends to be a liberal while also saying racist shit under his own name. His alter ego his alter ego is super active in the liberal gun owners subreddit. He doesn’t mean any of it- it’s all just a way to get eyeballs on his patreon so he can make money. He spends most of his time trying to disparage other banjo players, both people who are actively political and people who just happen to be black and play banjo. The Kyle Rittenhouse song is not really a serious thing he believes in, he just wants to be controversial for the hell of it.
February 17, 2026 @ 9:10 pm
I can tell he’s an asshole just by his profile pic on Spotify. I did think the song was interesting though, a 40s style bluegrass murder ballad about current events.
February 17, 2026 @ 4:57 pm
People have, can, and will argue till the cows come home about whether Okie was actually a testament to small town conservative life, or a satire mocking it. Certainly Merle changed his own tune on this several times
February 18, 2026 @ 12:54 am
You should shut up with that name. Truly. Anyone defending aldean is a clown. Aldean was calling for gun control when gun control was a trending issue and then when Trump became popular he started acting like the maga king. Such a weak clown. Waylon would spit in his face for being so fake and for destroying country music with his lame hip hop.
February 16, 2026 @ 12:00 pm
He really has a good voice; the lyrics almost don’t stand out.
February 16, 2026 @ 12:09 pm
He can be very good with the right material (“Rumor,” which was a hit, and “Cry,” which stiffed), but takes the lazy way out most of the time. I guess he’s been in the business too long to change his ways, even with his lack of recent success.
February 16, 2026 @ 1:28 pm
Doesn’t that sum up like 90% of male radio artists though?
There is nothing unique about Lee Brice. If you swapped Lee Brice for Russell Dickerson or Justin Moore nobody would really notice.
I think this is one of the sad realities of modern “mainstream” country music for over a decade now. There are very, very few “middle class” careers anymore. When the music industry was healthier, you had guys (and gals) who could make a solid career out of just churning out mid-chart hits and maybe they would hit on a top 5 single every few years.
Now the charts have gotten so compressed that unless you are constantly churning out top 5 songs you fade into “male country artist without a ton of talent, but a few #1’s a half-decade ago irrelevance.
February 16, 2026 @ 4:00 pm
That just isn’t true. Those are 3 radically different artists.
February 16, 2026 @ 4:14 pm
Dickerson is unredeemable and unlistenable, pure bro with limited vocal talent. Moore can sing (although I’ve seen comments here over the years that suggest that he is heavily AutoTuned) and comes up with an occasional single that’s catchy in spite of its cliched nature (his current “Time’s Ticking,” for example, which is basically an uptempo “Live Like You Were Dying”). Brice sings with more soul than Dickerson and Moore combined, and is a damn good guitarist, too, but his material is often third-rate. Listen to his work on Carly Pearce’s “I Hope You’re Happy Now” and tell me he’s no better than Russell bleepin’ Dickerson.
February 16, 2026 @ 6:02 pm
Stylistically? Sure.
But do you really think Lee Brice, Russell Dickerson, or Justin Moore are going to be anything more than footnotes in Country music history in 30 years?
There is not shame in that – Brice has a couple hits and can enjoy that mailbox money and always tell folks he had some #1 songs.
But he is also pretty irrelevant at this point at Country radio and frankly if his career *was* doing well, he would have never released this song.
You release this song when your mainstream relevance is in rapid decline and Music Row is ready to put you out to pasture. You don’t release this song if the opposite is true.
Jake Owen went and hired Shooter Jennings to produce an “Outlaw” sounding Country album and Lee Brice is teaming up with LoCash songwriters to sing some song to get spins on Benny Johnson.
Tells you all you need to know about the “artistic” ambitions of both men IMO.
February 16, 2026 @ 12:05 pm
Lee Brice is the only country singer I have any personal connection to (my wife knew him growing up) and I would like to defend him but he’s making it tough these days
February 16, 2026 @ 12:37 pm
My wife worked with Dennis Rader for three months back in 2003, in Park City, Wichita. I’m not going to defend him. He was a jerk, according to her (and virtually everyone who ever crossed his path).
February 16, 2026 @ 12:55 pm
This is hilarious. I wish Mindhunter had gone on longer so they could have continued showing how pathetic this guy was.
February 16, 2026 @ 3:43 pm
They all are.
This fascination with serial killerd (and other degenerate freaks) says a lot about our society.
I never got it. I’m not a religious person by any means, but the concept of evil can’t be dismissed. And it’s pathetic, not fascinating.
February 17, 2026 @ 12:43 pm
Women are the ones most fascinated with serial killers.
Society has been allowed to worship evil.
February 17, 2026 @ 1:29 pm
“Society has been allowed to worship evil.”
Man, that 1st Amendment just keeps getting in the way of some people all of a sudden.
February 19, 2026 @ 1:25 am
Frankly, Knight, the societies always worshipped evil in some forms.
Every known period of the human history saw the masses flock around what we could call suspicious joys. Public torture of all sorts, dubious religions, all kinds of oppressors… the majority accepted it and more often than not supported it.
There is a greek saying, slightly adjusted to the modern times; what lives inside a human would not be allowed to live in a nice neighborhood.
February 16, 2026 @ 12:09 pm
You nailed it. Possibly the worst song of the decade. It had to be AI right? Nobody would actually put their name on this record as a songwriter.
February 16, 2026 @ 12:23 pm
I watched Pat finnerty (what makes this song stink on YouTube ) do a reaction live stream to the tpusa thing and that was pretty hilarious. I think that was maybe the first time I’ve seen modern country idiots like this and several years. “I just wanna kish my feesh”.
I can’t wait for the exaggerated accent trend to eventually get shamed out of existence. If you listen to how 90s country acts sang versus everybody in country today, it starts to look like a parody of itself. Independent artists are no exception.
February 16, 2026 @ 12:25 pm
Written by Brice, Matt Alderman and Matt Kenyon. Alderman has co-written with Mitchell Tenpenny, Dylan Scott and Nate Smith. Kenyon has contributed to songs by LoCash and Chris Young (the current, bro version of Young). Given those “credentials,” this song might be the best either of these men can produce. Ugh. Double ugh.
February 16, 2026 @ 12:28 pm
Agree with this rant, especially how songs like this make country and its fans seem like we live down to the very worst stereotypes some people have of us. I’m registered as independent, detach from culture wars as much as humanly possible, and this current political hellscape can’t possibly end soon enough for me. As always with this type of “statement” song, not one mind will be changed and not one productive conversation about our differences will take place- it’s just more inflammatory BS that highlights and exacerbates our divisions. In other words, it’s exactly what we don’t need.
Also, why is Pace’s face so alarmingly beat read in that picture? Is it the endless supply of rage that fuels the entire MAGA movement, alcohol or drugs, or some sort of medical condition? A warning sign for all of us – anger, even when it’s just performative BS, ain’t good for the soul, the body, or for the quality of our music!
February 16, 2026 @ 1:21 pm
“Is it the endless supply of rage that fuels the entire MAGA movement, …
: D No, it is the endless supply of rage that fuels the entire liberal movement.
February 16, 2026 @ 1:52 pm
The fact that anyone believes that it’s one or the other and not both in 2026 is hilarious.
February 16, 2026 @ 2:11 pm
: D Uh-huh.
February 16, 2026 @ 2:15 pm
Trigger, we had adults as Presidents until Trump. Anger is good, but must be channeled properly to bring us back to sanity. I think you would agree with that.
But Trump is more mentally ill than most, with anger, ADHD, sadism, narcissism, and probably some kind of psychopathic mix in there. Yes, even as a liberal I know we can go overboard with the racism bit and blame everything on race or Trump. And yet, is Trump a racist? Absolutely. Do you trust Noem who shoots dogs when they “misbehave?” Is it lawful for Trump to make billions because he is President? Yes, both sides can go overboard or blame the other, but let’s face it; if one is honest, Trump, the incessant liar and chaos agent, will remain one of the worst Presidents in history, if not the worst. Anger for the sake of anger is not healthy, but righteous anger is. Are you investing in Greenland,by the way?
February 16, 2026 @ 2:32 pm
Would love to keep this conversation more on the Lee Brice song and its impact on country music. Nobody is going to be convinced on who or who not to vote for President by a comments on a country music website.
February 17, 2026 @ 7:22 pm
So Michael, you were totally good with all the corrupt crony-capitalists that have controlled our country since WWII, but you’re upset at the guy who isn’t one of them?
February 16, 2026 @ 2:52 pm
Your point is well taken about keeping the conversation to Lee Brice’s song. That said, I am unclear as to why this song sent you into a rant. This kind of song is a staple in country music. I am sure Lee Greenwood would be proud. Are you angry because you think country music has escaped it’s conservative past of beer, boots, and whatever else? Is it because it went to number one? I think you owe it to your readers the real reason why, and not just do the guy thing and hide behind anger and a rant. You’re an excellent writer with great knowledge, so why not share what upsets you the most and just be honest. You might be surprised at the support you would get.
February 16, 2026 @ 3:32 pm
This song is not a staple of country music whatsoever. It’s a staple of the type of stereotypes that people impose upon country music fans when most country music fans could give a shit about this song, or Lee Brice. It’s being supported by political types outside of country similarly to how Beyonce’s “country” album was supposed by pop/hip-hop fans, not country fans.
The song is not #1. It hasn’t even been released yet. Lee Greenwood hasn’t had a relevant hit in a quarter century.
People falsely claiming this song is representative of country music in 2026 is the reason I decided I needed to twist off on this song. There is a sister article coming up to this that will explain more.
What upsets me the most is that people will truly think this song represents country music. That’s the reason I wanted to vehemently distance from it.
February 16, 2026 @ 4:08 pm
I appreciate your reply, Trigger. I would disagree that this type of song is not a staple of country music. Maybe not staple per se, but it is a type of song that is certainly heard of in the variations of “the only real music is country music.” Sorry about my misinformation about it being number one, I read that somewhere, even though you said it wasn’t released yet…….P.S. I mentioned Lee Greenwood as you had mentioned it in your “rant.” 🙂
February 20, 2026 @ 10:08 am
Lee Greenwood is the most god awful excuse for a musician
February 16, 2026 @ 7:21 pm
“The fact that anyone believes that it’s one or the other and not both in 2026 is hilarious.”
Logical translation:
“If you’re on the right and you watched for 80 years as your nation and way of life were destroyed and replaced with a dystopian globalist hellscape, and now you’re finally pushing back, you’re exactly the same as those who did the destroying and it’s hilarious that you think you aren’t.”
February 17, 2026 @ 10:23 am
“…way of life were destroyed and replaced with a dystopian globalist hellscape” In all seriousness, do you honestly believe that is literally true? It is one thing to believe this a possible outcome due to situational factors you perceive as occurring over the last 80 years, but quite another to believe it is present reality. If not, you should change your alias to King Hyperbolist of Crackershire.
February 17, 2026 @ 12:45 pm
Seriously.
Apparently, the Right is supposed to just accept our nation’s death.
The both sides stuff is a lie. I am not rooting for gender transitions for kids or illegals flooding the borders.
February 17, 2026 @ 1:28 pm
“I am not rooting for gender transitions for kids or illegals flooding the borders.”
Then you should be against this song because it’s a doofus portrayal of right-leaning sentiment set to extremely cliche lyricisim that was rightly lampooned and outmoded over a decade ago.
February 17, 2026 @ 4:54 pm
Yeah, let’s go back to the Company Store; non-whites being treated like animals to be lynched; women who were properties of their fathers/husbands, and didn’t get full citizenship until the early 1930s. Let’s go back to children working in the workplace, and 12+ hr shifts, with a pay that can barely feed a dog, and all those good times where the only people who had any real freedom were wealthy white men; and, only their vote really counted. Yeah .. let’s go back to that.
February 17, 2026 @ 7:25 pm
“In all seriousness, do you honestly believe that is literally true?”
Yes, Douglas.
If you don’t, it’s either because you’re okay with it, or because you’re well enough off to be insulated from it.
The most insulated people in our country are white liberals who live in 98% white communities.
February 17, 2026 @ 8:32 pm
Wow. You honestly believe that you’re way of life has literally been destroyed and that you are currently living in a literal dystopian hellscape. I grew up in a small town on a small citrus grove run solely by my father, with negligible help from me. He died when I was 15. I drove a tractor before I drove a car. I was president of my FFA chapter. We lived near what was known as N-word town. My best friend lived there. I slept over at his and he at mine. My gay cousin and his partner would occasionally visit us. After college, I moved to the same big city my college was in. My best friend was gay (he sadly died). I currently live in a small town again. We have 2 children, one, sadly, has died. 3 grandchildren and 3 great grandchildren. No, I’m not that old. When you’re too young when your oldest is born and they’re too young when their oldest is born, you’re great grands early. My small town is a wonderful community with all types of people. I love it. I have never in my life experienced anything I would describe as a dystopian hellscape. My way of life hasn’t changed at all. If you are being honest, then our experiences are radically different, but not because I’m a white liberal in an isolated community. I’ve lived in small towns and a major city, none of them insulated. I’ve never experienced anything like you describe experiencing. It is extremely difficult to believe you aren’t being hyperbolic, but I must take you at your word. I’m sorry for what you are going through. I sincerely hope you find peace, rather than the anger and hate you seem to have.
February 18, 2026 @ 4:35 pm
Like I said, Douglas, you’re okay with it. I have a few hypothesis on why people like you are okay with it, but being okay with it is why you don’t perceive what’s happening to you as negative.
Your position is basically, “It’s not happening and I’m sure glad that it is.”
February 18, 2026 @ 6:19 pm
I honestly do not know what you are talking about. “It’s not happening and I’m sure glad that it is” Nothing is happening to me. My way of life is no different in any significant way. I still value the things that I have always valued. The things that brought me joy still bring me joy. I regularly do all of the things I enjoy. I have no sense of anything or anyone interfering with my way of life. My maternal great grandma lived to be 103 and lived with us the last several years of her life. She died at home on Christmas Day when I was 16. What I learned from her and loved about her affected my life, as did my parents. I love my family and am honored that they all share those values. My way of life has not been destroyed and I do not live in a dystopian hellscape. I will admit that I am concerned many of the values I hold dear are in danger. I am currently re-reading 1984. I had not read it in decades. I recommend everyone read it.
I truly am baffled that you sincerely believe that your way of life has been destroyed and that you feel you currently live in a dystopian hellscape. As I said earlier, I hope that you find peace.
I do appreciate your having a dialogue with me. I am happy to keep it going here on occasion in the SCM comments section. I could possibly be open to having Kyle give each of us our respective e-mail addresses. Not yet, Kyle! Ha!
February 16, 2026 @ 2:12 pm
I’m not either MAGA or liberal, but it’s just objective fact that mindless, baseless rage and grievances fuel the populism that enabled a cognitively impaired, immoral sociopath like Trump to rise to power. But the fact that ignorant losers on the right can’t defend their stances other than to feebly say “but the libs suck, amiright?!” says everything about how MAGA is an ugly, angry cult rather than a legitimate movement with an actual ideology.
February 16, 2026 @ 3:03 pm
Laughing.
February 16, 2026 @ 9:33 pm
Poor, clueless, Hawlwy.
February 17, 2026 @ 1:34 pm
This may be the most deranged take I’ve seen on this website and the fact you got so many likes is mind-boggling. This nation leans left and the fact Trump still won the popular vote and won all the swing states. You would think that the Dems would actually try to figure out why. MAGA fanatics do not make up the majority of people who voted for Trump. I bet more than 50% of the people who voted for him did so holding their nose. A major reason Trump won was immigration, where neither Biden or Harris was ever able to answer why they were ok with open borders. When folks were concerned with inflation the Biden administration just laughed or ignored. While I do think it was not a election determining issue, the multi-gender and trans issue which 80% of the country are on one side and not the side of Harris/Biden did contribute. Harris also ran a horrible campaign where they basically campaigned on the fact nobody should vote Trump. I am not a Trump fan and believe he has no leadership ability and put together a horrible cabinet. I truly hope both sides look for leadership abilities when choosing their next candidate. While you may think Trump is a “cognitively impaired, immoral sociopath” and I don’t necessarily disagree, those words could also describe Biden.
February 17, 2026 @ 6:19 pm
Actually, the U.S. wobbles in the middle. Currently wobbles to the Right, not Left. approximations: 36% are Conservative vs 25% Liberal vs Moderates at 35%. Moderates are wobblers: they can go either direction.
February 16, 2026 @ 12:36 pm
Sunny Ledfurd’s new dedicated country lane project ‘Grown Man Country’ just released the antithesis of that song. You can listen to ‘Horseshoes’ here; https://open.spotify.com/track/6jPTT9nFVHRZohu7xwDi2n?si=b1e5ec134546454a
February 16, 2026 @ 12:40 pm
Poor, poor Lee. Ever since the previous administration communistically banned beer, trucks, long guns, lawn mowers and dogs, he’s been one sad, hurting buckaroo. I mean golly, Lee can’t even watch the TV news anymore, what with the news and all. He just yearns for a simpler time, when a man could drink a bunch of beers, drive over to his tree stand, and accidentally kill his dog, without a bunch of uppity libtards lecturing him about it.
I particularly enjoyed the crowd “wooos” when he (sigh) made it a point to bring trans into the mix. In pro wrestling parlance, that’s the ultimate cheap pop. It’s cute how people pretend this sort of grievance-based entertainment is what they like.
February 16, 2026 @ 12:58 pm
I just want to sincerely thank Mr. Brice for putting this steaming pile of hot garbage onto a tee so there was no way in hell Trig wasn’t gonna take a swing at it with a Fat Albert bat. We desperately needed an epic rant and some levity around these parts.
February 16, 2026 @ 12:59 pm
I do love me a good Trig rant and this is a great one. I do like how the majority of people instantly shit on this not necessarily because it doesn’t fall on their side of the political spectrum, but because the song just flat out sucks.
February 16, 2026 @ 1:18 pm
Luckily I spared myself watching either half time show, as neither seemed like my idea of entertainment. Listened to some classic country instead. Glad I missed it. Lee Brice has always seemed to be on the outside looking in when it comes to country stardom. Sounds like for good reason
February 16, 2026 @ 3:00 pm
There was also the “Puppy Bowl”, though. =)
February 16, 2026 @ 3:16 pm
True, I always forget about that. My wife and I have had St. Bernards ever since we were married 15 years ago. Just lost one a couple weeks back. I have a feeling had we watched the puppy bowl, we would have had a new puppy by now lol
February 16, 2026 @ 1:21 pm
One point of contention – I don’t think this is the result of the “politicization” of Country music. This is the result of low-talent artists trying desperately to hang on to some semblance of career relevancy by micro-targeting political audiences to try and squeeze some $$$ out of them.
That is true with Maren Morris. That is true with Lee Brice (and John Rich).
These folks were never all that talented and once radio went away, decides they really liked living a nice lifestyle and figure liberals from Bluesky and TPUSA/Fox News watchers will spin their song a time or two to squeeze a couple more pennies out of their fading careers.
February 16, 2026 @ 3:09 pm
I subscribe to this theory myself: as Brice is coming on the heels of four consecutive misses on the country airplay chart.
Still: when Randy Houser himself attempted to pander to culture war grievances with “Cancel” and that proved to be a massive failure for his career, and Brian Kelley’s “Make America Great Again” also largely went unnoticed……………..and even Kid Rock’s most recent album “Bad Reputation” barely charted the Billboard 200 despite all the free publicity his couple of anti-woke promo singles generated……………….Brice should have very well known that the probability of failure for this risky strategy is pretty high. Much like we really never hear from Maren Morris anymore.
February 16, 2026 @ 1:36 pm
Pretty sure you can still do most of those things already Lee Brice.
February 16, 2026 @ 7:55 pm
But is he allowed to just kish a feesh?
February 16, 2026 @ 1:37 pm
Better have Tyler Childers put him on his bitin’ list.
February 16, 2026 @ 5:12 pm
Childers is a woke sjw dei country artist who’d whine like a pc baby about it. Dude is the wokest asshole prick in the industry.
February 17, 2026 @ 3:42 am
Lol cry harder.
February 17, 2026 @ 1:21 pm
Are you a real person or a troll? It’s really hard for me to believe that anyone can use “woke sjw dei…pc baby” as a genuine insult. That was 20+ years’ worth of conservative name-calling all in one sentence. You forgot CRT though.
February 16, 2026 @ 1:42 pm
Most Country artists would like to write their own version of Merle Haggard’s ‘Are The Good Times Really Over For Good’ but no one has come close. Even at the end of the Hag’s song he says the “good times ain’t over for good.” What makes Haggard’s song so much better is that even though lyrically it seems to be from one perspective, he’s subtlety leaving room that the assertation and feelings expressed in the lyrics don’t mean “It’s over for good.”
February 17, 2026 @ 6:24 pm
In today’s world Merle Haggard would be considered a Liberal. He was more a wobbler in his time.
February 16, 2026 @ 2:03 pm
Actually, I consider the song itself more musical than most of the stuff I hear on mainstream country radio with the same tempo and same range of voice-about 5 notes. Nowadays, very few singers seem committed to the music or if they do, they oversing it and sound insincere and affected. Two exceptions I can think of are Charley Crockett and Melissa Carper.
“I was down south Jesus raised.” Well, Lee Brice, Jesus welcomed strangers and talked about the Prodigal Son. How 80% of white Christians voted for Trump simply means to me that for the great majority of people, their faith(southern or wherever else) is simply cultural and what they were raised with. I don’t think most know what living out the faith truly means, and yes that is a criticism. And ain’t nobody gonna stop you hunting deer or drinking beer. But I wonder if ICE would have picked up brown skin Jesus if he were in the streets of Minneapolis-wrong color and looking too gay, Son of Man!
February 17, 2026 @ 12:47 pm
ICE picks up illegals. So if, Jesus was here illegally, He would be picked up.
Don’t break the law.
February 17, 2026 @ 2:13 pm
Only the act of unauthorized entry is illegal (criminal). Unauthorized presence is a civil violation. Therefore, Jesus Christ, or Jesus Ramirez, if you will, would need to be either caught in the act of entering unauthorized, or be proven in court that they entered unauthorized. ICE picks up some illegals, but picks up many, according to US law, violators of civil offenses. That can result in deportation, if proven, but it is not criminal. I can get behind enforcement of immigration law, but a hallmark of US law is due process. It is part of our heritage, culture and way of life. We agree that our time-honored heritage, culture and way of life should be respected, yes?
February 19, 2026 @ 12:10 pm
No answer to where you stand on due process being a hallowed American cultural value. I am shocked.
February 16, 2026 @ 2:18 pm
Yeah, he might well have directly dedicated this song to the people that think voting for the current administration automatically made America great again (again), even though in practice it is doing the exact opposite of everything it said needed to be done to make that happen. It’s the same type of cowardly hypocrisy that’s driven me crazy coming from the mainstream left for years.
As someone who has uncomfortably found themselves landing more and more on the political right out of necessity, it’s sad to see and have to admit that the mind viruses of virtue signalling, political correctness, and cancel culture have infected both sides equally and completely.
I can only hope the Epstein class does with us what they will before I ever have to hear this song again. We, from one end of the mainstream political spectrum to the other, richly deserve it.
* I know we aren’t supposed to post politically hear, but this is a post-partisan post. My intent is not to stir the typical political either/or pot. I’m so done with it. I get the feeling this article came from a similar head space and greatly appreciate the rant.
February 17, 2026 @ 6:30 pm
The U.S. has never been great except for wealthy white men. Everyone else suffers.
February 17, 2026 @ 7:20 pm
Let’s not get hyperbolic here. Out of the Top 10 most wealthy living music artists in the world, only one is a while male: Bruce Springsteen. The wealthiest by far is Jay-Z, who is married to the 4th wealthiest, Beyonce, with Taylor Swift in there at #2. Rhianna is #5.
February 18, 2026 @ 5:30 am
Since when is Paul McCartney not a white male?
February 18, 2026 @ 8:18 am
Since when was Paul McCartney an American? You would have to do a conversion on the net worth, but I don’t believe he would still be in the Top 10, if he was an American. He is the wealthiest British music entertainer.
February 17, 2026 @ 7:30 pm
Is that so. I think a lot of people that are non white have prospered. But i guess its only wrong when white people prosper.
February 16, 2026 @ 2:23 pm
“I just want to cut my grass, feed my dogs, wear my boots / Not turn the TV on, sit and watch the evening news / Be told if I tell my own daughter that little boys ain’t little girls / I’d be up the creek in hot water in this cancel-your ass-world.”
American-nationalist-machismo aside… This isn’t about engaging in culture wars. This is about objective morality which actually has nothing to do with culture. Is the song writing less than impressive and cheesly clever, yep. Don’t care. It’s a song our Godless post-modern world needs to hear.
So keep on singing Brice.
February 16, 2026 @ 2:54 pm
Many have been comparing “Country Nowadays” to Bo Burnham’s “Countr song” in his 2013 comedy special…………….and while I’ve personally always felt torn over that because I feel parts of his performance and framing veer a bit too heavily towards that usual coastal elitism smugness and high-falutin’ attitude towards our community and also fails to acknowledge the wide chasm between the Nashville songwriting machine and the much broader independent country music community here where so much authenticity resides……………..in this particular context I think that comparison pretty much nails it on the head.
The lyrics are seriously implying that Brice literally CAN’T mow his lawn, feed his dogs or drink a beer…………………because trans people exist. Regardless of your thoughts and feelings on this particular issue overall: this fake-ass victim complex is just beyond embarrassing and reeks of self-parody of the first degree.
February 16, 2026 @ 7:29 pm
…”The lyrics are seriously implying that Brice literally CAN’T mow his lawn, feed his dogs or drink a beer…………………because trans people exist.”……
Look dawg, I’ve been commenting on this site long enough to know who you are, so let’s not play games. There’s a very specific reason you’ve left 4 comments and counting.
He’s not even figuratively implying that he can’t do those things. He’s just saying he misses being able to live his life without worrying about the dystopian s**tstorm that surrounds him. He’s using those simple activities to say, “I miss when these simple things were all I needed to care about.”
You’re either strawmanning or lying. You should stop.
February 16, 2026 @ 8:09 pm
Well, Honky, I’ve been commenting on this site long enough to know you used to go by your given name, got pissed off and claimed you wouldn’t be back, then snuck in under a different handle. The irony.
Leave Nadia alone.
February 16, 2026 @ 8:27 pm
Give me a break, Acca. I waited over a year and then missed this place and I came back. If you can convince Trig to let me use my old Avatar, I’ll use my old handle too.
As for the individual you’re defending, that person is disingenuous and I won’t leave them alone.
February 17, 2026 @ 12:49 pm
What happened to your old blog?
February 17, 2026 @ 12:49 pm
Honky is Clint? Interesting. He took down his old blog, too.
Quit white knighting for the pseudo-intellectual who can’t even figure out basic gender.
February 17, 2026 @ 4:51 pm
Well, I wasn’t planning on letting the cat entirely out of the bag, just wanted to make a point. I didn’t have confirmation until a few years ago, but I thought it was somewhat obvious given what and how he writes.
As for the “white knighting”, the Bible I was raised on didn’t say anything about picking and choosing which neighbors to love as thyself. I’ve had some great conversations about music with Honky, though his misanthropic qualities tend to grate on me. I’ve also had plenty of great conversations about music over the years with Nadia, and from what I can tell they’re a pleasant person. Why would I want to see them picked on?
February 17, 2026 @ 7:29 pm
I’m flattered that an off-topic comment about little ol me has nearly 30 likes. That kind of hatred is gloriously earned, and I appreciate it.
I wish this site had a dislike button. I’d comment twice as often just to drink the hatred of imbeciles.
February 17, 2026 @ 7:33 pm
“Well, I wasn’t planning on letting the cat entirely out of the bag”
There’s no cat or bag. It’s not some big secret. I decided to stop commenting. I missed commenting after a year and came back. I won’t use my name unless I can use my original avatar. I realize that I originally said I’d never comment again. I changed my mind. That’s it.
February 17, 2026 @ 8:45 pm
Well, the way you quickly scrubbed your old blog and mentioned that you didn’t want your name out there very much gave me the impression there was a cat and a bag. Also, claim it’s all about your gravatar if you want, but that’s an odd reason to be coy about your identity for so many years, particularly when you’ve been interacting with the same people as before.
February 17, 2026 @ 7:39 pm
……”the Bible I was raised on didn’t say anything about picking and choosing which neighbors to love as thyself. I’ve had some great conversations about music with Honky, though his misanthropic qualities tend to grate on me. I’ve also had plenty of great conversations about music over the years with Nadia, and from what I can tell they’re a pleasant person. Why would I want to see them picked on?”…….
I criticized the strawmanning of the song, because it was clearly being done due to the chosen lifestyle of the person doing the criticizing.
As for the Bible, loving someone as yourself requires you to be honest with them. You can’t honestly say you love someone if you enable their wickedness.
I love troons more than anyone here, because I want them to be free from their bondage. You all want them to stay in it. It’s hateful to encourage and coddle people who are suffering from gender dysphoria.
February 17, 2026 @ 9:01 pm
Yes, Honky, being critical and hostile toward someone exercising their freedom to live how they want, something you claim to love in other instances, is “loving”, while acknowledging their humanity and thinking they should be allowed to exist freely and with equal rights under the law is “hateful.”
You mention strawmanning at least once per comment section, to the point I was honestly starting to think it was a schtick. But if anything, you just strawman your own arguments. The pretzel logic you’re presenting here to justify your own prejudices sure is something.
An ominous as this might sound, I mean it sincerely: I hope you can find some semblance of peace before you die, because this malice you carry is just sad. And it sure as shit doesn’t come from the Bible, though you try (as others have throughout history) to bend its messages to support your behavior. But even then, I miss when you actually had something to add to the discussion about country music aside from just grievance. I always felt like I was learning something.
February 18, 2026 @ 4:40 pm
“Well, the way you quickly scrubbed your old blog and mentioned that you didn’t want your name out there very much gave me the impression there was a cat and a bag. Also, claim it’s all about your gravatar if you want, but that’s an odd reason to be coy about your identity for so many years, particularly when you’ve been interacting with the same people as before.”
I had forgotten that I scrubbed some things from that blog. I did that during the Biden years when cancelation was a big concern. If that blog has been deleted, it must be because I stopped logging into it years ago. I did not delete it.
I stopped commenting here because of the Gravatar. I started commenting here again under a new name as a way to not go back on not commenting here under my name. I suppose you could say I cucked by coming back at all. I’ll own that. I’ve never been coy about any of this. Nobody’s ever asked about it until now.
February 18, 2026 @ 8:01 pm
The blog literally disappeared the day I commented on your new one. You’re telling me that’s a coincidence? You’ll forgive me for making assumptions based on that. But, I don’t guess that it really matters.
February 18, 2026 @ 4:57 pm
…..”Yes, Honky, being critical and hostile toward someone exercising their freedom to live how they want, something you claim to love in other instances, is “loving”, while acknowledging their humanity and thinking they should be allowed to exist freely and with equal rights under the law is “hateful.””…..
Your problem, Acca, is that you’re trying to frame truth through your humanistic lens as opposed to through the lens of the Creator and Author of eternal truth. It is absolutely hateful to tell someone in rebellion to God that they are fine how they are. And you WOULDN’T do that to any other category of sinner except the sexual sinner. Sexual sins get ahold of people emotionally because everybody either is one, has been one, or knows one. Most people haven’t murdered, robbed, or done drugs, but everyone has committed sexual sin. And so unregenerate people like you humanize it and reframe it as “just who they are”.
Everybody already has equal rights. We should not be creating extraordinary rights on the basis of sexual sins.
…”You mention strawmanning at least once per comment section, to the point I was honestly starting to think it was a schtick. But if anything, you just strawman your own arguments. The pretzel logic you’re presenting here to justify your own prejudices sure is something.”…
Some form of the strawman fallacy is the single most used argument tactic online. If you don’t want me to call it out, you should criticize the people who do it.
I haven’t strawmanned anything and I have no pretzel logic. Your beliefs are based on how you feel about people. Mine are based on unchanging truth from an eternal God. You hold to a view that Christianity just means to be vaguely nice to people. God calls Christians to be holy and separate from the world.
…..”An ominous as this might sound, I mean it sincerely: I hope you can find some semblance of peace before you die, because this malice you carry is just sad. And it sure as shit doesn’t come from the Bible, though you try (as others have throughout history) to bend its messages to support your behavior. But even then, I miss when you actually had something to add to the discussion about country music aside from just grievance. I always felt like I was learning something.”…
And I mean this sincerely. I am the happiest, most at peace person that you’ve ever encountered. It’s having a peace that passes all understanding that allows me to be angry at what God calls evil. It’s good and happy to oppose what God opposes. His natural created order and Word tell us what he opposes.
I hope you’ll consider repenting and obeying The Gospel.
February 18, 2026 @ 8:34 pm
I had a much longer response typed out, but I’ve decided against it. You fancy yourself as the only one with a brain in a room full of dummies, and I’ll admit to not being smart enough to reach a narcissist. But, if life has taught me anything, it’s that arrogance and self-awareness seldom go hand-in-hand, and you’re living proof of that. Be that as it may, I meant what I said about missing your contributions to the musical side of the discussion and country music history. I’m sure we’ll talk again. Be well.
February 17, 2026 @ 5:18 am
My best friend got arrested for feeding his dog and mowing his lawn because of the woke mob!
February 17, 2026 @ 7:02 pm
https://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/strawman
February 17, 2026 @ 6:32 pm
Every generation worries about what they lost not the things they gain.
February 17, 2026 @ 6:36 pm
Everyone worries about the things they lost, barely anyone reflects on the things they gained.
February 16, 2026 @ 2:55 pm
Quality of the song is subjective, but the sentiment speaks for the majority of the citizens of the United States.
This critique was a little rough and probably not too objective.
February 16, 2026 @ 3:10 pm
Trigger isn’t objective that’s why he’s good. He brings point of view and opinion to every subject. That’s good that’s why he’s a great writer. Because he actually has thoughts about stuff. What “objective” information would you like about the song? The length? Who wrote it? How many views it has on YouTube?
February 16, 2026 @ 3:15 pm
I would suspect the song speaks for about a third of the country. I do agree that the critique went too far, unless you are addicted to rants, like so many these days, unfortunately. Entertain me, entertain me seems to be the mantra.
February 16, 2026 @ 3:38 pm
I’m telling you, the majority of American citizens think this song is a joke, gimmicky, pandering, and patently awful, and the majority of people who DO support it are doing so because they believe that’s what they’re supposed to be doing with a song like this. This song is very directly being used to discredit the Conservative movement, and country music, and it’s effective in doing so. That’s why as a country music advocate, I have no choice but to vehemently distance from it.
February 16, 2026 @ 5:49 pm
The problem is, you don’t speak for the majority of American citizens. Not by a long shot.
You pander for like minded people such as yourself and valiantly try to appease the “creative, and talented, artists.” Many of which are not talented, nor especially creative.
And that’s Ok.
February 16, 2026 @ 6:58 pm
I never said I represent the majority of Americans. What I said is if you go to social media, it’s extremely clear that the majority of Americans see this song as a joke. That is a dispassionate, objective assessment of the situation that I think proponents of this song should understand. Just go to the Facebook post for this article. Facebook veers right by the way. For every positive comment about this song, there’s 15 negative ones. It’s not even close. This song is a loser. And people trying to push it due to political ideology are undermining their own self-interest.
Or, think that I’m bias, and laugh me off, and keep pushing forward. Best of luck!
February 16, 2026 @ 7:23 pm
Not on facebook.
And, am not laughing you off.
February 16, 2026 @ 11:11 pm
Majority of Americans? You’ve seen social media that represents the 70 plus million that voted do Trump in 2024 because that is the majority of Americans.
You don’t follow any political media on instagram or twitter, and id guess you don’t have account on truth social, so where exactly are you seeing the majority sentiment.
You seriously believe all 70 million majority would have access to or post on lees social media? I don’t think even Taylor swift gets 70 million interactions on her posts let alone comments. And probably why she’s where she is now, a legend, resulted from not drawing conclusions about audience sentiment based on one post, or the reaction to a post a week out.
All due respect, Kyle but you are delusional.
February 16, 2026 @ 11:56 pm
Aldean Stan,
If you think getting behind Lee Brice’s “Country Nowadays” and pushing it to the masses is a winning strategy for your ideology, by all means, knock yourself out. Full speed ahead! Take my opinions with a grain of salt. But it’s my job to have my finger on the pulse. This is one of the reasons I interact with the comments section. This song is an anchor around your neck. You just don’t know it.
February 17, 2026 @ 7:36 pm
Well it can go both ways. A majority of the people were propping up the bad bunny thing on the superbowl on social media. So just cause a majority goes one way or the other isnt that great of a perspective.
February 17, 2026 @ 8:05 pm
Most definitely. Folks were cheerleading the Bad Bunny performance and acting like it was the most groundbreaking thing ever in entertainment when we all know that wasn’t the case. Politics is the domain of irrationality because of the emotions it elicits.
February 17, 2026 @ 6:36 am
Hi, Trigger. I’m a huge fan and love reading your rants and the comments on them. I like to hear a lot of different views, and your readers bring that to the table. I respectfully offer my view that social media does not offer a cross-section of societal opinions. It’s controlled by algorithms designed to make money for the platforms. Keeping people riled up is part of the plan. Your post got served up to users the platform thought it would most affect. That said, I love Saving Country Music. Thank you, everybody, for this rich discussion. Our common love for music brings us together. Y’all teach me a lot.
February 17, 2026 @ 8:38 am
I completely 100% understand how social media is an algorithmic experience where echo chambers and bias can lead to false positives when trying to gauge public sentiment. I work on and with social media every day trying to game the system to be more people to Saving Country Music. Like a drug dealer, it’s my job to know the effects of these drugs, and to not get “high on my own supply.”
Lee Brice’s “Country Nowadays” is a dog. The sentiment about it is decidedly more negative than positive, and it’s not a winning piece of media to get behind to “own the libs” or anything else., In fact, it’s enacting a spectacular self-own. That doesn’t mean there aren’t people out there that like it, or that support it because they think they’re supposed to. But that small cohort is already bought in. This song will only continue to undercut the self interests of the people supporting it. It makes them look like uncool, low-brow idiots, fair or otherwise.
That is my professional assessment that works in this business, and works on social media everyday. People have a right to disagree with that assessment, but I feel very confident in that.
February 16, 2026 @ 5:02 pm
Except it DOESN’T speak for the majority of citizens of the United States.
If anything, the majority of citizens of the United States who have come across the song to date are laughing about it because it reminds them of Bo Burnham’s comedy special a decade ago. They’re listening to it like it’s a parody song of the Nashville songwriting machine much like many also listened to some of Ani DiFranco’s songs or even some the more hamfisted part of Neil Young’s catalog as like a parody of social-justice warrior fodder.
February 16, 2026 @ 5:08 pm
Someone could write a song that touches on topics that are more universal and accurate such as older people who feel their belief systems are out of place in today’s world, people fed up with online dating and the internet and how men and women are more at odds with each other than ever (although this one may be tricky because referencing technology automatically dates a song), how a growing number of Americans don’t trust our government and believe them to all be corrupt perverts, not to mention how a growing number of Americans have less faith in their financial futures and for their kids, or how hard drugs and opiates have destroyed the lives of millions of Americans.
February 19, 2026 @ 11:54 am
I want to hear that song (done well)
February 16, 2026 @ 3:11 pm
It must be a slow news day in country music if this is the worst thing you have to rant about. That said, I do relate to the song, even if some of the things he mentions aren’t being taken away from me personally.
I grew up in a small farming town on the Ohio–Indiana border, about 45 minutes from Kentucky. Those rural roots shaped my outlook in a lot of ways. Now that I have two sons of my own, I find myself trying to pass down the same values, traditions, and sense of culture that defined my upbringing in the 1970s and ’80s—ideas like personal responsibility, respect for others, hard work, and a strong sense of community.
What surprises me is how often I’ve been labeled a bigot or racist simply for expressing beliefs like the importance of secure borders or the idea that people should be judged by their character, choices, and merit rather than their skin color or ethnicity. From my perspective, the themes in the song represent more than specific issues—they symbolize a longing for what I see as a simpler time, when being “country” meant relying on basic common sense, shared values, and a grounded way of life.
For me, the song taps into that sense of nostalgia and cultural identity. It reflects the tension many people feel between preserving the traditions they grew up with and adapting to a rapidly changing world, and that emotional connection is part of what gives the song its impact.
February 16, 2026 @ 3:39 pm
The biggest news in country music right now is this song, full stop. That’s why it’s being written about here. The other reason is because it’s actively being used to lampoon country music and mischaracterize it in a way that is damaging to the genre.
February 16, 2026 @ 4:07 pm
then tell the critics it doesn’t deserve to be lampooned. Tell whoever is doing the lampooning that there’s a story being told here—even if it’s delivered somewhat clumsily or hastily. Tell them there’s far more depth to this song than Lee Brice can possibly fit into three minutes of music.
Songs like this aren’t meant to be academic essays or perfectly polished arguments—they’re snapshots of emotion, identity, and lived experience. They reflect the feelings of people who see the world changing around them and are trying to put that sense of loss, pride, and confusion into words. You may not agree with every sentiment, and you may not relate to the perspective, but that doesn’t make the message meaningless or unworthy of consideration.
February 16, 2026 @ 4:32 pm
I respectfully disagree with your assessment of this song Kross, but I think this is a very strong and worthy defense of the song. I think this is how folks should defend it as opposed to ad hominem attacks on whoever is attacking it. It’s not that in a vacuum, this song could have merit. But having lived through Bro-Country and reading the room, it’s hard to not assess it as counter-productive.
February 16, 2026 @ 5:43 pm
It’s funny how you criticize this song for not being well written, yet you go Gaga for anytime Childers or Isbell when they write a protest song. Why? Childers isn’t even known for being a great writer in general. And Isbell, is known for being a talented writer but his protest songs come off like polemics And screeds rather than well considered Bob Dylan-esque legendary songs.
It seems you only seem to write apologia for left wing protest songs and don’t give conservative songs a fair shake. Just because a commie comments about the world via song, it doesn’t make the song or the sentiment worthwhile or even good, despite what you seem to think!
February 16, 2026 @ 6:52 pm
“It’s funny how you criticize this song for not being well written, yet you go Gaga for anytime Childers or Isbell when they write a protest song.”
What are you talking about? I’ve criticized multiple Jason Isbell “protest” songs. Here’s just one for his song “Be Afraid.”
https://savingcountrymusic.com/song-review-jason-isbell-the-400-unit-be-afraid/
I wrote a whole thing just a few days ago abut how Sturgill was coming across as self-absorbed with his whole “protest” album letter.
Folks need to stop trying to pin political bias on me. It’s never going to stick because it’s not true. The upshot people need to take from all of this is that I truly hate politics.
February 17, 2026 @ 6:02 am
Eeks! Everybody has a bias of some sort. And that is not a bad thing, if there is an honesty about it and ability to listen to other points of view.
February 21, 2026 @ 3:04 am
this song though really is the reason that Isbell said that conservatives aren’t good songwriters.
February 21, 2026 @ 8:38 am
I agree. It’s also why people say country music sucks. That is why if you are a country fan or a conservative, you should distance from this song, not embrace it where 10 years ago, you would have slandered a song like this coming from Florida Georgia Line.
February 16, 2026 @ 5:40 pm
I actually agree and identify with the sentiments expressed by you and most in the song; but how many songs like this do people like us need to feel seen?
Who are the “snowflakes” now that need to have their basic identity constantly justified and “genuflected” about? Are we going to settle for some Lee propped up on a stage to push our comfort buttons and lull us into cooing acquiescence? It’s not a luxury we can afford at this point.
They are just words after all. A song with a bunch of cultural buzzwords and phrases awkwardly and unimaginatively strung together with strumming guitar, but without nuance.
Conservative, middle America, rural people used to be people of principals and action, not triggered in one direction or another by mere words. We are going to have to rediscover that and right quick or we’ll have no identity left for a Lee to lullaby us with.
February 16, 2026 @ 6:42 pm
“but how many songs like this do people like us need to feel seen?”
This is it right here. People keep bringing up the Bo Burnham song as a comparison. He wrote that parody a DECADE ago. A decade ago a song like this was horrifically cliche.
February 16, 2026 @ 4:22 pm
Like you get that longing for a simpler time and meaning the 1970s is referencing a time when people who were adults then were complaining about how terrible the world had become. Disco, gas lines, legalized abortion, hard drug use, stagflation, watergate, birth control, Iran hostage crisis, serial killers that was the 1970s. You won’t miss the 1970s. You miss being a child.
February 16, 2026 @ 4:29 pm
Even though I am more liberal, I can understand why this song would speak to millions and the need for simplicity and the desire to live life as you sees fit. We all want that.
I do wish to add that personal responsibility, respect for others, hard work and strong sense of community describes most people from either political spectrum.
We want secure borders, but we also want people who speak another language to feel welcome. And we don’t want an abuse of power or taking away 1st or 4th amendment rights.
There is a tension between preserving traditions and adapting to AI, instant news, etc. I think that’s a good statement. I know conservatives think liberals are socialists and want no order and have no morals and just support gays and trans people or whatever, but we liberals are scared that anybody who is somehow different will be treated badly if they don’t quite fit into conservative values of stereotype country music, or love the same sex, or speak another language, or just don’t fit into what is “normal” for the so called majority.
February 16, 2026 @ 5:46 pm
I grew up in a small farm town in Indiana. I realize how much our idea of the past culture is built on a mythos. The good things of the past can still be lived today – it’s a personal choice. If you take away the propaganda and the technology, we are all left to look back at ourselves. I can see missing the cultural enforcement of religious norms. I grew up in very conservative churches as a kid and almost every idea I had of Christianity was questioned and filled with doubt. I don’t see Lee Brice as a fundamentalist Christian. It’s like he’s singing about wishing for a change to match an idea of nostalgia – a change he isn’t willing to participate in. TPUSA is heavily funded and influenced by Isreal and it’s been tactfully pointed out by some that there are many closeted gay men in those Conservative spheres. My point is wishing for a utopia without active participation towards the things that make that system, can never happen. That’s what is so ridiculous about communist marxist utopian ideals – they want the benefits of the system without participating in the system – which relies on labor and all the incentives that lead people to participate in whichever profession. I don’t know if that makes sense but I am trying to complete my thoughts on all this.
February 16, 2026 @ 9:10 pm
I appreciate your efforts. It’s not easy to put into words our beliefs sometimes, and even then we may not be sure we are telling what is truly inside us.
February 16, 2026 @ 3:23 pm
Ive read this twice now and I still dont know what Maren Morris has to do with any of this… like its okay trigger, you can not like a song without having to virtue signal “its okay! I dont like Maren Morris either!!!” we get it: you can look both ways on the street and see people to the left and to the right of you.
Maren Morris doesnt even write country music any more, so who even cares… yall successfully kicked her out in order to “save country music!” granted, shes more popular than the Jason Aldean but that’s neither here nor there.
February 16, 2026 @ 11:00 pm
Maren morris is not more popular than Aldean! That’s pure cope. You drinking again? Maren Morris is like the person who quit her job and wasn’t liked by her coworkers but quits and says “you guys never liked me anyway and never gave me a chance, I’m leaving this loser company!”. Was she even popular in any real way? I never cared she left at all, she is pop slop. Then when she left, she goes “I’m coming back to join the job again! And I’m joining the genre i said I hated and said didn’t welcome me, I’m rejoining that”. She’s like a blonde bimbo except her hair is brown. She’s a total loser. She’s cheated . She lies. I’ve seen her slap fans. I actually attended a meet and greet and saw her yell at fans and call them evil. She stood up fans, she screamed at babies. The most shocking thing I saw was there was the merch table at her show, she knocked everything off it, and was screaming f this f that. Ever since that moment I’ve gone toe to toe and tried to spread awareness of what she’s like and how she behaves. My daughter was literally standing there with her cowgirl boots and Maren shirt, and was hoping Maren would sign her LP. I apologized to my daughter and we made sure Maren would never be streamed in our house ever again.
I know what I’m talking about so don’t dare mess with me!
February 16, 2026 @ 11:30 pm
Aldean Stan,
Take some deep breaths. Let the game come to you. Not everything needs a long-winded response. Talk don’t shout, and maybe we can all find a deeper respect and understanding.
February 16, 2026 @ 3:28 pm
Absolute banger of an article starting with maybe your best first line of all time
JPR
February 16, 2026 @ 3:40 pm
Still rates it 8/10
February 16, 2026 @ 3:52 pm
Trig,
Have you considered weeping profusely about this on camera and posting it on Tik Tok? I wanna see snot dripping off of your chin, you goober. Keep crying.
I’ll never forget when you found out who Vern Gosdin was….after he died. Lol
You have no business telling anybody what’s country and what isn’t.
February 16, 2026 @ 4:31 pm
Even though I disagree with his rant in many ways, yes, he can say what he wants to. And yes, we can disagree right back, hopefully in at least a somewhat respectful manner.
February 16, 2026 @ 5:19 pm
Uncharacteristically weak response from you Honky. I’ve come to expect better.
For the record, I never said this song wasn’t country, or that it doesn’t assert a rural sentiment. I would agree it’s a country song. That’s the problem. I don’t want it characterizing the entirety of the country genre, which it’s currently doing.
February 16, 2026 @ 7:15 pm
That’s my point. You aren’t a member of rural America. You’re an Austin based semi-hipster journalist. You don’t speak for how rural America feels and therefore have no business proclaiming what should or shouldn’t characterize rural America’s music.
On its own, the song is cucky, because it takes the “why can’t I just be left alone” position, which should’ve completely died off 20 years ago. We should be writing songs about rounding up Communists and locking them in re-education facilities.
In the context of offending the Earth’s most vile creature, the Communist, the song is great. It offends the Communist. It should be supported for no other reason than that.
February 16, 2026 @ 10:51 pm
Exactly! He’s hyperventilating trying to say “I’m not partisan!” Yet he never seems to get that sierra Ferrell, sturgill. Charley Crockett, Jason Isbell, Tyler Childers, have the NPR and NYT stamp of approval but they sure as fuck don’t have the approval of deep red and rural towns in the south who love country music like it’s family.
Trigger may not want this song to define country, that’s fine. But I personally don’t want any Childers, sturgill or Isbell song defining it EITHER! A long and violent history doesn’t define me and mine and isn’t an anthem either. People in the south aren’t bumping Isbells pro abortion and weepy “white mans world” reparations horseshit. And they sure as fuck aren’t rocking sturgill, not sure if you know but we are Trump fans around these parts. Sturgill acting like a prick isn’t endearing it’s childish.
Trigger seems to think those of us raised on Jones, Jennings, Jr, Haggard and Cash are secretly swaying to sierras feminist tunes or Mickey guyton writing apologia for saint fentanyl Floyd. Or Margo price telling us how to support planned parenthood! We don’t. And we won’t!
I’d take Lee Brice over any of that shit any day of the week. Commie music has no place in country music!
February 16, 2026 @ 11:54 pm
Aldean Stan,
Go look at the comments section for the article I posted about Sturgill Simpson just a few days ago. There are multiple, ultra-lengthy comments about how I was bringing my right wing bias to unfairly judging Sturgill’s “activist” album.
https://savingcountrymusic.com/johnny-blue-skies-sturgill-simpson-reveals-new-disco-hedonism-album/
I don;t think songs from Childers, Sturgill, or Isbell are defining country either. I would give that credit to Ella Langley’s “Choosin’ Texas,” and I did in another article I posted recently:
https://savingcountrymusic.com/a-traditional-country-song-is-now-the-1-song-in-all-of-music/
Also, I have no idea why you keep bringing up Sierra Ferrell. I haven’t known for her to be political at all, and she’s released no music recently, so I’m not sure why we keep talking about her. When she won her Grammys, she thanked her lord and savior Jesus Christ.
You like the Lee Brice song. That’s cool. No need to tear other people down just to drive home that point.
February 16, 2026 @ 4:34 pm
I’m conservative, and I largely agree with the perspectives included in this song.
That said, the whole Turning Point alternative halftime show was a boldfaced grift, and I despise the attempts to market it as “Christian,” when the main act, Kid Rock, has made a living singing about things most Christians find abhorrent. This song itself is just downright bad, and does nothing more than pander to the intellectually dumber portion of the political right.
Merle Haggard knew how to write protest songs. This thing ain’t even in the same ZIP codes as any of his.
February 17, 2026 @ 8:08 pm
Also Erika Kirk is on a tour with a pedophile pastor.
February 16, 2026 @ 4:47 pm
Not only is it a shitty song, Brice turned total snowflake and turned off commenting on his posts touting the song because people were ripping it and him left and right.
February 16, 2026 @ 5:15 pm
I can understand why some people are defending this song. But the people defending this song need to understand they are demonstrably outnumbered. Every thread about this song on social media, the defenders are getting ratioed. That’s why Brice turned off comments. This is not going well at all for him, and country music is catching collateral damage for it.
February 16, 2026 @ 5:35 pm
To be fair, the people commenting on Oliver anthony, Aldean when he released THIAST, Chris Janson after This Flag, Aaron lewis after I’m not the only one, Anne Wilson after Stand, were getting hate too, doesn’t mean people hate the song! I love them!
It’s differential too. If you go on social media after a leftist artist releases an anti trump song the love is flowing. That seems out of whack too, given we know trump won the popular vote and lots of people including myself love trump, and dislike those anti trump screeds. I hated Childers blm anthem album, but you and all the other country folks were drooling over it. I found it boring, preachy and meaningless because he sided with blm as opposed to the Appalachian people who supposedly speaks for and about.
TPUSA event had 50 million cross platform viewers was the most streamed entertainment event in YouTube history, the 2nd most streamed live event in YouTube history, was so successful they are running it back for 2027, and it was a huge success. Lee played a role in that success. The idea he is some bumbling fool is massive cope. NPR panned the song but I’m going to stream the fuck out of the song and everyone who watched TPUSA are as well. It’s one of the few songs I’ve ever heard which calls out the lgbtq agenda and says it plainly. The song isn’t meant to be hyper literate, country music isn’t that genre and you of all people should know that! We speak plainly, in normal language, and words. Rich man north of Richmond, Am I the only one, and TTIAST aren’t super literate either.
February 17, 2026 @ 3:48 am
I want whatever you are smoking because based on your replies you come off as delusional and so far down your own echo chamber you dont know your ass from a hole in the ground
February 17, 2026 @ 7:26 am
Well this response was tailored made for me, as I know you sixtythreeguild from your posts about Morgan on snl, which you argued pink was a bigger artist than Morgan and THE BEATLES. Since then I’ve had a hard time reading your replies and not busting into a laughing fit. Your argument was well pink has more monthly listeners on sporty!
So yeah, no, I’m clean and sober.
February 18, 2026 @ 7:47 pm
Hey check out the pedophile pastor your TPUSA lady is touring with now. He ran rape orphanages in Romania. For some reason Erika Kirk got put in charge of a Romanian orphanage nonprofit in her teens. These are your people.
https://ministrywatch.com/more-lawsuits-filed-against-greg-laurie-and-harvest-christian-fellowship-for-abuse-in-romanian-orphanage/
February 18, 2026 @ 8:48 pm
But remind me again how it’s trans and gay people who are the problem, not the probably thousands of Church-anointed rapists and molesters witb a right-wing/misogynistic ideology behind them
February 16, 2026 @ 4:49 pm
So like the main thing here is Lee Brice is confronting the end of his mainstream career and instead of following Jake Owens example and embracing the moment to make music of substance free of the burdens of chasing radio singles has decided the only way to maintain attention is to become a culture war warrior. That’s too bad
February 16, 2026 @ 5:01 pm
This review is a bit harsh. There are other offerings that deserve this kind of review.
February 16, 2026 @ 5:10 pm
Love the song. Love the sentiment . Love the lyrics. And I love that he debuted it at TPUSA. For how republican we know most country music artists are there are just a handful of songs made by mainstream artists that speak about it. But this will be added to the list that includes Coffey Anderson’s Back the blue, Aldeans Try that in a small town, Anne Wilson’s Stand, Brian Kelley’s Make American great again, Chris Jansons This flag, and Aaron lewis’ I’m not the only one.
The line calling out the evil lgbtq agenda is spot on, and I agree with him about how boys are boys and girls are girls, that only 2 genders exist .
I think it’s couragous of him to do this country, and to release it as a single. I’ll stream the fuck out of it.
Ultimately, I don’t want country musicians in my genre to be liberals and leftists and commies. I want red blooded American music. The leftists in our industry should be drummed out, and the conmies who are artists should be outright banned from radio and blacklisted. Id argue the DOJ should investigate the leftist artists and initiate judicial cases against them. I’d ruin them financially, and I hope the DOJ does, and if possible, they should be imprisoned. If they get deported, as Isbell, Childers, Sturgill, Mickey Guyton, Karen Morris, Brandi Carlisle, and Orville Peck all should be, I don’t want them in the industry. I don’t want them making country music at all. This is our culture, our heritage, our country, our traditions, our values, and our homeland. And if you aren’t down with that, then you can get the fuck out of my country.
I want country to support ICE and the president. And Lee does!
February 16, 2026 @ 5:31 pm
Sorry to burst your fantasy, but I aint leaving. You can grasp on to your dying bigoted traditions all you want but I suspect Isbell, Childers, Sturgill, Mickey Guyton, Karen Morris, Brandi Carlisle, and Orville Peck arent leaving either…
February 16, 2026 @ 7:44 pm
“You can grasp on to your dying bigoted traditions all you want”…
Logical translation:
“Wanting a nation with a shared identity and culture like every country on Earth had until 5 minutes ago is a bigoted tradition. I’m a pasty upper middle class white guy from the burbs and that makes me the arbiter of what constitutes bigotry.”
February 16, 2026 @ 8:12 pm
You can keep grasping, posting on social media, buying every kid rock song on iTunes you want, it wont save your absurdist demands that world stop and revert to a past that never existed.
“I don’t care how good your good old days was for you. They’re not good enough for me” – that was said by Woody Guthrie nearly 100 years ago… not 5 minutes ago
February 17, 2026 @ 10:27 am
Do you know what Woodie Guthrie’s position was on Nazi Germany while the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact held? When Woodie Guthrie tells you who he is, believe him.
February 17, 2026 @ 12:52 pm
Guthrie supported the Soviet invasion of Poland.
He supported the most murderous regime in history.
What a hero that Woodie!
February 17, 2026 @ 7:08 pm
……“I don’t care how good your good old days was for you. They’re not good enough for me” – that was said by Woody Guthrie nearly 100 years ago… not 5 minutes ago”……..
Guthrie was a Communist.
February 16, 2026 @ 8:16 pm
You can grasp all you want, boycott crappy light beer, Buy every kid rock song on an antiquated platform just to see his stock jump, insult all you want, you still wont be able to stop the progress of the country or somehow revert it to a magical era that never actually existed.
“I don’t care how good your good old days was for you. They’re not good enough for me” a quote from a country legend over 90 years ago thats as true now as it was then
February 16, 2026 @ 10:42 pm
And you can post on here all you want, anti-ice rioters and troons haven’t stopped a single person from being deported . In fact deportations have increased, as they should. Every illegal is getting deported and we will have our homeland again. No amount of woke beta soy fucking cucks can stop it either. Troons need to be institutionalized and be banned from owning firearms and anyone here illegally needs to be in alligator Alcatraz.
February 16, 2026 @ 9:29 pm
See you at the next No Kings rally!
February 16, 2026 @ 5:22 pm
I believe Merriam Websters word of the year was “Ragebait” and that seems to be what this song is. It adds to any discourse about as much as fake Chris Stapleton quotes or ai slop o Willie Nelson and dolly Parton holding up signs with messages theyd never in real life endorse.
Unfortunately people have found you can make quite the buck at producing rage bait nowadays so here we are
February 16, 2026 @ 5:29 pm
I like Lee Brice. He’s made some good music.
This ain’t it. This one shouldn’t of left the cutting room.
February 16, 2026 @ 6:38 pm
Actually like this song. Agree with 90% of what you say Trigger but I have to disagree with this take. He’s saying what a lot of us feel. Just because the silent majority is running to voice their opinion on social media doesn’t mean there aren’t a lot of us who feel the same as Lee.
February 16, 2026 @ 7:29 pm
Given what occurred today at a hockey rink, if anything Lee is polite and underselling the danger these groups of people are to our nation. I support his conclusions in the song, 1000%, and these people
Need to be institutionalized, thrown in prison, and cast to the outer darkness. It’s nihilism writ large and instead of being angry at themselves and getting help or excising themselves they take it out on religious people and families, they don’t believe in god so they kill gods children. The time for appeasing these people is over. I don’t want their causes in my music, in my industry, in my state, or in my society. I don’t want them in my country.
If you believe there are more than 2 genders, I don’t want you in my country and you need to be deported. If that means Childers, Isbell, Mikey guyton and Karen Morris get deported I could give a fuck.
February 16, 2026 @ 7:39 pm
It’s a song about a dude who misses being able to just worry about simple things instead of worrying about the ever-growing dystopian hellscape that has become the country his ancestors conquered and died for.
If Trig is going to cry about the song, he should cry about it being too cucky. It espouses an “I just wanna be left alone” sentiment, when we need country songs about defeating our enemies. “I just wanna be left alone” is the song of someone who has no idea what time it is. I want Kid Rock or whoever to write a song about rounding up pasty, white Communists and putting them into re-eduction facilities to save America.
In the context of the current climate, anything that offends the left is worth supporting, including this song. It sounds semi-country, and rural people can relate to it.
February 16, 2026 @ 8:05 pm
Honky,
You seem to be under the impression I’m “crying” about this song, when I’m doing the exact opposite. I’m laughing at it because the only way I can cope with its absurdity is by being absurd.
February 17, 2026 @ 7:14 pm
I’m not even sure I understand what your problem is. It’s a song about a dude who longs for better days in a way that people can relate to. What’s absurd about it?
I suspect it’s absurd to you because of what I said above. You genuinely have no idea what rural red state Americans think because you’re never around them, and your opinion is informed by your snooty “I’m a journalist” perspective.
I’ve always loathed Lee Brice, but this is the best song he’s ever written, of the ones I’ve heard.
February 17, 2026 @ 8:10 pm
“I’m not even sure I understand what your problem is.”
That’s exactly the problem, Honky. You don’t seem to be considering at all that there was this little phenomenon a few years back called Bro-Country. There was a band called Florida Georgia line that got massive on it. It became super popular, and a massive embarrassment for most actual country fans, became a scourge of American culture repudiated by people in sports and general culture for its list-like lyrics and pathetic, stereotypical beer, truck, fish country-isms. Lee Brice’s song so spectacularly embraces that lampooned and universally-reputiated style, it kind of doesn’t matter what the sentiment is behind it. It’s aggressively trite to the point of embarrassment.
February 19, 2026 @ 11:17 pm
I come here to learn about new (and old) music, and read Trig make fun of shitty music. That’s what this place is to me. Just because you happen to eat what this particular pandering shit music is serving you are getting extremely butt hurt, and kinda weird.
February 17, 2026 @ 12:22 am
“In the context of the current climate, anything that offends the left is worth supporting, including this song.”
I disagree. This song will offend the left for about five minutes, after which they will move on to the next dumb controversy. A good political/protest song has staying power – and can shine a floodlight on how ridiculous society has become – while actually sounding good. The only thing we’ll get by supporting this is mediocre pandering music from has-beens who would never have released this were they not commercially unviable.
I don’t want that.
February 17, 2026 @ 8:29 am
“Rich Men North of Richmond” had actual viraly and resonated with people. Then there was a smallish backlash over the Fudge Round line and right-leaning infuencers swept in to support it even more. Many of the small amount of people supporting “Country Nowadays” are only doing so because they think they’re supposed to.
February 17, 2026 @ 9:10 am
Give it some time! The single isn’t even out, he only just premiered it last week. You seem to be acting like the song is a flop. It’s nkt even released yet. Not sure how you can claim what you claim.
You seem so hell bent on suggesting this isn’t a hit, yet you of all people know in this day and age sometimes hit songs take time.
February 17, 2026 @ 9:58 am
Hey, if you think “Country Nowadays” is going to be a big hit, you just keep pushing behind it. Good luck! I’m sure people will be touting how many downloads it receives, and how it tops the download charts when it’s released.
February 17, 2026 @ 10:59 am
Correct me if Im wrong but didnt Oliver Anthony himself get frustrated with those on the right trying to use it to advance their own political agendas? Thats very different than Lee Brice trying to cling to a spotlight by oressing very specific right wing buttons to grab a payday
February 17, 2026 @ 11:19 am
Yes, Oliver Anthony came out and said he did not want right-leaning politicians and influencers co-opting his song, and saw them as just as much part of the problem. That said, it is probably fair to say the song and his general messaging codes right. He just also sees the ruling class and the political binary as part of the problem.
February 16, 2026 @ 11:28 pm
I don’t hate foreigners. I just love my people, my country and my home. Our homeland must be won and protected from all invaders. America isn’t an economic zone . It’s a homeland, with specific people, a culture, traditions, ways of life, heritage. And those things need to be honored, protected and fought for.
February 17, 2026 @ 12:55 pm
Western nations aren’t allowed that luxury. Import the third world or else!
February 19, 2026 @ 2:41 pm
These are both ridiculous statements. Our culture is literally an amalgamation of the world’s cultures. This homeland is literally made up of foreigners who came here/come here for a better life. Not as a horde of invaders. Heritage, what heritage are you referring to? The Dutch, the Germans, the Italians, the Greeks, the Irish, the Chinese, the Spaniards, the Africans, the Indigenous , etc., etc.?
When and why did Americans start fronting like we don’t all come from somewhere else? And, minus the Indigenous, relatively recently. Who exactly are we fighting? Our own ancestors who decided to come a century later, aka our literal cousins. We aren’t afforded the luxury of pulling up the mat because we are all new comers.
For the love of God, we literally have a statue stating “give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breath free”. Or are we re-writing history and pretending it’s not there? Or that it only applied to my ancestors, because (insert reason here)?
February 17, 2026 @ 2:11 am
…just picturing “lucy darling” asking him: what’s your name, darling? what do you do in live, lee? answering “country nowadays” he’d probably regret for the rest of his life.
February 17, 2026 @ 5:13 am
Nailed it! Hell of a rant
February 17, 2026 @ 6:27 am
I live in rural America. I can wear my boots, catch my fish, drink my beer, and drive my truck all I want. Super easy to be country nowadays. Social and corporate media is a blight on the modern mind.
February 17, 2026 @ 7:17 pm
Conrad,
The song isn’t even remotely suggesting that you can’t do those things.
You’re either:
A. Playing dumb to be funny or a smart aleck.
B. Strawmanning it for political points.
C. Someone who hasn’t listened to it.
D. Someone with a sub-90 IQ.
He’s saying he wishes those were the only things he had to worry about, not that he can’t do them.
February 17, 2026 @ 10:38 pm
“It’s amazing how much leftist discourse is just them pretending not to understand things, thus making discourse impossible”
February 17, 2026 @ 7:23 am
Tik tok was straight up clowning him, mishearing the lyrics, thinking he was singing “I just want to kiss my fish.”
February 17, 2026 @ 9:16 am
Lol. I do think he should be credited for singing live, though.
February 17, 2026 @ 7:44 am
Somehow, here in Europe, I find it relaxing to think that the culture war being fought in the States is not my battle and that I can simply enjoy country music.
February 17, 2026 @ 9:15 am
I don’t think this is nearly as bad as you make it out to be. It also doesn’t necessarily seem likely to be a hit.
“You assume that you don’t like me means that I don’t like you, too.”
The line about being considered a hateful monster for supporting law enforcement.
The line about gender was definitely low-hanging fruit, but nobody who lives in reality actually believes the radical elements of that debate.
There are redeeming qualities to this song. Would I argue that it’s well-written? No. Some parts resonate, but that’s about it.
Maybe your reaction is a bit and I’m just not catching it, but this song is ultimately harmless.
February 17, 2026 @ 10:00 am
“Maybe your reaction is a bit and I’m just not catching it, but this song is ultimately harmless.”
This reaction is absolutely a bit. That is why it’s marked as a “rant.” “Country Nowadays” is not harmless at all though. There might not be a song that has hurt the public sentiment about country music this bad in the last 25 years. It’s one of those songs America loves to hate.
February 17, 2026 @ 9:18 am
Every “big” thing about the TPUSA event has been completely overblown. “Til You Can’t” has no chance at becoming a massive hit for Kid Rock because he doesn’t have the vocal ability to carry it. The Cody Johnson precedent completely undercuts any effort by Kid Rock’s team to promote this song beyond a partisan audience. This song by Lee Brice is ultimately harmless and likely won’t do much beyond being performed at this event. Gilbert and Barrett are afterthoughts, both on radio and from this show. I like that there was an alternative to the Super Bowl halftime show and hope this sets a precedent for the future
February 17, 2026 @ 9:38 am
Look I’m not a fan of this song at all. Yes it’s a few years late and rather cheesy with the “I just wanna drink my beer” lines. Definitely a cash grab. That being said, the people in the comments here loosing their collective minds over Lee making a “political song” and saying that has no place in country are the same types who have a cult like adoration of Tyler Childers, who’s gotten obnoxiously preachy the past couple years. Politics has reared it’s head many a time in country music, so can we please stop pretending Lee broke some sort of taboo?
February 17, 2026 @ 3:43 pm
I like the song, but your sentiment is correct. The same people who crowed endlessly about Tyler Childers, Sturgill and Isbell being a bright light in the genre for their stands they take again last republicans and for left wing causes, people were weeping that sturgill was busking outside the CMAs whining about “fascism” and shared that silly video of him ranting about “let’s fight the darkness” after the 2024 election. That stuff only made me roll my eyes and groan. Or when Childers created that BLM inspired album and made that moronic sit down video where he talks about how it’s our duty as privileged white people to support BLM. Rolled my eyes at that too and never supported BLM, as I don’t support hoodlums, thugs and criminals. Or when Isbell was suddenly the darling of the left for calling out Morgan Wallen and remember that tour where he only had black female supporting acts? Never understood how he didn’t get how backwards, and flat out racist and virtue signaling that came off. Beyond that Isbell never spoke for me and mine on race or abortion or that idiotic Georgia album he released after Biden won.
I think you raise the point I’ve been long hammering: when Isbell or sturgill or Childers release a protest song it’s minted and treated as god tier . I’ve never understood SCM and the larger indie country scenes worship of Childers, sturgill and Isbell. Triggers posts about their albums Over the years feels like the apostles writing about Christ or something. I just don’t understand that level of sycophantic praise for mid tier at best artists. Every new album is written about like its moses bringing down the tablets from the mountain. I just don’t view these artists like that, they don’t make music worthy of that level of praise and it makes me feel yucky to even spend much time reading about them.
I think there’s a difference between covering these artists and being fanboys and fan girls about them to the point where we are supposed to sacrifice the fatted lamb to their music as it’s holy. I feel like this site and even Grady are guilty of this. But every album by these artists is worthy of being covered. And all are in their later stages of their careers anyways. All have their most acclaimed work being their fist couple records. They’ve long left that work in the past. Just like we should leave them.
February 17, 2026 @ 4:02 pm
“I think you raise the point I’ve been long hammering: when Isbell or sturgill or Childers release a protest song it’s minted and treated as god tier . I’ve never understood SCM and the larger indie country scenes worship of Childers, sturgill and Isbell. Triggers posts about their albums Over the years feels like the apostles writing about Christ or something.”
Dude, you keep saying this same bullshit over and over, hoping if you repeat it, it will somehow become the truth. You have no idea what the fuck you’re talking about. Jason Isbell hates me, called me an “incel” and a Trump supporter who was too cowardly to admit it. The last time I talked to Sturgill, he told me to give him a good reason not to sue me for every cent to my name. Good luck squeezing that turnip. That’s after I wrote my review for “Sound and Fury.”
https://savingcountrymusic.com/album-movie-review-sturgill-simpsons-sound-fury/
I have continued to post links directly refuting your ludicrous claims, and you just ignore them. I objectively consider every bit of music that comes in front of me. And if you think I’m such a piece of shit and stanning for my guys, why are you still here?
And STOP leaving lengthy, redundant posts.
February 17, 2026 @ 9:56 am
He is one of those singers who have never really impressed me. He is ok and not the worst. Its just not that good a song but not the worst I have heard. There are much worse. Surely, there are more deserving songs/performances for a rant? Whatever, I enjoyed the rant more than the song.
February 17, 2026 @ 10:43 am
There is a meme that has been floating around the internet RW for a while now that can be summed up as “grilling Americans.” These are people who love the rage bait and love to complain but refuse to organize politically for the posterity of their people and their culture.. in short, they just want to grill. This is a slight modification of a “fan duel American,” who may have the right intuitions about how things should be, but as long as they have their bread and circuses and or beer and sports gambling, they are placated enough to have all their most potent energy ultimately aimed into masterbatory and meaningless distractions like football games. These people are are a scourge on their civilization and must go away immediately. Toilet paper USA is a billion dollar institution that exists to make sure all these grilling Americans stay grilling Americans, and when their leader/founder started to wake up to this reality.. they killed him in the most brutal and humiliating way. These are the stakes. This is the game. The real game.
God bless. And God bless real country music.
February 17, 2026 @ 3:00 pm
“Toilet paper USA.”
Oooooh…you’re so clever. Don’t cut yourself on that edge. 😂 TPUSA is not a billion dollar institution, not even close (two minutes on a neutral search engine would have told you this). If you’re offended by people spreading the gospel and turning hearts to God, you’re the problem, not them.
February 18, 2026 @ 8:45 pm
The current head of tpusa, Erica kirk, is currently on tour with a pedophile pastor. Here’s a little bit about the accusations about him and his associates. But tell me again how trans people are the problem
https://ministrywatch.com/more-lawsuits-filed-against-greg-laurie-and-harvest-christian-fellowship-for-abuse-in-romanian-orphanage/
February 18, 2026 @ 9:36 pm
Stellar,
You already dropped this information in this comments section already. This goes for everyone: We need to leave this comments section open for discussing this particular Lee Brice song. We’re not going to solve the world’s political problems here, and nobody’s going to be convinced of anything.
February 17, 2026 @ 2:55 pm
Imagine that, a man writing and singing a heartfelt song that obviously means something to him. Clearly the point of the song went over a lot of heads. Maybe Brice should have written an anti-ICE song (no one on the left had a problem with immigration laws when Clinton or Obama were deporting millions of illegals). This is all so tiresome.
Much ado about nothing.
February 17, 2026 @ 3:51 pm
I thought when a Country musicians career came to an end: they found God and made another awful Christmas Album and/or repetitive make-me-wanna-gag Gospel album. This guy’s just speaking his truth; his truth, not THE TRUTH™.
Anyway …
February 17, 2026 @ 7:54 pm
Seems like a lot of nothing til the song actually comes out. Ill listen to it then if i havent forgotten and then talk about it.
February 17, 2026 @ 9:36 pm
For a dude who just wants to drink beer, drive his truck, and fish, he sure does care a whole lot about how strangers dress
February 18, 2026 @ 10:25 am
Clearly the author is very immature and desperately seeking attention. I contemplated whether to feed his desperation, but anything written this poorly deserves a comment. It takes serious effort to get something this wrong! Great song that is targeting adults. Music is powerful, but it will not make boys into men, so not surprised you didn’t care for it. God bless and God’s speed.
February 18, 2026 @ 5:07 pm
Look the song is meh… Lee Brice sucks… Trump has kicked ass as president. I enjoyed Kid Rock’s new song which is probably just pandering. This song is pandering and could have been done better and by a respectable artist. It lacks the depth the sentiment deserves. I am great with people voicing their opinions that are not liberal, but this is a last ditch effort for this artist I honestly can’t name a single song of his. Kyle, we get it you hated the alternative half time show. And honestly it was not good, but I was glad not to give ratings to the woke NFL. They suck! This article is over the top. We get it you don’t want this trash associated with country music fans, but you go through great lengths to trash people who just don’t want to support liberal propaganda.
February 20, 2026 @ 8:38 pm
Kyle doesn’t give a shit about country music. Anyone who still think he does is delusional. He is a guy who never could make
It himself so attacks those who did. He is utterly pathetic.
February 18, 2026 @ 7:28 pm
That stupid damn show that just won’t go away. As soon as I heard about it I was pissed, billing it as Country with not one real Country act. That being said, obviously anyone who has to sing about being Country nowadays is almost unequivocally not. What a fraud. He ain’t Jr, he ain’t even Toby Keith. I wholeheartedly agree, this is an abysmal embarrassment and people should not feel the need to defend it because of their politics. Politics will never trump (no pun intended) good Country music and the fight to preserve it.
February 20, 2026 @ 8:35 pm
Goodness you’ve become a soft liberal prick. I know you wish you had a career in country music, let alone one as good as Lee Brice’s, but alas you bitch on a website that just criticized actual artists you’re a coward.
February 21, 2026 @ 6:39 am
I finally got to hear this song this morning. I dont see the issue with it. Im not a fan of brice and the vwrsion was a rough version not a studio version so i cant say i loved it but i dont see the problem far as the words. Hes saying how he feels. A lot of what hes saying is true from a certain perspective. Im a big fan of the waltons and ive been rewatching or in some cases watching the first time the series episodes. Thr grandma and the mom in particular schew a lot about changing values or whatever. Its just a tv show but it does refelect some people thoughts in that day n age of the setting but that can also be taken into any era. Changes happen and sometimes they are good, lots of times even, but not always are they good and even when they are, there can be negative aspects to them. So i feel this rant was totally unnecessary. The song really isnt even that polarizing. The fact you take issue with a simple message but had no problem with the nfl promoting a singer during its halftime singing in another langiage than the common tougue of the country is kind of odd. I didnt personally have a problem cause i didnt have to watch but i dont have a problem with this either.
February 21, 2026 @ 8:51 am
“The song really isnt even that polarizing. The fact you take issue with a simple message but had no problem with the nfl promoting a singer during its halftime singing in another langiage than the common tougue of the country is kind of odd.”
The song might not be polarizing to you. That doesn’t mean the song isn’t polarizing. In truth, it is extremely, extremely polarizing. That is an objective assessment based on how the song pierced the zeitgeist more than any other performance during the halftime alternative show, and became a meme. I don’t think it’s hard to understand why that might be when it very directly veers into politics, directly addresses the transgender issue, and talks about “cancellation.” Though really, it’s the list-like lyricism that has made it so polarizing. If it wasn’t polarizing, Lee Bride would have not needed to release multiple statements addressing the polarization around the song. “Country Nowadays” is a polarizing song.
To say I had no problem with the Bad Bunny performance is total revisionist history. For years I have been criticizing the NFL for not booking a country artist to perform to the point of people making fun of me for it. I think Bad Bunny was clearly a polarizing pick for the NFL, and the reason there was an alternative halftime show. I also had multiple criticisms of Bad Bunny’s performance specifically. But I’m also not going to attack the guy just because he’s not my style of music. He did what he does well.
As I said before all of this transpired. America didn’t get two halftime performances. They got none. Neither served the interest or found universal appeal in the United States. Both were polarizing. Both worked to divide us. This song didn’t help matters, and it has cast country music in a negative light with many. That is why I felt I needed to address it.
February 26, 2026 @ 1:13 pm
I imagine the type of country Lee is talking about is them fellers with the lifted pavement princesses, bedazzled wranglers, wife beater and cowboy hat. This is a for sure a future cul-de-sac cowboy anthem!
Thanks Trigg for just having YOUR own opinion. Not everything is black or white, red or blue. Anyone who thinks this way is simple minded and quick to forget Trigg calling out Jason Isbell for opposite views of Brice. It’s wild how any critique is picking a side. Binary thinking and echo chambers, bad combos.