Summertime has become a country song cliche. But it’s no wonder there are so many songs about sunshine, sand and bikinis. Summer is great time of year! Country artists sing about reality and true feelings. Well, the joys of warm weather and vacation are real and worth singing about! This summer soak up the country music! Get your fill of country at a country music festival. I was surprised to see how few summer country music events are held in Texas. I found 3 Lone Star State festivals that sound awesome! For the Texas Country Crowd, Crudefest is in Midland may 14-16th. 3 full days of country! Audience members can set up camp on the grounds in a tent or RV. Lots of attendees bring 4 wheelers to sit in and watch the concert. Jason Boland, Josh Abbott, Whiskey Myers, Randy Rogers, Wade Bowen and Casey Donahew will be performing there.
Another Texas Country Festival is Homer’s Backyard Ball in Amarillo, Texas. It will be held May 16th. Performers include Granger Smith, Reckless Kelly, Randy Rogers Band, Hayes Carl and Kimberly Dunn. This festival also hosts a cook off and activities like mechanical bull riding. For those who like pop country The Texas Thunder Festival is August 21-23 on farmland in Glendale, Texas. Brad Paisley is the headliner! Some other the names playing are Florida Georgia Line, Big & Rich, Joe Nichols Thomas Rhett. This festival also gives the option of camping on the festival grounds. Another 3 full days of country.
If you can’t make it to one of Texas’s few festivals. I’ve come up with a few summer playlists that will do the trick. Hottest country songs for this summer for pop country listeners according to XM channel 56 and Vevo are:
Dierks Bentley- Say you do
Keith Urban- Raise em up
Tyler Farr- A guy walks into a Bar
Billy Currington- Don’t do it
Kenny Chesney- Wild Child
Sam Hunt- Take your time
Florida Georgia Line- Sippin on Fire
For my personal summertime jams I’ll be listening to something far less commercial. I love country songs that fly under the pop radar. They have to have a good beat, meaningful lyrics and more traditional country instruments. Absolutely no rapping. If a song has a bass, fiddle or even acoustic guitar, count me in! Here is a list of recent summer country song for listeners like me.
Kacey Musgraves- Biscuits
The Damn Quails- Fool’s Gold
Whiskey Myers- Anna Marie
Randy Rogers and Wade Bowen- In the Next Life
Granger Smith- Silverado Bench Seat
Turnpike Troubadours- 7&7
Josh Abbott Band- Oh Tonight
Then there are the songs that are so precious because of the memories they carry. Songs that raised my generation during the summertime when school was out and so were the popsicles. A 2k summer playlist for those who love the memories from 5-10 years ago:
Alan Jackson- It’s 5 o’clock somewhere
Kenny Chesney- When the Sun goes Down
Tim McGraw- Something Like That
Deana Carter- Strawberry Wine
Zac Brown Band- Toes
Brooks and Dunn- My Maria
Keith Urban- Days Go By
Brad Paisley- Mud on the Tires
The kindest blessing I can think to leave with you is this: I hope each day this summer is like a summertime country song.
Hey Lynden, thanks for sharing your list of favorite summer songs and tips on how to get involved with the country music community this summer. Like you said, the summer is a great time to be a fan of country music. I think its important to take what we have done in class this semester in the country music experiences project and keep it going into the summer. This class has really taught me to be observant of the country music world around me and take advantage of all the opportunities. I have already marked my calendar for the shows I want to see in Dallas this summer. Billy Bob’s in Fort Worth has some great shows this summer and I hope to make it to at least a couple.
All of those country festival’s look like so much fun! I love going to festivals but have never been to an all country one. I will look at my calendar so that I can hopefully attend one of them. I would also like to say thanks for sharing your personal play list as have only heard a couple of those songs. I will look the others up and add them to my playlist because I am always looking for new songs. I also loved your 2k summer playlist because those songs did bring back memories. I remember listening to them at our beach house with my family.
I love all of the summertime playlists you made! To me, summer and country music go hand in hand. There’s nothing better than sitting on the beach listening to your favorite country music. Also thanks for sharing some songs that aren’t as commercial and pop. These days I tend to focus on the songs that are the most popular and I really want to find some more traditional music to enjoy. I’m definitely going to check those out! I hope that maybe I can attend one of the festivals you mentioned but if not, the playlists you included will give me my country music fix!
This summertime playlist is awesome! I love how you not only included the mainstream radio hits that will no doubt play on repeat until September, but also some of your personal findings and a few throwbacks. I also love that you did some research and looked into a few of the country music festivals going on this summer. I looked into a few of them myself and they look like they’d be so much fun! This post is making me wish I were staying in Texas for the summer, but I will be sure to find my way to a few country concerts (if not festivals) in Virginia over the next few months!
I so agree with this post! Sadly, for me summer is now pretty much over. Maybe next year I can go to one of these festivals though… What would summer be like without country music!
The songs in this article truly are great summer country songs and while I wasn’t able to attend any of the festivals, I was able to attend concerts of some of these artists! I must say hearing some of the songs live (that are listed above) was great and makes me want to hear them in a bigger setting like one of the festivals!