Published December 12, 2024
BY SAVANNA RADOWICZ
If you’ve stopped in at swing dancing nights at Hacienda in Carmel Valley or have opened Instagram lately, there’s no doubt you have beared witness to the emergence of the rural chic aesthetic of matching boots and hats, coastal cowgirls and diehard Zach Bryan fans.
As the rural aesthetic grows in popularity, so does the matching music genre. With deep roots in the American South, the category has still managed to climb charts and turn heads across the United States, according to the Billboard Hot 100 charts, which feature a range of country artists.
Carmel High students lean into the country aesthetic, frequenting concerts and rodeos while decked out in cowboy boots and hats. (courtesy of MAURA GUZZI, AVERY PALSHAW, KATE GRAHAM, PAYTON MASTIN, CHARLEE RIDDLE)
“In the country, folk and Americana vein, there’s an explosion of options to listen to,” says Carmel High School music teacher Brian Handley.
For long-time country lovers, this change was an unexpected one. For years, the country music community had a hard time appealing to a wide audience. Amid a new era of music streaming, the older, more established Americana artists couldn’t keep up with the young flare of pop and rap, according to Billboard. Yet as more young talent enters the scene, the musical style has begun to spread its reach.
“I love how country music is becoming more popular and less hated, but the genre and the sound is changing so much,” says Carmel Valley local Payton Mastin, a CHS sophomore.
There is no doubt that the general sound of country music has evolved in the past decade. Music enthusiasts like CHS music teacher Brian Handley, a member of the bluegrass group The Bubba Pickens Band, attribute the genre’s rise in popularity to this shift.
“I felt like there was an era where country got too popfied…the early 2000s,” says Handley. “It started to be too much about image and not enough about the substance of the music…. The pendulum is swinging the other way now.”
Instead of the “bro-country” blend made up of artists like Luke Bryan and Florida Georgia Line, the 2020s have swapped in a new generation of genre-blending. This section of pop country is home to artists like Morgan Wallen and Megan Moroney, and even artists experimenting outside of their home styles like Beyoncé and Post Malone. This introductory subsection has made country music more accessible to a wider audience. By blending sounds, more people can find their place in the musical classification.
“Part of that is driven by people’s desire to blend genres,” Handley reveals. “It’s driven by younger people who grew up on rock and pop…and they’re trying to blend the two things they like.”
Rather than focusing on trucks, dogs and beer, these new songwriters have made their lyrics more relatable and relevant to today’s generation. Because of this, many country music lovers feel a connection to the authenticity of this new era of country music. For example, popular singer-songwriter Tyler Childers consistently gives listeners an intimate look into his struggle with addiction through songs like “Whitehouse Road” and “Nose on the Grindstone.” In later albums, he also visits existential subjects such as reincarnation and interconnectedness with “Universal Sound” and “Born Again.”
“The message country music has for its listeners is always relatable or wholesome making it easy to listen to,” notes senior Charlee Riddle. Having grown up with this music as the soundtrack to her childhood, the Cachagua native finds it funny that people are now flocking to country concerts and bringing country artists to the top of their Spotify charts.
Even without childhood ties to the western stripe, many late listeners still find comfort in the acoustic instrumentals and sentimental lyrics.
“I didn’t grow up listening to country music like a lot of people,” says senior Kate Graham. “If I am stressed out or anxious about anything, I will put country music on and it always takes my mind off things.”
Despite many new names and faces, country music wouldn’t be what it is today without the voices of the past. These big names were the foundation of the genre and fueled the music so widely loved today.
“Before there was ever a Taylor Swift, there was a Reba and Dolly, who were making a name for themselves as strong independent women with a lot of talent and a lot of skills but also knew how to market themselves,” recognizes Handley. “There’s a commercial aspect there, but I feel like those two have always stayed true to their roots.”
These trailblazers–accompanied in the classification by the likes of Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, June Carter-Cash and Waylon Jennings–set the standard for the Appalachian style. By utilizing raw vocals, simple form and acoustic harmonies, they helped establish a sound that would be loved by generations.
While many new musicians have opted to interpret this sound and make it their own, some have stayed true to their Americana roots. Of these, a notable few are Colter Wall, Charles Wesley Godwin and Charley Crockett. Some have even chosen to recreate the classics with covers like Wall’s “Big Iron” and Crockett’s “(Ghost) Riders In the Sky.”
With so many different choices and possibilities within the scene, it’s safe to say that country music is here to stay.
