A look at patriotic songs from Toby Keith, Johnny Cash, John Conlee, Brooks & Dunn and more.
Toby Keith rehearses for the '2002 Academy of Country Music Awards' at the Universal Amphitheater on May 20, 2002 in Los Angeles, Ca.
Kevin Winter/ImageDirect/Getty Images
Perhaps more than any other genre, country music has been associated with patriotism, for better or worse, for decades. Attend any concerts in the country and you're likely to see an artist pay tribute to members of the US military, or see audience members waving American flags or chanting “USA!” at some point during the show.
Many songs with patriotic or military themes are dotted Advertising signcountry maps of the country over the years. Some songs protest social and political current events at the time they were released, while others praise the freedoms and simple joys in life that many Americans experience every day. However, other songs delve into the sacrifices American soldiers make – including giving up their lives – so Americans can enjoy freedom. The canon of patriotic country songs runs deep, with many of them celebrating the tenacity of the American spirit.
In the 1960s, the United States Air Force also created the radio program Country Music Time, which featured country artists such as Eddy Arnold and Skeeter Davis performing their songs, and the program also served as a military recruiting tool. Meanwhile, artists such as Johnny Cash, George Jones, Faron Young and George Strait have served in the military. Other artists such as Trace Adkins, Kellie Pickler and the late Toby Keith made it a priority to perform for military members on multiple USO tours. And at this year's CMA Fest, singer-songwriter Craig Morgan, who has spent years in the US Army and US Army Reserve, participated in the Enlisted: Where Music Meets Military panel.
Here, we look at 10 country songs that focus on patriotism in a variety of ways or honor those who serve.
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Thomas Rhett, “American Spirit”
This 2016 piece, from Thomas Rhett's deluxe edition Tangled album, focuses on a number of traditions and signifiers of small-town life, from red dirt roads to white trucks and flags fluttering in the wind.
Key Verse: “It's 13 stripes and 50 stars in the wind”
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Mickey Guyton, “All American”
This 2021 song from Guyton's Remember her name The play acts as a unifying rallying call, one that Guyton wrote with Karen Kosowski, Victoria Banks and Emma Lee.
Basic verse: “We've got the same stars, the same stripes/ We just wanna live this good life/ Ain't we all, aren't we all Americans?”
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Phil Vassar, “American Child”
This 2002 track reached No. 5 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart, championing the freedom to pursue ambitions and fulfill dreams.
Basic verse: “Cause 419 Lakewood ain't got no silver spoons, just an old stand-up beat playing low/ Now I'm singin' and living the life I love”
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John Conlee, “They Also Serve”
In this song from the 2004 album Turn your eyes to JesusConlee honors deployed families by recognizing the sacrifices mothers, fathers, children, grandparents and others make when a loved one is in military service.
Key Verse: “They don't wear a uniform or a gun/But they're still at war”
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Coffey Anderson, “Fourth of July Song”
Singer-songwriter and Texas native Anderson is known for having some patriotic songs in his catalog, including “Mr. Red white and blue.” He recently released this new track just in time for the 4th of July holiday in 2024. “This song is an ode to our country,” he said he said of the “Fourth of July Song” on Instagram.
Basic verse: “Let freedom ring, Old Glory will fly/ Happy birthday, USA, on the 4th of July”
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Brad Paisley, “American Saturday Night”
This 2009 release, which Paisley co-wrote with Ashley Gorley and Kelley Lovelace, takes a smart, light-hearted look at the melting pot of influences that have helped shape country over the years.
Key Verse: “And it's a French kiss, Italian ice/ Spanish moss in the moonlight/ Another American Saturday night”
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Billy Ray Cyrus, “Some Give All”
This 1992 release is also the title track for Cyrus' debut album and honors military members who have made the ultimate sacrifice.
Key Verse: “And if you ever think of me, think of all your freedoms and remember/Some gave it all away”
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Toby Keith, “American Soldier”
During his career, Keith scored many military and patriotic hits, perhaps most notably the post-9/11 song “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American). But it is perhaps this song which tops Keith's patriotic song, a stark look at the daily sacrifices members of the military make.
Key Verse: “I don't do it for the money, there's bills I can't pay/I don't do it for the glory, I just do it anyway”
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Brooks & Dunn, “Only in America”
This Brooks & Dunn release from 2001 paints a lyrical image of a New York City school bus driver looking in the mirror at the students on board and contemplating the myriad possibilities the future might hold for these youngsters.
Key Verse: “A kid dreams of fame and fortune, a kid helps pay the rent/ Someone might go to jail, someone might just be president”
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Trace Adkins, “Arlington”
Sung from the perspective of a fallen soldier laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery. The song was inspired by US Marine Cpl. Patrick Nixon, a Tennessee soldier who died in Iraq.
“I knew this was the song I'd been waiting a long time to record,” Adkins said he said CMT in 2005. “I almost recorded 'Letters From Home,' and then for some reason I was like, 'It just doesn't feel right.' Of course, John Michael Montgomery bumped it up a bit – which was great. But then this song came on, and I was like, “Oh, there it is. This is what I expected.' It's just a non-political song. It doesn't glorify war or anything like that at all. We just pay homage, tribute and respect to the people who gave this last measure.”
Key Verse: “And I'm proud to be on this quiet piece of property/ I'm on hallowed ground and I'm in the best of company”
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Tim McGraw, “If You're Reading This”
This 2007 release marks one of McGraw's most striking songs, conceived as a letter from a wartime soldier to his lover should he be killed in action. McGraw co-wrote the song with Brad and Brett Warren of the Warren Brothers.
Basic verse: “So lay me down in this open field at the edge of town and know that my soul is where my mama always prayed it would go”
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The Warren Brothers, “Hello Mr. President”
Brad and Brett Warren of the Warren Brothers are master songwriters in their own right (see the McGraw piece above). However, on their own 2005 song, written by famed songwriter Tom Douglas, the line-up eschews the flag-waving flashy imagery so prevalent perhaps in the majority that focuses on the concerns of Americans on both sides of the political spectrum. hallway. to a timely message of people who hope for peace and to simply see their children grow up.
Key Verse: “And we pray to dance at our daughters' weddings/and our sons to be good men and for peace in our land”
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Johnny Cash, “Ragged Old Flag”
In this Cash classic, the American flag bears many of its own triumphant “medals” of survival, from a hole where Washington threw it while crossing the Delaware or a burn to dust the night Francis Scott Key watched it while wrote the lyrics to “The Star Spangled Banner.”
Key Verse: “And she's lean and thin, but she's in good shape for the shape she's in/'Cause she's been through the fire before and I think she can handle a lot more”
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Toby Keith, “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American)”
This Toby Keith song garnered praise and controversy after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The song, which Keith also wrote as a tribute to his late father, was the lead single from Keith's 2002 album Unleashed and described the anger felt by many Americans in the wake of the attacks.
Key Verse: “When we see Old Glory fly/ There's too many dead men to sleep easy at night when we lay our heads down”
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Lee Greenwood, “God Bless America”
Love it or hate it, this is still the song that comes out of radios across the country every 4th of July. Written and recorded by Greenwood, this 1984 release is full of national pride.
“I guess the inner feeling of wanting to be a patriot,” Greenwood said Advertising sign in 2013. “My father served in the Navy in WWII and I had a stepfather who was in the Air Force. My first bass player in my band was in the Air National Guard and we started doing USO Tours when I was about fourteen or fifteen in my hometown of Sacramento at McClellan Air Force Base. We did a tour of Alaska right before I graduated high school before it became a state. I have always recognized the sacrifice of the military.” He added, “Like I said in the first line of the chorus, 'I'm proud to be an American,' because I hadn't heard anyone say that in a long time.”
Key Verse: “I stand with joy, beside you and defend it even today/ For there is no doubt that I love this land, God bless the USA.”
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/lists/patriotic-country-songs-for-fourth-of-july/
