People say that country music is mostly for summertime, and I completely agree with that statement. Summertime is all about relaxing under the sun, drinking cold drinks and having no worries. Students are out of school, the weather is warm, and it’s just time to let loose. All of those resonate with themes of a lot of country songs, which make everyone want to listen to country music even more during summer.
Personally, 90% of my summer playlist consists of country music songs. Even if I didn’t actually make an effort to make a country music playlist, country music is playing everywhere I go during summer- in stores, on the radio, at the beach, just everywhere I can think of. Avoiding country music is almost impossible, especially given that I live in the state of Texas. Including Texas, “the dirty South” in general, became home of country music and people in the south are crazy about country music, and I think it could be that summer lasts just a bit longer in south than it does in other regions,
Before I really began to listen to country music, I always thought country music was just slow and had depressing lyrics; obviously, I was very wrong. I now know that many country singers release their albums in summer or around spring break time when the weather is just getting warm, and those songs are upbeat and have fun-to-listen-to or relatable lyrics. On that note, my list below mostly consists of those songs that were made for summertime and quite honestly, even when it’s not summer, I listen to those songs and they just make me happy in general. So, here we go:
- “Barefoot Blue Jean Night” & “Anywhere With You” (2011) – Jake Owen. “Barefoot Blue Jean Night” is first number one hit and this was the fastest-rising single in Jake Owen’s career. The album that these songs were in was released in August of 2011. There is no music video for “Anywhere With You,” but and the music video for “Barefoot Blue Jean Night” was taken at the beach, simply depicting the laid-back summer days hanging out by the water during the day and singing and drinking at night.
- “Springsteen” (2012) – Eric Church. This song was what made Eric Church known as a country singer nationwide. It was the first song of Eric Church to enter top twenty in Billboard Country Music, and got him nominated for Grammy Awards. The song is about teenage love and the main verse has a catchy, easy-to-sing-along melody. Even though the song wasn’t specifically made for summertime, verses like “stars in the sky,” and “flip-flops and cut-off jeans,” create summer-like images.
- “Beat This Summer” (2013) – Brad Paisley. The title of this song already gives away that it is about summertime. This song has a pretty up-tempo and the light guitar sound, which make the listeners just smile. The lyrics are fun, as the song is about a boy meeting a girl on a summer vacation. The music video is also fun to watch; it takes place on a boardwalk, and a little boy falls in love with a girl.
- “No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problem” (2002) – Kenny Chesney. This is one of my go-to beach songs, and one of the only few “old” country songs that I listen to. (I usually don’t listen to any country songs that came out before 2010.) The guitar sounds remind me of Hawaiian music, which of course, makes me think of the beach. Kenny Chesney’s “twang” (bizarrely) goes really well with the Hawaiian sounds, and the lyrics are just so laid-back, as you can tell from the title, which makes it more perfect for a beach song.
- “Knee Deep” (2011) – Zac Brown Band. The beats are simple yet a fun and even maybe a little bit funky, and the lyrics are well written. I like how it is solely beach-themed and it feature Jimmy Buffett. I find every single verse beautiful, but my favorite verses are, “Sunrise there’s a fire in the sky,” “It’s a sweet sweet life living by the salty sea,” and “When you lose yourself, you find the key to paradise.”
- “Cruise” (2012) – Florida Georgia Line. This song is probably one of the most famous modern country songs. Florida Georgia Line became very popular with this song, and there were even remix versions of this song, which also became successful. The two brothers (Florida Georgia Line) make great harmony and this song has a repetitive main verse with a catchy melody, which I think were the main reasons why this song was such a big hit. The lyrics and the original music video were about spending summer days in little country towns with a girl. This song is the best-selling country digital song in of all time in the United States and the remix music video featuring Nelly has over 25 millions views.
The lyrics of “Tim McGraw” talk about a summer romance that had to end, because Swift’s boyfriend was leaving for college, and by doing so; leaving her behind.
Music is a big part of life and people who know me know that I enjoy many genres but country music has not always been one of my favorites. While growing up I did hear a couple country songs here and there but it wasn’t until a few years ago that I actually started to listen to it. Ever since, I have come to love the style of music and it’s definitely one of my favorites now. There are so many different artists that I like now and would love to see live but I never bought tickets to see them, until just recently. I wanted to wait to see Luke Bryan first.
