Joe - I see your point and largely agree with it, even if I think most country music coming out of Nashville these day is bland and overproduced. (Give me Gram Parsons, Townes Van Zandt and Steve Earle any day).

My fear is that for those who do listen to country music, these songs about faith and family are just another example of cultural Christianity, the kind that innoculates us against our real need for the Gospel.

Historically, country music espoused a type of libertarianism. It idolizes people who rebelled against authority and professed a non-denominational Christianity emphasizing one's personal relationship with Jesus. This "leave us alone" mentality continues. Toby Keith, for example, favors same-sex marriage.

I would agree that most pop music has nothing to say regarding issues of faith. Frankly, I consider mainstream "country" music (most of what gets produced in Nashville now) as just another variety of pop music. If there is a higher rate of themes about family, God, etc, in mainstream country music, I think that that is just as attributable to deliberate marketing to a conservative consumer as it is authentic artistry. That may be cynical, but I'm not too impressed by the product out of Nashville in the last twenty or so years (as opposed to the wonderful tradition and legacy of country music before then).

On the other hand, some of the most successful pop artists (both commercially and critically) are very influenced by a Catholic imagination. U2 is a good example. I would argue that their music sometimes reflects a pretty sophisticated Catholic theology, often explicitly so. (See "Until the End of the World", "Sunday Bloody Sunday", "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For", etc.) I have even thought that their album _The Joshua Tree_ is a meditation on the Cross (= the Jesus Tree = the Joshua Tree). Likewise, Bruce Springsteen's lyrics often stem from a pretty clear Catholic sensibility, even if Springsteen hasn't continued to practice his childhood Catholicism (see "Badlands": "I believe in the love that you gave me. I believe in the faith that can save me. I believe in the hope and I pray that one day it will raise me above these badlands...")

My point is that Nashville pop (aka modern country) is not the only place that music fans can encounter religious themes. Just my random thoughts for a Wednesday morning...

Any yet, isn't it ironic that the main consumers of Country music live in the "Bible Belt" or Red South, which leads the nation in divorce and illegitimacy?

@Berta,
Not at all. It just means they are more aware of their need, their lack, c.f. Matthew 19:24. I believe that what makes a saint is the full realization of how far short of God they fall.

MRS -- yes! Gram Parsons, Emmy Lou, Steve Earle (and his wife and sister in law...), et al. -- this is the true evolution of country from bluegrass, not the pop country drivel we're getting from Nashville these days (although I've always been a Brad Paisley fan because the boy can play and he puts on a really fun show).

For me, the bluegrass and country gospel is why I believe. The Catholic Church can go on and on and on (and do they ever go on...) about this doctrine or that dogma and they can point to ancient cathedrals and St. Whoever 'til the cows come home, but it all leaves me cold at the end of the day.

The Catholic thing for me comes and goes, but all I have to do is listen to Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's version of Lowlands and I believe...Ricky Scaggs and Emmy Lou dueting on The Darkest Hour Is Just Before Dawn and I believe...The Return of the Grievous Angel and I believe...it's just that simple.

@MRS ***My fear is that for those who do listen to country music, these songs about faith and family are just another example of cultural Christianity, the kind that innoculates us against our real need for the Gospel.***

I agree that it is mainly an example of cultural Christianity but I’m not as sure that it is a bad thing. While cultural Christianity could prevent people from truly hearing the Gospel, it can also help shore up the plausibility structures that make real Christianity possible.

@Chris Balducci ***Historically, country music espoused a type of libertarianism.***

While I agree that there is a strain of libertarianism in country music, I don’t think it has ever been dominant.

***. . . and professed a non-denominational Christianity emphasizing one's personal relationship with Jesus.***

That’s evangelicalism, not libertarianism. ; )

***Toby Keith, for example, favors same-sex marriage.***

I think the influence of people like Toby Keith is overrated. He only had one song in the top 60 (#57) and it was an ode to a friend who had died. Non of his more libertarian-esque songs made the chart.

@Steve ***If there is a higher rate of themes about family, God, etc, in mainstream country music, I think that that is just as attributable to deliberate marketing to a conservative consumer as it is authentic artistry.***

Could be. But even that is praiseworthy. At least Nashville is in tune with its audience. Listeners of other genres of pop music surely have the same desire to hear about family and faith, they are just denied it by that branch of the music industry.

***That may be cynical, but I'm not too impressed by the product out of Nashville in the last twenty or so years (as opposed to the wonderful tradition and legacy of country music before then).***

There was once a time when I would have agreed with this statement. But technology has now made it possible to hear “Classic Country” as if we lived in an earlier period. And you know what, most of it is terrible. For example, I used to be nostalgic for stuff by Earl Thomas Conley and Keith Whitley. But now that I can hear them anytime I want I realize that they weren’t as good as I had remembered. That is true for most of the old country music. We tend to forget that people like George Jones and Merle Haggard had as many duds as classic songs.

I’d put the best of today’s country against anything that came before. There is some really good stuff, it just doesn’t always get played on the radio.

***On the other hand, some of the most successful pop artists (both commercially and critically) are very influenced by a Catholic imagination. U2 is a good example.***

Woah, woah, woah. You Catholics can’t go and steal U2 from us Protestants. ; )

When U2 first formed (and wrote their best music) they were part of a charismatic evangelical church group. The Edge raises his kids Catholic, though neither he nor the other band members identify themselves as such.

And while I agree with you about the Joshua Tree, that album came out the year I graduated—1987. Same for Springsteen. All of his more religiously influenced material is at least 20-30 years old. (Badlands came out in ’78.)

***My point is that Nashville pop (aka modern country) is not the only place that music fans can encounter religious themes.***

That’s certainly true, but to find those themes often requires looking to the past. Today, you can listen to the radio for an entire day and not hear a single word about faith or family—except on Christian or country radio stations.

@Berta ***Any yet, isn't it ironic that the main consumers of Country music live in the "Bible Belt" or Red South, which leads the nation in divorce and illegitimacy?***

Well, country music is a national phenomenon. It’s no longer just associated with the South. But since the areas that lead in divorce and illegitimacy are often the poorer parts of the country which tend to be rural, its probably not surprising that there is a correlation.

Why have I, a Bach-Beethoven-guy, returned to the Knob Country of Kentucky ?

Joe Carter has described a piece of the answer.

I could say lots on this topic (long story short? I think the problem here is "prooftexting" by looking for specific words rather than implicit themes), but I'll just leave a gentle correction: #42 on the adult contemporary chart, Train's "If It's Love," should be noted for including the line "have 10 kids" and "I'm afraid when I hear stories about husband and wife." It doesn't explicitly use the word "marriage," but I think the relationship being aspired to is clearly one between two people who are, for all intents and purposes, married. And married successfully, unlike the many marriages whose "stories" make the speaker afraid his own marriage will be "unsuccessful" (a fear even the most faithful Christians are bound to have when discerning a call to marriage in 21st century America).

@Rose ***#42 on the adult contemporary chart, Train's "If It's Love," should be noted for including the line***

I started to include that Train song because, as you noted, it technically does include the word "kids." But then I looked closely at the lyrics and Googled to see what the writer had in mind when he wrote it. My conclusion was that the lyrics are mostly just gibberish.

Perhaps it should be included as an exception, but you have to admit that it would be an exception that proves the rule.

By the way, I do like both pop and R&B music. I tried to be fair by reading all of the lyrics to each of the songs on the list. I have to say that while I knew that pop lyrics tended to be banal, I had forgotten just how trivial and nonsensical they could be.

Why do pop musicians think their lyrics need to be DaDa-esque? Do they think obscurity is some sort of profundity? It's maddening.

I think Rose is onto something, though. Alternative is definitely not the place you go looking for Bible-echoing platitudes -- but in some ways, there's a far better grasp of the human heart and condition than in pop music as a whole. It's even better than most pop on the question of what really feels good and makes people happy, as opposed to what Hugh Hefner tells us will feel good and make us happy. And on the dark side, it's ten times more honest than run of the mill pop and more than most country. (Tim McGraw does pretty well, though.)

In some ways, country and alternative are two sides of the same coin. One is overt and frequently pays homage to the right things but possibly insincere a good bit of the time, the other is a much more mixed bag and subtle to the extent it says the right things, but more apparently sincere in what it does say.

But then, I'm one of those people who thinks that Johnny Cash was among the most Christian popular artists of the last 50 years. Even in his bad boy days, I think he had a better idea what he was looking for than Bono does. And what did he do at the end of his life? Cover alternative tunes according to a Christian sensibility.

@Joe Carter:

I may have gone too far to say that country music idolizes rebellion, but istorically, a lot of country songs were about outlaws. There were also a good number of murder ballads recorded. These topics were drawn from country's roots in the folk music of the British Isles.
One can hear ideas about rebellion in the popular songs about going to Mexico or the Caribbean to live a "free and easy" alcohol-fueled life. I call that a type of libertarianism, if not libertinism.
I think the country songs that have any religious declarations typically espouse a "me-and-Jesus" Christianity that, although evangelical, is libertarian in that is highly individualistic. In other words, the believer has his or her own ideas of what it means to be a Christian. There is no institution to provide a guideline.
God bless.

There are some great country music artists out there, including Brad Paisley. Nothing watered down about him, and he's very much influenced by classic country artists. Bluegrass has a great tradition of gospel music, and many great country artists have come out of the bluegrass tradition, including Vince Gill, Ricky Skaggs, Marty Stuart and Allison Krauss. Also don't underestimate the continuing influence of Catholicism on Bruce Springsteen. I believe he has had a reversion. Also you see explicit religious imagery in recent songs including The Rising (about 9/11), and I'll Work for Your Love off his recent album Magic. I agree that the acceptance of overt religious themes in country music is significant. It's the rule in country music and the exception in other forms of popular music.

As far as Springsteen: once a Catholic... He's at least as Christian as Dylan; the questions of faith always seems to be brooding in the background of their work, whether or not public affirmation attaches to a particular piece.

I've mostly stopped listening to Country; it seems more like product than music. But it pleases me to know that the genre is not so disconnected from its roots that God gets invited out of the studio.

Merle Haggard? I do believe you're blowing a little smoke here. Can you name me a dud? ("Okie from Muskogee" is at least as good a song as "White Rabbit.") I have better than 30 of his albums, and I can listen to side after side without skipping a song.

Most of the classic Country artists have at least one Gospel album in their catalogs. And God's never been confined to a ghetto segregated from their regular work; I think of Haggard's "Jesus Take A Hold," from *Hag*, a few decades back: "The mighty roar of gunfire is now a local sound/ And our city streets are filled with angry men... Jesus take a hold and lead us through..."

The so-called country music coming out of Nashville is about as country as white wine and brie.

If you want to hear some real country music check this out: The Bristol Sessions: Historic Recordings from Bristol, Tennessee, first recorded in 1927 — it's available in CDs on Amazon. Then there's the Carter family, who lived in southwestern Virginia, near Bristol.

More recently, there's the Stanley Brothers. Listen to their version of "Angel Band" on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvQSgGtgsfY

Ralph Stanley, by the way, is still with us.

This post reminds me of the old Rod Stewart song, "Have I Told You Lately". I had heard it many times before it dawned on me that it would make a nice prayer.

"Have I told you lately that I love you,
Have I told you there's no one else above you..."

Whether that was the intent of the song, I don't know.

Springsteen sends his kids to Catholic school, or at least used to. Don't know that he's a practicing Catholic himself, or if Patti Scalfia is the driving forced behind that decision, but there it is.

"Perhaps it's time we became as concerned about the content that is missing."

Amen.

As for those who worry about cultural Christianity "innoculating" people from the gospel, does that work for cultural atheism or cultural islam?

Oh my - free association.

John, the composer of "the old Rod Stewart song" is Van Morrison. Like Merle Haggard, a lodestone musician for me. And I think of "Whenever God Shines His Light" from "Avalon Sunset." Van and Cliff Richard sing, and you want to dance to it:

In deep confusion, in great despair
When I reach out for Him He is there.
When I am lonely as I can be
I know that God shines His light on me...

Berta, does that red state divorce statistic hold up when adjusted for factors like income, social class, etc.?

As far as comparing pop music and the film "wedding subgenre", I see the two as more similar than seems clear at first glance. They're both "about" the same thing (once you understand a wedding to be nothing more than a celebration of an emotion/experience, anyway). The film version is about the act of finding love and turning it into a family via the wedding (albeit sometimes told from a different point of view). Along the same lines, in fiction, category romances, which start with girl-meets-hero and ends with a wedding, has been the best-selling genre for years. The music version of this same idea only seems different because it's a short form, incapable of sustaining more than a single idea. So most pop songs focus on trying to capture the essence of the relationship/experience in a single "lyric". There's no talk about God or family or duty because the whole point is to focus on "what matters" - which is usually some variation on what it's like or how it feels to be at a particular point in a love relationship.

Have you heard that one "I Pray for You"?

Haven’t been in church since
I don’t remember when
Things were going great
Til they fell apart again
So I listened to the preacher
As he told me what to do
Said you can’t go hating others
who done wrong to you
Sometimes we get angry
But we must not condemn
Let the good Lord do his job
And you just pray for them

I pray your brakes go out
Running down a hill
I pray and flower pot falls
From a window sill
And knocks you in the head like I’d like to
I pray your birthday comes and nobody calls
I pray your flying high when your engine stalls
I pray all your dreams never come true
Just know wherever you are
Honey, I pray for you

Really glad I found my way to church
Cause I’m already feeling better and I thank God for the words
So I’m gonna take the high road
And do what the preacher told me to do
You keep messing up
And I’ll keep praying for you

I pray your tire blows out at 110
I pray you pass out with your best friend
And wake up with his and her tattoos

Wherever you are, near or far, in your house or in your car
Wherever you are honey, I pray for you

This is the worst thing I have ever heard in all my years of listening to the radio. Yes, I know it's supposed to be ironic or sarcastic or funny or snarky or whatever, but to me, it is pure blasphemy. There. I said it.

Often the so-called “libertarian” or “outlaw” influence in country merges with the pious element.

I had the chance last summer to catch the great Billy Joe Shaver at an old-fashioned honky-tonk (Knuckleheads Saloon) in Kansas City. So Billy is holding forth a bit on his own remarkable salvation history and tells the crowd that he knows there are a lot of other types of spirituality out there these days. But, he says, it all boils down to this. "Who would you rather have baby-sitting your kids?-- Some fat guy sitting under a tree, or Jesus?" Which is what you get, I suppose, when a straight-shootin' West Texas outlaw finds Jesus. No white wine and brie there! Not an ounce of over-packaged over-produced Nashville phoniness.

But then, of course, there was the merch table with bumper stickers and T-shirts with the patented, “If you don’t love Jesus, you can go to hell.”

"I been listening to Billy Joe Shaver/I been reading James Joyce/Some people tell me/I got the blood of the land in my voice. --Bob Dylan

It's ironic that this morning on the way to church, we were listening to NPR's Weekend Edition Sunday and there was a piece on the Grammys. Something about country music came on and hearing some good stuff apropos of Joe's piece, I told my wife I should start listening to country music. Too bad it's a style of music that doesn't appeal to me. Not surprising it comes from red states primarily.

I am a husband, father, grandfather and semi-retired pastor pushing age 70. My physical health is declining and I often regret how little I have accomplished in any of my callings.

Recently a young country singer challenged me to reconsider my approach to faith, life and preaching. Listening to her songs, I learn to use my own experience as a forgiven sinner to help others understand what hurting and being hurt, forgiving and being forgiven, are all about. The singer’s name is Miranda Lambert.

Miranda's songs are intellectually, emotionally and spiritually challenging. Several of Miranda's songs such as "Heart Like Mine," "White Liar" and "Sin for a Sin" on her album REVOLUTION should be studied in any seminary or other school which attempts to prepare men and women to minister to today's young people.

Miranda sings tough-girl songs and her theology (for it is indeed theology although Miranda probably wouldn't call it that) is tough as well. "I ain't the kind you take home to mama, I ain't the kind to wear no ring," "Here's a bombshell just for you, Turns out that I've been lying too" and "I need to repent a sin for a sin," Miranda confesses as she sings, respectively, the three songs mentioned above.

At the end of "Heart Like Mine," Miranda reminds us of something we wishy-washy sinners often forget. She reminds us that Jesus was tough, too. He hung out with sinners like the one Miranda portrays in her songs. "Jesus, He drank wine. And I bet we'd get along just fine. He could calm a storm and heal the blind. And I bet He'd understand a heart like mine."

Miranda trusts that "I'll fly away from it all one day. I'll fly away. These are the days that I will remember when my name's called on the roll. He'll meet me with two long-stemmed glasses and make a toast to me coming home." Sounds like the son who loses his toughness along with his money and comes home to a banquet put on by his father in his honor in the most famous story that Jesus ever told (Luke 15:11-32).

What a warm welcome Jesus will give Miranda because he knows her and loves her! She doesn't need to apologize to Jesus as she had to apologize when she revisited her childhood home, "The House That Built Me," with all its memories. "Ma'am," she had to say to the house's new owner then, "I know you don't know me from Adam, but . . ." She won't have to say that to Jesus. He knows her from Adam.

"Heart Like Mine" reminds me of the old man who can see God's face at the end of his suffering in Carrie Underwood's "Temporary Home." But that's another side of God, the tender side, the Father. Just as true, but different. Miranda sings about Jesus the Son, tough enough to endure a cross. Carrie and Miranda give us two images of the heavenly welcome home. Is either of them (which one?) "only prettier" than the other?

Jesus drank wine just like the lover in the Biblical Song of Songs, the lover whom Jews consider a symbol of God and Christians consider a symbol of Jesus. The lover welcomes his beloved into his garden with wine and sings, "I have come into my garden, my sister, my bride; I have gathered my myrrh with my spice. I have eaten my honeycomb and my honey; I have drunk my wine and my milk. (Song of Songs 5:1)

Didn't Jesus promise to drink wine with his friends in Heaven? At the Last Supper he took a cup of wine, gave thanks to His Father and gave it to his friends, saying "I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's Kingdom" (Matthew 26:29)?

Christian theologians have spilled a lot of ink trying to develop a theology of marriage that covers all of its spiritual and emotional aspects. Miranda covers the subject in a song as she creates a wonderful exchange of vows:

Minister: “Blake, If you come in one morning and find Miranda standing there cryin' in the kitchen, will you wrap your arms around her so that she doesn't even have to say a thing?”

Blake: “I will.”

Minister: “Miranda, if Blake comes in, slams the door behind him and can't hide the worry on his face, even though you've got a million things to tell him, will you accept that right now he just needs some space?”

Miranda: “I will.”

Minister: “That's what makes it love. That's what makes it a love song. Everybody always sings about it. Now you're never gonna live without it. You don't even have to talk about it 'cause you're living it out. And because you have promised to live it out, I now pronounce you husband and wife.”

Jesus loved to compare heaven to growing things like a tiny mustard seed which grew into a tree so large that the birds could make a home in it. If Jesus had lived in Virginia, he might have compared heaven to the tiny Virginia bluebell, which only wants "a sunny place to grow:" "Pretty little thing, sometimes you gotta look up and let the world see all the beauty that you're made of. . . . Even through a stone a flower can bloom. . . . Put a little light in the darkest places. Put a little smile on the saddest faces." The greatest and biggest thoughts are usually expressed in the tiniest images. Otherwise, how could we grasp them?

I hope Miranda continues to enjoy challenging us theologians with her songs. She does it so well.

At least one country singer, Johnny Cash brought God into his music from the start--maybe not every song, but as you will see at the link, he wanted to sing gosple from the start of his career. Click his name above for more.

I found the comments as interesting as the article, and as a music fan, I have to admit that sometimes I want a song that lifts my heart to the Lord and sometimes as a country woman I need a song that just bangs out the heat and the heart of good music. Country music from Miranda to Johnny Cash, from Foster Martin Band (look them up) and pop songs like U2 sings (some based on hold hymns) and questioning songs like Blasphemous Rumors (which got me kicked out of youth group when I was young) we need to look at the body of work by an artist, by their living their faith through their music. This is a great start, and I would love to see a series that shows us some classic, contemporary and emerging artists who may be encouraged by our listening and sharing to continue to share their faith. Bright blessings...