Country crooners rediscover raunchy
Anyone who has ever heard 1970s star Conway Twitty croon I Love to Lay You Down or You’ve Never Been This Far Before knows that sex has been a prominent theme in country music for a long, long time.
That remains the case, but things sound quite different these days.
While country music lyrics have never shied away from what goes on between the sheets, many tunes still use euphemisms: Some call it an “allnight kiss” or “a one- night rodeo” while others sing of dates that end in a truck- bed sleepover. And we can all assume what those couples are doing in the avalanche of “bro country” songs about driving down a dirt road to a river bank.
So it took some by surprise recently when songs from two of Nashville’s biggest acts took the sex talk to a new, very blunt level. Jason Aldean’s latest steamy single, Burnin’ It Down ( on his new album out Tuesday), talks about how much he loves being naked in bed with his lady friend.
Florida Georgia Line, the popular duo that accompanied Aldean on a stadium tour this year, has a similarly frank new song on their upcoming album ( which drops next week) called Sun Daze.
“If I’m lucky, yeah, I might get laid,” lead vocalist Tyler Hubbard sings, describing the perfect Sunday that includes getting stoned. The song takes things a step further in talking about ideal afternoon activities with a girl, including quite the double entendre: “I’ll sit you up on a kitchen sink / And stick a pink umbrella in your drink.”
Again, it’s a familiar subject matter: Turn on the radio at any point in the last decade and you’ll hear a number of songs about one- night stands ( Toby Keith’s I’m Just Talkin’ About Tonight, Gloriana’s Wanna Take You Home); booty calls ( Lady Antebellum’s Need You Now, Chris Young’s Tomorrow); and the joy of sex ( Big & Rich’s Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy, Keith Urban’s You Look Good in My Shirt.) Still, this is certainly a very different way of discussing it.
“Country music is not loyal to a sound, it’s loyal to a market, and this is what’s selling,” country music historian Don Cusic said.
“The artists are younger, the songwriters are younger, and they’ve grown up in a looser atmosphere.”
And yet, there’s not really much outrage from listeners of a genre that some still ( somewhat inexplicably) think is family friendly.
Keep in mind, this is also a genre of music in which, a few years ago, Lady Antebellum’s coy Lookin’ For a Good Time got a radio edit for the line “Would you get the wrong impression if I called us a cab right now?” ( It was changed to “if I asked you to dance right now,” presumably because of what was implied to happen at the end of that taxi ride.)
But a couple years later talking about getting naked and doing the deed on the kitchen sink is apparently no big deal. In fact, people seem to love it.
Burnin’ It Down ( written by Chris Tompkins, Rodney Clawson, and incidentally, Hubbard and Brian Kelley of FGL) rocketed up the charts. At the moment, Sun Daze ( written by Kelley, Hubbard, Cary Barlowe, Jesse Fraser and Sarah Buxton) is in the Top 20 of iTunes most popular country songs. How did country music get here?
Nashville has been through these cycles before, says Cusic.
And the country demographic is changing. In the ’ 90s, women and housewives ages 35- plus was the target audience. These days, Nashville is making a concerted effort to win back the male audience.
The most popular songs are rock- oriented tunes about drinking beers, having bonfire parties and bringing a lucky lady back to your truck.