Southern Accents Make a Comeback in Country, But Are They Real?
Time was in country music when the Southern drawl was going the way of the dinosaur. I know, strange to think because of how pronounced Southern accents are today and since they’re usually considered part and parcel with country music. But in the mid to late 00’s when soccer moms were country’s most coveted demographic and artists like Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood, and Rascal Flatts were ruling the roost, the Southern accent began to lose its prominence and be seen as unsavory by an industry trying to soften its image and appeal more to a pop-oriented crowd. Strong Southern accents were discouraged in country’s sippy cup era.
Nowadays it is a much different story. Southern twang is back in a big way baby, as bro-country dominates the format, and female performers try and turn up the sass to compete. As opposed to trying to apologize for their Southern roots, today’s country artists can’t shut the hell up about them, regularly reinforcing all things country in laundry list form with elongated drawls. This has seen the rise of the Southern accent once again, but along with it, questions about the authenticity of some of the performer’s twang.
Miranda Lambert, one of country’s leading ladies, seems to have the ability to accentuate or turn off her Southern drawl depending on the mood of the song she is singing. There is little doubt listening to the Lindale, TX native talk that her Southern accent is real. The question is if she enhances or diminishes it in an unnatural way when she sings, and if so, does that diminish the authenticity of her music or the performance?
Tyler Hubbard of the band Florida Georgia Line has one of the most pronounced Southern accents when singing of any popular country music artist today. From Monroe, GA, once again you just have to hear Tyler speak to know his Southern accent probably isn’t a put on. But is it unnaturally bolstered in Florida Georgia Line’s music? Interestingly enough, much has been made about the other member of the duo, Brian Kelley, not singing lead much at all. Whether it’s the way the songs were written or the way their producer (Joey Moi of Nickelback fame) arranged them, it was quickly identified that Tyler’s twang was the money maker, not Brian Kelley’s more normalized tone.
Big Machine artist Justin Moore from Arkansas may have the most accentuated Southern accent of them all, almost caricaturist compared to even some of his most twangy peers. Once again it makes one wonder if it’s faked until you hear him talk and his accent is just as pronounced, if not more than it is in his music. He would be an interesting person to ask about another concern facing the Southern twang, which is non Southerners all of a sudden sporting an accent once they get behind a microphone and start singing country music. This is exactly what radio station DJ Broadway from Country 92.5 in Connecticut did in a recent Justin Moore interview, and the conversation quickly veered toward how people think Justin Moore is sporting a fake twang.
“It seems like everyone, once they get to Nashville they have an accent, whether they’re from Michigan or Arkanasas, it doesn’t matter where they’re from,” Broadway observed to Justin Moore. “Does that drive you mad? Do you ever turn you head and go, ‘You were just talking to me, you’re from Michigan and that’s where you were born and all of a sudden you’ve got a Southern accent? Where did that come from?'”
Justin Moore replies, “People have said in my career that mine’s fake. But I mean, you and I have known each other for what, seven years or something? I mean I feel like going, ‘If you think I talk redneck, go hear my mom talk.’ I don’t have the time or the energy, or whatever has the thought process out there for people who have said that mine’s fake. Why in the world would I want to talk fake for the rest of my life?”
But a few will probably still believe that Justin Moore is faking it, probably because other performers without native accents will probably continue to employ it in their country music. Why? Because the Southern accent is a hot commodity in country music right now, and we can probably expect things to get even more twangy and drawn out from here.
June 9, 2014 @ 10:46 am
Logan Mize has a new single out that has a lot of twang, considering he’s a midwestern (Kansas, then SIU for school) boy who has no twang. First time I heard the song I was disgusted by the fake accent.
June 9, 2014 @ 3:52 pm
I’m from KS, @ OK border. We get teased about our accent if we go as far north as Nebraska, East as Missouri or west as Colorado. Honestly. We aren’t consisted “South” but the subtle changes in accent can sometimes be VERY obvious. Then many of us have parents/grandparents who are transplanted from the deep South. When you’re raised listening to it, it’s very hard to edit or of your own speech esp when excited or emotional. I was an English /Journalism major so I had to work hard to edit mine.
June 9, 2014 @ 3:55 pm
Yes, I know people in KS have accents – but Logan doesn’t. Hung with him a few times, heard his music. This new song – it’s laid on thick 🙂
June 9, 2014 @ 10:46 am
He almost needed subtitles on the CMT Awards…and I’m a Tennessean.
June 9, 2014 @ 10:57 am
To me, it doesn’t take away from the authenticity in their singing, even if at times it’s more pronounced than at others, IF it is also evident when they speak. One thing I know from experience is that if you have come up through public schooling with any amount of accent, you will likely have teachers who aren’t from the same area and try to “train” it out of you, especially in English classes or if you have any kind of classes in vocal music. And while nobody wants to hear me sing, I know from experience that there are just some songs that bring out that original accent without the singer being conscious of it. I’ve seen live performances, though, where it’s added for emphasis and yes. . . Just one more way to try to make something authentically country that’s anything BUT.
June 9, 2014 @ 11:17 am
Maybe thats what it is, despite not growing up in the south, I get a bit of a drawl from time to time, and I can’t remember where it came from, i’ve rarely noticed it when singing, and i try to shut it down when I do, but people ask me pretty often if im from Texas, or Tennessee. Maybe its having a lot of southern friends, or maybe I had a teacher with a drawl that I can’t remember.
Either way, I completely agree, I can’t stand when someone hops up on stage and throws on a fake accent, or starts talking with one all of the sudden to sound more country.
June 9, 2014 @ 11:55 am
“I know from experience that there are just some songs that bring out that original accent without the singer being conscious of it.”
Yes, I agree, especially if the singer grew up with any kind of accent, no matter if it has receded over time. Twangy material naturally tends to bring out the inner twang. If we’re going to criticize anyone who sings with more of an accent than they speak with, we would have to include Sturgill Simpson and others. I do think some are hamming it up a bit too much though.
Also, I guess I believe Justin Moore’s statement, but somehow he has the canny ability to speak / sing exactly like someone doing a fake “country” accent. Hmm.
June 9, 2014 @ 11:14 am
Being from california, I don’t have much of an accent, but about as long as i can remember, I’ve slipped into one from time to time, when I’m not watching for it i guess(when im tired, or drinking, or theres a lot going on) I cant help it, but one of the things that bothers me most is fake southern accents, I’ve seen people get on stage and start talking with the thickest southern accents they can imagine, hop off and sound like the stereotypical surfer, and it irks me to no end. I always figure just get up there and be yourself, and you’ll do fine. when i’m on stage is when I watch the most for my accent, because I can’t figure out where it came from. My family has been in california for my whole life, although I do remember some neighbors with accent up where I grew up, I didn’t spend much time with them.
weird huh?
June 9, 2014 @ 11:21 am
the chick from Sugarland sounds like somebody in a local church play doing a bad impersonation of a southern girl…I know she’s from GA and no doubt has a real twang, but she seems to paint her accent on heavier and heavier (over previous recordings) as it becomes more fashionable…
June 9, 2014 @ 2:04 pm
My issue with Jennifer Nettles has always been that she sings just slightly above each note in pitch with a really open wide style that makes her voice very polarizing, especially for a mainstream star. The fake Southern accent just emphasizes it, though I felt like on their last album, she ditched it in places for even more pronounced oversinging.
June 10, 2014 @ 8:56 am
Jennifer Nettles’ vocals on most of the Sugarland stuff would be accurately described as “unnatural”. It has a very exaggerated, very nasally characteristic to it, almost like a Cledus T. Judd-type parody of whatever song is being sung. When she wants to sing in a less goofy way (e.g., “Why Don’t You Stay”, “That Girl”), she seems to come off as an okay vocalist. However, when you listen to the ear-grating vocals of “Love Your Baby Girl” and “Stuck Like Glue”, it seems to wash out her overall work.
June 11, 2014 @ 1:31 pm
Absolutely! I immediately thought of Nettles when I read the title of this article. The overly syrupy accent distracts me from the great tone of her voice.
November 5, 2014 @ 9:07 pm
Time has passed since the last posting but I just HAD comment about Jennifer Nettles. I am watching the “CMA Awards” (11/05/2014) and she is singing with the Doobie Brothers. She has a beautiful, powerful voice but her “accent” is so distracting that you find yourself paying attention to that instead of listening to her actual singing. The funny thing is, sometimes she has the accent and sometimes she doesn’t. Strange!
June 9, 2014 @ 12:06 pm
Sometimes I hear these musician’s accents and think “Didn’t I see you leading a tour group at the Alamo?”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYfjq3ZYZbA
June 9, 2014 @ 12:19 pm
About as real as a psychic with a Caller ID.
June 9, 2014 @ 12:25 pm
My father was born and raised in southern Arkansas. He has a beautiful voice and does not sound like Justin. His voice is so unique that people several rows over in the grocery store come over and say, “I would recognize that voice anywhere”. When he sings, he does not sound like that clangy twangy bangy wannabe.
June 10, 2014 @ 1:25 am
Right on Camie Jo. I’m from Arkansas; and even the old men here, who should have the thickest accents of all, don’t sound like Justin. He’s a serious exaggerater at best, and a complete fraud at worst.
June 10, 2014 @ 9:46 am
My Daddy is an older gentleman. People from 40 years in his past recognize his voice.
That other gloriously cheesy, gaudy version is bravado.
June 9, 2014 @ 12:27 pm
I think Justin Moore’s is fake…
I’m sure he has some accent…but not that pronounced.
Most singers lose their accent whenever they start singing.
For example, American and British singers sound the same when singing, but do not when holding a regular conversation. You have to FORCE it out when you want your accent heard in song.
June 9, 2014 @ 12:54 pm
I’ve always pointed that little aspect out myself. It’s interesting to note that, in every other musical genre, people lose accents when they sing. When I was younger, I never knew that AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, the Beatles and the like weren’t from the U.S. because they sounded just like they were (for the most part). In country, we have all of these people with fairly neutral Midwestern voices that suddenly sound like they walked out of a trailer park into the recording studio. Granted, the whole spectrum probably has a bit of a hue. As Trigger pointed out, twang is the new “thing” at the moment, hence why it’s played up. A lot of these older rock bands no doubt tried to sound more American in order to capitalize on the most lucrative music market in the world, and it worked. It doesn’t mean it’s fake, but I wouldn’t be surprised if many of these guys suppressed their accents a bit in the way that country pop singers overplay it. Irony, huh?
That said, I personally don’t hear much twang in Miranda Lambert’s speaking voice. I think of myself as having a fairly neutral but Southern-inclined voice, in which certain words have a bit of a drawl. In my opinion, she has that type of voice. Of course, I also live in Arkansas, so I have a lot of genuine twang to compare it to. I personally think she plays it up and it irritates the crap out of me for the most part. Songs like “White Liar” and “Mama’s Broken Heart” practically make my ears bleed from the sound. It really keeps me from enjoying her music or appreciating her “authenticity.” The only songs I would really say that I like by her are “Kerosene,” “Gunpowder & Lead” and “Automatic.”
June 10, 2014 @ 1:27 pm
I’ve always noticed that too. When I listen to the great Country legends, I’ve never even thought about, or noticed, their accent; just how beautiful and unique their voices are.
When I hear Justin Moore, all I hear is that fake drawl. He sounds like a comedian doing a mock impression of a Country singer, like when city comedians mock the Southern accent to make all the Yankees laugh at us “stupid” Southerners.
August 30, 2019 @ 12:30 am
Everything about him screams “act” esp. his kitsch videos.
June 9, 2014 @ 1:06 pm
Ok, but by that standard basically every country singer in history including Hank Wiliams and George Jones was “forcing” it. So too were The Beatles who must have been using forced Scouse accents their entire careers, both before and after they infiltrated the American market.
American and British singers sound the same if they are using proper vocal techniques, as if they are singing in a choir (lifting the soft palette and whatnot,) but I don’t think that’s necessarily the case with vernacular music.
June 9, 2014 @ 5:02 pm
Glad you made that point was gonna say the same about Jimmie Rodgers or Dock Boggs going back a bit further.
June 10, 2014 @ 3:15 pm
not really, for instance
“in Penny Lane the barber shaves another coostamer” (customer)
or listen to “I sore (saw) a film today oh boy” clearly some kind of British accent.
There are lots of beatles tunes where their accents are easy to hear.
and lots of North American bands tried to fake some sort of British accent at the time, to cash in.
June 9, 2014 @ 12:48 pm
Justin Moore’s accent is wayyyyy overdone. He probably has somewhat of an accent but his talking and singing accent is just so over the top.
Justin Townes Earle and Steve Earle both have believable accents.
JTE doesn’t even really sing with an accent, more so just talks with one.
June 9, 2014 @ 12:57 pm
I agree that Justin Moore’s is probably more real than fake. However, I have heard him speak when it is not nearly as pronounced as it is at other times. I do think he lays it on heavier depending on the audience and/or the situation.
I’ve always thought Chris Knight has one of the most authentic accents both speaking and singing.
June 9, 2014 @ 2:55 pm
(Shhhhh….country music execs don’t like us knowing that Chris Knight exists)
June 9, 2014 @ 3:51 pm
Haha!! Awesome!!
June 9, 2014 @ 3:38 pm
It’d be hard to picture Chris Knight caring one way or another what people thought of his accent and either playing it up or down.
June 9, 2014 @ 12:57 pm
Having moved around a lot, I can say that accents are a funny thing. I’m from California but having lived in the South for several years I naturally acquired a bit of a drawl. I gotta say, it made singing country music more fun! Since I moved away I’ve mostly lost the accent, but it does come out when I’m not thinking about it or when I’m drinking sometimes. And it probably would if I sang, or was around someone else with an accent.
I wonder too if someone from Michigan, etc. who listens to a lot of country music might just naturally pick up a little twang, especially when they sing.
June 9, 2014 @ 6:04 pm
I don’t have a southern accent, but from listening to country all the time i tend to put a drawl on all my a’s now lol
June 9, 2014 @ 1:28 pm
The accents aren’t a big deal to me as long as you know its real. As much as I hate Tyler Hubbard and Justin Moore, I don’t think that either of their accents are fake. They both talk with a very thick accent. And maybe it does come in a little thicker when they are singing, but I also think that anybody might do that depending on the content in the song.
I think accents also vary on where in a certain state you grew up. Almost everyone who grew up in the deep south is gonna have an accent. But to the people who are saying, “I live in Arkansas and I don’t talk with that thick of an accent,” Justin Moore is from a little town with like 200 people. I think those smaller towns, which are probably also more poor, are gonna sound different then someone who lives in a bigger city.
But like other people said, that’s just a country music thing. You can’t sing about corn fields and mama without putting on an accent. There were a lot of artists that did that in the 50’s and 60’s too. If someone like Kenny Chesney all of a sudden started singing like Justin Moore, then I’d have a problem with it. While I hate all of these people’s music, it’s not because the accent makes it less authentic.
June 9, 2014 @ 2:22 pm
One of the worst lately for me is a young guy from Virginia named JJ Lawhorn. I keep thinking he is going to hit it big because he has all the tropes of pop country on the radio on his album “Original Good Ol’ Boy” even having a song titled, “Sittin’ On a Tailgate” (really, I’m not making that up). I’m sure he has an accent, but man does he play it up strong in his music, to the point that it is overbearing and annoying. Here is a good example:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJrIae6RbJ8
June 10, 2014 @ 6:21 am
Yep, JJ Lawhorn is pretty bad. Also seems like a COMPLETE TOOL. He has a huge following on social media and lots of fans. Loves to tell you how country he is.
June 9, 2014 @ 3:26 pm
I am a slow-talking Tennesseean.
I grew up in West Tn, but have lived most of my adult life in East Tn.
Hence, the twang which accompanies my drawl.
My standard salutation is “Howdy” and I wear cowboy boots year round, even when I am in court (dress boots, of course).
I practice law and I farm.
Most people think I have a funny accent, particularly when I am in the mid-west visiting relatives, or in New York, California, Florida, etc., or when I am speaking with someone who is in one of those venues, like I do a good bit in my practice of law.
Some people can’t help but laugh when they hear me talk, which I find a little amusing but not the least bit offensive.
Some of the accents I hear from the bro and pop country singers sound a little forced to me.
Southern accents have become chic over the course of the last few years with the popularity of pop and bro country music and with the popularity of the “Nashville” television show.
June 9, 2014 @ 6:48 pm
Mel Tillis had a pretty serious stutter when he spoke, and completely lost said stutter when he sang. I have listened to country music since I was born and when I sing it I hear an accent emerge that I picked up singing along for so long.Something I slip into without realizing it when talking too.
June 9, 2014 @ 8:08 pm
Ah but nothing is more bewildering that the Canadian acts with southern accents. WTF ?
June 10, 2014 @ 4:58 am
They are all from SOUTHERN Canada, eh?
June 9, 2014 @ 9:58 pm
Justin Moore and Tyler Hubbard’s accents are most definitely at least somewhat fake. Have you ever heard how unnatural “y’all” sounds coming out of Tyler Hubbard’s mouth? It’s hilarious.
And Justin Moore is kidding himself if he thinks anyone in their right mind thinks he’s 100% authentic. All you have to do is listen to a live video from 2-3 years ago and he sings with much less twang than he does now.
June 9, 2014 @ 10:11 pm
the redneck accent transcends the country… you can go on one road trip and figure that. and i have to say that singing with a twang is stylistic. you don’t always have to talk how you sing. metal guys don’t have to scream at you when they’re sitting across the dinner table… singing in itself is forced voice.
June 9, 2014 @ 10:47 pm
“metal guys don”™t have to scream at you when they”™re sitting across the dinner table”
No, but it’s really funny to envision them if they did.
June 10, 2014 @ 3:38 am
James Hatfiled of Metallica comes to mind.
June 10, 2014 @ 5:33 am
I’m a little late to this discussion, but….First of all, let me say that I am not a fan of Justin Moores music. But I am from Arkansas and coincidently know his family (it’s not a big state). His accent is definitely real. Justin speaks with a pretty thick Arkansas accent, which can definitely sound almost like a caricature of a country accent to someone who is not familiar to the area. My moms accent would probably require subtitles of she were on TV. His music sucks, but the guys accent is real.
June 10, 2014 @ 6:23 am
To touch upon the notion of when people get to Nashville and suddenly have southern accents.. I know a couple of people like that, myself. Sometimes it may be forced, but sometimes it may just been an absorption of environment. Spend a few days with an Irishman and by the time the week is done you might find yourself with a new vocal inflection or two.
I would also like to point out that the country accent is not at all limited to the south.. go to northern PA, or southern Delaware (where I grew up for the second half of my childhood). You would swear you were in the stickest of the sticks somewhere in the deep south. In Sussex County, DE, it’s not a “creek”, it’s a “crick”. The town “Harrington” is pronounced “Hurrnton”, and when it gets warm inside you open the “windur”.
June 10, 2014 @ 6:43 am
“Well my Boston girl, she’s read in the New York Times, that it was very chic now to speak Southern lines…”
Sorry, that just sorta came to mind during this discussion.
June 10, 2014 @ 1:17 pm
Keith Urban has a fairly strong Australian accent, which never comes through in his songs. If you are properly connecting with your diaphragm and have proper mouth placement, your accent will not come through the same as it will when you’re talking.
June 10, 2014 @ 1:44 pm
Good one! Vince Gill doesn’t sound like an Okie, either…when he sings.
June 10, 2014 @ 2:05 pm
Whatever happened to just being youself. Chris Knight, like has been pointed out, sounds like he sounds because it is natural. George Strait’s speaking and singing voice while not seriously twangy it is obvious the Texas accent is there to a degree. It’s natural. I don’t think of my speaking voice as having a “Texas accent” however, apparently I do, last time I was in Canada a local said to me you are from Texas aren’t you. Point being just be natural and be who you are as an artist it is stupid to feel like you have to “fake” an accent. When are we going to get back to original artist’s not trying to manufacure an inmage but be original. It is maddening.
June 10, 2014 @ 2:58 pm
Lindi Ortega is a jazz singer from toronto who recently started singing country. she now talks with a southern accent from living in nashville for like 6 months. its upsetting but don’t group all canadian country acts with her.
June 10, 2014 @ 3:21 pm
A lot of people, like myself, probably can’t tell an exaggerated southern accent, from a real one.
I can’t tell whether a person is from Texas, or Georgia, or somewhere in between.
I’ve heard accents in South Dakota that seemed southern to me, and pretty thick too.
Sometimes, you hear interviews of football players, where captioning is needed.
some of those guys are completely unintelligible to me.
June 11, 2014 @ 3:59 pm
I live in southern PA and all the fake rednecks around here have southern accents. It’s funny knowing they must have practiced it because all of them definitely did not talk that way before, I know because I went to high school with them before they jumped the pop country bandwagon.
June 11, 2014 @ 4:41 pm
gretchen wilson from illinois is pretty awful fake twang
November 5, 2015 @ 7:19 pm
The twang isn’t fake. People from that part of Illinois actually sound like that. I moved near there from northern Illinois and they sound as twangy as anyone from the South.
Pocahontas is nowhere near Chicago. Illinois has a small urban belt around Chicago, but south of Springfield, you might as well be in the South. Culturally, it’s not a northern state.
I grew up with people like Gretchen. She’s totally redneck. She oozes it. I could tell just by the expression on her face – “What are you looking at? I’m going to kick your ass.”
Let’s just say I didn’t get along with rednecks.
June 15, 2014 @ 4:15 pm
Does it matter, I mean honestly. You can open up the cd booklet or google the songs credits and hardly any songs are even written buy the people who sign them. In most cases it’s a co-write spot of them changing two words to be added to it. If they don’t write there own music in the first place doesn’t it mean where buying into what we like to hear an from who. If they grew up in Brooklyn, never wrote a desent song them selfs an at the end of the day throw on some torn up jeans an put a dip in an sign amaaaaahazing grrrace lol isn’t it all marketing from the start. People listen to rappers talk about makin a gun clap knowing they arnt really gang bangers or rock stars that scream about beating the hell out of someone an you can see theyer in skinny jeans an weigh 110lbs. They all fake it, just turn the radio off hair up iTunes or pandora an listen to what ever you like. No one really cares they just like the way it sounds.
July 11, 2014 @ 4:19 pm
I don’t know who is faking and who isn’t but you could probably tell by watching interviews with them. But I will say, I live in Alabama and have heard far stronger accents than Justin Moore’s or Tyler Hubbard’s. I’ve heard men who had accents so strong it sounded like their speech was afflicted, and I know they weren’t faking because it was far from flattering.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKujzXUMhZI
Here are some that are stronger than any in country songs i’ve heard (except a few from less known musicians) and they would certainly not be faking because there is nothing “chic” about the way they sound.
November 5, 2015 @ 9:27 pm
In the past Country singers sang more naturally and not with a forced accent in any way. Listen to Patsy Cline or Jim Reeves. They had a Southern drawl- definitely. But it wasn’t exaggerated in their music. Maybe its because they wanted to appeal to Pop audiences. A twang is nasal, a drawl is not. Elvis had a drawl. He did sing Country music. I don’t think Country music needs to have a nasal singing voice to :”sound Country”. Mike Nesmith- a Texan ,was a great country singer. He had a country voice, but no twang. John Denver too. The mountain music would always have that accent originally in VA, KY, and TN mountains. The Country Music today is not really Country. So the accent is forced to make it sound “country”. And it still doesn’t
June 3, 2018 @ 9:38 am
I just heard a young Country group play a few nights ago, up here in Central Minnesota. I spoke with the lead singer for a few minutes about his group and where they were from. They were all native Minnesotans and spoke very “Minnesooota” when they were talking. But, immediately when they cranked up the music and began singing, suddenly the wildest, whiniest, most-exaggerated Southern twang emerged from their voices. I couldn’t believe it. How could they dare do that….and with a straight face without feeling stupid or ashamed of themselves?!? I really wonder what their REAL singing voices sounded like?!? I gotta say, they pulled it off and had alot of folks fooled and they continue to get lots of gigs. I for one, could/would never have the gall to do that. Geez, what’s wrong with being yourself. Singing with a fake accent is NOT talent. It only shows what a fake you are!
January 24, 2019 @ 7:12 pm
There is a new country rock album called “Songs of Summer Love” which has great country tracks but no fake country voice. Actually the voice isn’t ‘country’ at all but sounds great. This is why I like it so much…
October 3, 2020 @ 11:09 am
Justin Moore, talented as he may be, uses an extremely exaggerated southern accent — as fake as a nine-dollar bill. I live as far back in the hills of Kentucky as you can possibly get. I know many people who have no modern plumbing or running water. They get their water daily from a well, and use an outhouse to use the toilet. They go barefooted 90% of the time, even in town. This place is as country as you can possibly get, and I can assure people don’t say “GRAIN BAIN CASEROW, GRANDMAW’S RECIPAY” Justin Moore’s “country accent” is a great insult to people who really are country. And no — we do need t talk like that, Justin Moore. Keep up the great music, and you don’t have to be fake to sell records. Use your own accent and be real.
November 8, 2021 @ 2:01 pm
The truth of the matter is that there are fake accents.
That beings said, if you never hear any variation in a southern accent then it’s probably performative.
Because the sad reality is that anyone with a naturally occurring Southern accent has had to hide it at some point because of the prejudice.
This makes Southerners more prone to speech matching, which is a universal linguistic phenomenon where a person will alter their speech to match the people that they like and to distinguish their speech from the people they don’t.
This is why people lose accents and it’s also why some accents can become stronger or weaker depending on surroundings; though in the case of the Southern accent it’s also used as a signal of cultual identity within in a shunned group and can be used to convey safety.