The newer prouder country artist.

Yesterday I posted a link to Jason Aldean's newest release Night Train on my Facebook page. A few hours later a musical comrade of mine made a comment that got me thinking about modern country music.

According to my Facebook buddy the new Aldean album "ain't country".

This got me questioning; "what is country anyway?"

I find that a lot of people I run into who aren't up-to-date on the genre still think country is twangy stories about drunk lonely nights, divorce, and missing your dog. And for years this was country. Throughout the 70's, 80's, and most of the 90's country music was pretty damn sad. Sure their were the occasional two-steppin' hits, but for the most part country music was sad music.

Over the past decade the genre has been changing. It has become more powerful, more "proud".

Take a listen to Take a Little Ride from Aldean's newest album. This isn't a song about loosing a dog, a wife, or a house. It's a song about a hardworking man whose "been workin' all day bailing some hay"; and now he is off from work, and on his way to hang out with his favorite girl to watch the corn grow, from the tailgate of his Chevy, on a country back road.

Now I know if you are not a country fan that sounds like a pretty boring premise for a song.  However, if you do feel that way, chances are, you never lived in the South.  Or a rural area for that matter.

Well in my short life I lived in Nashville and spent some time in Oklahoma, and I can tell you that this is how people of the south live. It is a wholesome lifestyle, where they work hard for their pay and spend their time enjoying the company of mother nature, close friends, and cold beer. And contrary to what the press, television, and the pundits may tell you, this is how the majority of Americans live. When I first heard the song Pontoon by Little Big Town I immediately though of floating on a homemade barge on Aker's Pond in a northern New England town with no cellular phone service called Errol, and another time tubing down New Hampshire's Androscoggin River with a beer in my hand.

Many people will hoot and holla' that modern country has become commercialized, lost it's roots, and isn't even country music at all. I beg to differ. I think the new generation of country musicians and songwriters don't see their lives the same way their predecessors did. Kenny Chesney, Jason Aldean, Tim McGraw, and Toby Keith are all telling us that it's OK to work hard, love your country, your truck, and to be proud of who you are. Life is short so Take a Little Ride, hop on the Pontoon, have Another Beer in Mexico, or just hop in your Truck Yeah.

So yes, these new artists are country music, but they are part of a new trend in the genre. A trend where the musicians are proud of who they are, where they come from, and their down home values. This has come through in their songs.

This is country.