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Please don't get me wrong, I do tolerate country music, I am not out to take down the genre as a whole. However, many songs that are actually quite popular lack complexity in lyrics, chord structure, and in my opinion taste in general. A great  example of that which I couldn't use because it was outside of allotted time frame was "Honky Tonk Badonkadonk" by Trace Adkins. I'll give it credit for being catchy but the chorus is quite atrocious using nonsensical phrases and made up words to convey an objectifying message about how women look.

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Yeah the boys 'round here
Drinking that ice cold beer
Talkin' 'bout girls, talkin' 'bout trucks
Runnin' them red dirt roads out, kicking up dust
The boys 'round here
Sending up a prayer to the man upstairs
Backwoods legit, don't take no sh*t
Chew tobacco, chew tobacco, chew tobacco, spit

Aw heck
Red red red red red red red red red red redneck

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Trace Adkins - Honkey Tonk Badonkadonk (Live)

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Honky tonk badonkadonk
Keepin' perfect rhythm make you want to swing along
Got it goin' on like Donkey Kong
And ooh well shut my mouth, slap your grandma
There ought to be a law, get the sheriff on the phone
Lord have mercy how'd she even get them britches on
With that honky tonk badonkadonk

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Great article on the lack of complexity in newer country music

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Great article on the lack of complexity in newer country music

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For my sociolinguistics study, I wanted to investigate the current state of country music. Country music was originally a genre that relied on its deep and thoughtful lyrics to garner admiration and credibility, but the current state of country music is one that does not resemble the past forms of the same genre. Country music has been a staple of American culture and mainstream music since its conception, regardless of the sound of the music. This study intends to unearth why country music no longer resembles what it used to resemble. I intend to examine the differences between the current generation of country music and the previous generation of country music. To do so, this study examines the lyrics of an artist that released music in both generations and identify the changes that took place across the generations. This study provides evidence that the most recent change in country music has occurred as a result of changes in lyrical content, not lyrical complexity. These findings further the trend of country music to mimic traits of other genres that make those genres popular.
Introduction
Country music has been a mainstay of American culture since the beginning of the 20th century, however, the genre does not sound how it once did. Country music was a genre that was formed due to its unique instrumentation and lyrical structure that gained popularity quickly and never died down, yet the same genre today bears little resemblance to its revolutionary ancestor. This, as the study will later illustrate, is because of country music's tendency to mimic the trends of the current most popular genre of music, which for the current generation, is pop music. This trend is largely reflected in the changes in the quality of country music lyrics, not a result of a dumbing down of music as a whole. This sociolinguistic study aims to investigate the changes that have ushered in the most recent form of country music, a genre that reuses vague topics such as relationships, nostalgia, and patriotism, yet continues to maintain profitability and popularity. To do so, I examined the music of an artist that has released music in two separate generations of country music and the differences that are present between the music.
Background
Country music, like most musical genres, has evolved constantly, and it's different evolutions are referred to as generations. Country music began as what is known as hillbilly music, started by Fiddlin' John Carson. Early country music players mostly began as blues musicians, whose sounds digressed from blues primarily because of the instrumentation being used in their music. The introduction of radio ushered in a new generation of country music, hallmarked by the "barn dance" style of music. This music was known as "Western Swing," and gained popularity much more quickly than the first generation of country music due to the ability of the radio to broadcast music to vast audiences, as well as large concerts and venues such as the Grand Ole Opry coming into existence. The end of World War II marked the transition of country music into a third generation. This generation is most identifiable due to the influence of gospel music that can be seen through the genre's sound as well as the content of its lyrics. During this generation, Nashville became a breeding ground for country music and country music stars, and developed its own distinguishable sound. This Nashville sound helped transform Nashville into the country mecca of the United States that it remains today. The next generation of country marked the earliest form of country to introduce elements of rock to it's sound, a novel technique that became commonplace after the popularity of the sound skyrocketed during this era. These elements of soft rock swiftly led into a new generation of country that featured artists that were viewed as stars. Alan Jackson, Garth Brooks, and the Dixie Chicks become unmistakable household names, thanks both to their unique sounds and powerful music, as well as country music's heightened popularity as a whole. Rock's influence become so prominent in country music that it ushered in a sixth and final generation that we are currently in today. Current country music heavily utilizes aspects such as instrumentation and concert experience that previously made rock music so popular. However, the most played country music songs are those that use aspects of pop music.

The lack of lyrical complexity that has become commonplace in pop music was adapted by country music in order for country music to be able to compete on radio airwaves as well as television airwaves. This digression of lyrical complexity can be easily observed by examining the lyrics of country music, as done by Andrew Powell-Morse, an analytics blogger, in a study posted to SeatSmart.com, an entertainment analytics blog known for in depth studies related to niche aspects of entertainment and sports. Powell-Morse's study examined word length and overall complexity of lyrics and derived a formula to attribute a reading level to lyrics. The current top-ten country music artists did not score well, garnering a reading level that fell between that of a second and third grader, barely outperforming the current top-ten pop music artists.

The lyrical content of country music, apart from the complexity of the lyrics, has also showed a degenerative trend in the past decades. Keith Evans, a graduate of Brigham Young University with a master of arts degree, completed a longitudinal study of the lyrical content of popular country music from 1994 to 2013. His findings indicated a trend that correlates to the general trend of popular music lyrics outside of the country genre. Violence and sexual references increased, as well as alcohol and substance instances in 21% of the 1,000 song sample, with the most recent five year sample of songs containing an average of 1.01 alcoholic references per song. These trends are indicative of the quickly changing landscape of country music lyrics as a whole, and the digression of the lyrical content away from its original blues roots.
Methods and Data
To examine the changes in country music that occurred in the transition from the previous generation to the current generation, it is important to examine the work of an artist that has succeeded in both generations, and then examine the changes that occurred between the artist's work in the fifth generation and sixth generation of country music. An artist that has not only released music in both generations, but has done so with tremendous success is Tim McGraw.

McGraw has released fourteen studio albums with 10 of those albums having reached number 1 on the Top Country Albums charts, and his 1994 breakthrough album Not a Moment Too Soon being the top country album of 1994. He has also won three Grammy Awards, 14 Academy of Country Music awards, 11 Country Music Association awards, 10 American Music Awards, and three People's Choice Awards. His Soul2Soul II Tour with Faith Hill is the highest grossing tour in country music history, and one of the top 5 all-time among all genres of music. McGraw's singles have become a staple of the Billboard music charts as well, 25 of which that reached the number one ranking on Hot Country Songs charts.

While McGraw has become a mainstay in country music, his music has adapted along with the rest of country music. To best examine the changes in McGraw's music, both the lyrical complexity and content of his music must be examined across the current and previous generations. To do this, one song from each generation is chosen to examine both aspects from each song. In this study, the lyrics from Don't Take the Girl, released in 2000, and Truck Yeah, released in 2013, will be the samples of lyrics.

Don't Take the Girl and Truck Yeah are two of McGraw's biggest hit songs, and thus serve as apt samples for the study, as one can examine these songs for reasoning why the songs garnered so much popularity. In terms of lyrical complexity, the two songs are very similar. By putting the lyrics to each song in a program that measures readability using multiple tests and scoring measures (readability-score.com), Truck Yeah received an average reading level score of 2.6, while Don't Take the Girl received an average reading level score of 3.3. With less than a full grade level difference between each song's lyrical complexity provides little proof for any major decline in complexity that occurred in transitioning to the current generation of country music.

To even further the similarities between the lyrical complexity of McGraw's music across generations, one can examine the Flesch-Kincaid Reading Ease scale rating for each. The Flesch-Kincaid Reading Ease scale is another test of grade level readability and uses the above formula that uses a score of 100 for a base reading level for a middle-school aged reader, with anything higher than 100 being for an elementary school reader. Using this formula, both songs received a score of 101.3. These readability scores challenge the assertions made by Powell-Morse, who argued that recent music had drastically lower complexity than previous generations of music. By examining the work of one artist over a large period of time, it is apparent that the complexity of music did not change drastically in the past decade.

To further investigate what differentiates the current generation of country music with the previous generation, one must also examine the lyrical content of the music. The lyrics of McGraw's Don't Take the Girl are summarized in short with, "A simple yet powerful ballad about three stages in a young man's life, this song topped the Country Billboard charts for two weeks in 1994 and was Tim McGraw's second ever song to reach that height. The song captures all the various emotions of a young boy, a teenager, and a young adult about to start a family - all told from the perspective of his relationship with a girl.Note that the end of each verse has a hook with a similar theme but different words. In each case he's begging a man (well, God - whose image man was created in - in the third case) to not take this girl. In each case, the word "take" has a different meaning," (Genius). The lyrics of Truck Yeah do not provide as deep of a story. Truck Yeah is a patriotic anthem that glorifies the non-glorious aspects of being Southern, such as embracing being "redneck," and small town staples such as Friday Night Football, last call at the bar on Saturday, and Sunday church service. While these songs would have been played on the same radio stations if they were released at the same time, the two could not be more different in terms of lyrical content, but why? Don't Take the Girl, which was released near the end of the fifth generation of country music, contains a story in its lyrics, similar to that of the rock music that was popular at this time. This lyrical style provides a way for a song to progress, and for more to be revealed, about the story and the artist, as the song continues. In the case of Don't Take that Girl, the story is a love story that begins with a young boy meeting a girl and continues throughout their lives until the girl direly ill, and the boy makes a plea to God for his life to be taken instead of the girl's life. In comparison, the lyrics of Truck Yeah seem insultingly shallow, as the song maintains a chorus that does not shift meanings, and provides no story progression, relying simply on the "catchiness" and simplicity of the song to warrant popularity and admiration.
Discussion and Implications
By examining Tim McGraw's work across generations of country music, it is more apparent that the differences country music shows in the current generation are related more to lyrical content than lyrical complexity. The depreciation in lyrical content can be most aptly attributed to the most popular music genre currently, pop music. Pop music, such as that released by artists like Meghan Trainor, DNCE, and Shawn Mendes, dominates current radio airwaves, and as previously discussed, country music tends to adopt the traits of the other popular music genres in its distinct generations. Just as country had adopted the traits that made blues, bluegrass, swing, and rock popular in previous generations, the genre is once again taking from another genre in order to maintain popularity. Country music has adopted its gradual trend away from insightful and introspective lyrics to catchy lyrics to mimic pop music, the can gain incredible popularity from a catchy hook and beat.

The popularity of country music and its stars was made apparent in the written responses from a survey I conducted in which respondents were asked to list their favorite country artist with a reason why they like the artist. The responses varied heavily, as a few participants focused on the sound and lyrical content of their favorite artists music and the feelings that the music evokes in them. However, the majority of responses alluded to reasons unrelated to the quality of the music. For instance, one respondent stated his/her favorite country artist as Blake Shelton, and provided "because he is on The Voice," as his/her reasoning for favoring that artist. Another respondent stated Hunter Hayes was her favorite artist, "because he is hot," as well as another who stated Luke Bryan is "fun and hot," and another male respondent who stated Luke Bryan was his favorite artist because he, "hooked up with a girl at a Luke Bryan concert once." While some respondents provided sound reasoning based on the sound or feelings created by the music as their reason for liking an artist, many based their opinion on something that has nothing to do with the actual music, but rather the artist's persona or appearance, or something unrelated to the music entirely.
Conclusion
While country music has a definite tendency to mimic the other popular genres of music that are being produced, this tendency cannot be objectively labeled as positive or negative. The prior generations of country music were built upon foundational aspects of other genres, and the current generation is undergoing the same process. While the music does not have the lyrical depth of prior generations, today's country music continues to be consumed by a large audience. It is out of place for one to argue that music made for consumption's sake is any lesser than any other form of music. If music can create and maintain a fan base, demand airwave time, and produce revenue, how can one say it is of lesser value than any other genre? Country music's ability to adapt to change music atmospheres should be applauded, not condemned. While one is not required to enjoy all genres of music, country music's ability to maintain a place in an ever changing music climate demands some form of respect.

Works Cited

Powell-Morse, A. (2015, May 18). Lyric Intelligence in Popular Music: A Ten Year Analysis.

Evans, K. (2014, July 1). "One More Drinkin' Song": A Longitudinal Content Analysis of
Country Music Lyrics Between the Years 1994 and 2013.
Genius. "Tim McGraw - Don't Take the Girl Lyrics"

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Redneck or Redefined? A study of the changes in complexity and content of country music

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For my sociolinguistics study, I wanted to investigate the current state of country music. Country music was originally a genre that relied on its deep and thoughtful lyrics to garner admiration and credibility, but the current state of country music is one that does not resemble the past forms of the same genre.

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Blake Shelton - Boys 'Round Here feat. Pistol Annies & Friends (Official Audio)

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20 Terrible Country Songs By Great Artists

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20 Terrible Country Songs By Great Artists

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Check out number 16 on that list

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terrible country songs from great artists

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20 Terrible Country Songs by Great Artists

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Hey, nobody's perfect. Some of the most beloved artists in country music occasionally miss what they're swinging at and wind up releasing a bad song or two.

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Why I will not be converting to Country Music anytime soon

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Why I will not be converting to Country Music anytime soon

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On a personal level, of the country music I have been exposed to, I do not find myself relating to country dancing, beer drinking, tractor driving messages that are often portrayed (I understand that it's an over-generalization but it's not inaccurate). It's not that those messages are bad but I personally do not connect with them very well.