Country Music Promotes American Values

Country music, a genre whose roots grew from traditional American values, is popularizing patriotism more than ever as its artists gain momentum, according to a story in the August issue of Townhall Magazine.

Rob Weiner, a pop-culture historian at Texas Tech University who analyzes the role of music in American life, said country artists always have been perceived as more honest and believable than rock ’n’ rollers.

“Even today, there is the perception that country artists come straight from America's heartland,” Weiner said.

“The chest-thumping popularity of patriotic songs such as Lee Greenwood's “God Bless the U.S.A.” galvanized the long but somewhat loose relationship between much of the country-music business and conservatives in culture and even politics, especially post-Sept. 11,” according to Townhall Magazine. “There’s a reason that . . . talker Sean Hannity says country is his favorite kind of music.”

Fox News’ Hannity laces his talk show with clips of Martina McBride's “Independence Day.”

Townhall Magazine writer Dale Buss said red-white-and-blue music not only is gaining attention at home, but also abroad.

“Support for the U.S. military is as characteristic of country as the steel guitar,” Buss wrote. “For example, artists such as Toby Keith and Montgomery Gentry make a point of entertaining American troops abroad on a regular basis.”