In “Three Chords and a MAGA Hat,” Emile Doak writes for the American Conservative that the changes in country music can explain some of the rise of Trump in Middle America. He’s got some good points. He’s right that Sam Hunt’s record-breaking “Body Like a Back Road” is terrible, almost as bad as last year’s awful #1 country single, “H.O.L.Y.” When I first heard the title, I thought, Body like a back road? What does that mean; it’s lumpy and full of potholes? However I think he stretches just a little too far in equating the rise of a few vapid songs to the top of the charts with the rise of a political movement.

He begins his article with a discussion of Tracy Lawrence’s “If The World Had a Front Porch;” contrasting it with modern country hits:

“Fast forward to 2017, and popular country music paints a much different picture of the priorities of its fan base. What’s most striking is perhaps the extent to which the format avoids discussing the obvious trials of the white working class. Fans of the genre known as “three chords and the truth” seem wholly uninterested in confronting that latter component, opting rather for paeans to partying to provide an escape from the collapsing communities that surround them.”

He concludes:

“The genre that once spoke to the “cheatin’ and drinkin’” of Middle America—the good and the bad—has gone silent. As country music transforms, its audience continues to grow. But the escapism that permeates country’s recent hit-making formula reveals the depth of the problems that plague the regions traditionally composing country music’s fanbase, and offers a unique glimpse into the motivations behind the Trump phenomenon. After all, vague rallying cries like “Make America Great Again” speak to a sense of loss, without actually requiring the painful introspection necessary to identify that which has been lost.”

I’m not convinced that music is the proper format for identifying the loss Droak describes. It certainly isn’t going to be the solution for Middle America’s problems. And what’s wrong with a little escapism, anyway? Nobody living in a town with skyrocketing unemployment, the breakdown of the family, and drug addiction wants to hear songs about it all the time. Sometimes you just want to bob you head along to something fun.

All that aside, has country music really lost its touch? I’ll admit that I’ve only been a country music fan for around a decade, so my ability to compare country music’s current state with its past is limited. However, I felt that some of the criticism is off-base. Sure, there are a lot of happy, poppy, party tunes on the country station. There are in every genre of music. Country music has never been all sad all the time. But it remains a genre that still deals with heartbreak and hard times more than any other. (For a great examination of this, check out the Revisionist History podcast titled “The King of Tears” here.)

To see just how off-base Doak was, I took a look at the top 100 country chart from 2016. Because a hundred is too many to go through in this post, here’s a look at some of the songs in the top 30: #6 on the chart is Cole Swindell’s “You Should Be Here,” a heart-rending song about a woman who died young. Among the lyrics are “They say you’re in a better place/and I would be too if I could see your face.” Hardly a party anthem. Right after it, at #7 is Sam Hunt’s “Break Up in a Small Town,” which, while not exactly sad, illustrates the difficulty of seeing your ex with someone else everywhere you go. Blake Shelton’s “Came Here to Forget” is at #9, a depressing song about getting plastered and hooking up with a stranger: “Falling in love just enough to get us through/what we’re getting through.” Rounding out the top ten is Kelsea Ballerini’s “Peter Pan,” about loving a boy who will never grow up. If that doesn’t have something serious to say to a culture where an increasing number of young men live with their parents, delay marriage and parenthood, and don’t find steady jobs, I don’t know what does. By my count, four of last year’s top ten country songs dealt with death, breakups, hookups, drinking too much, and men who don’t grow up. Not exactly proof that country is losing its ability to speak hard truths.

The pattern continues further down the list. At #14 Carrie Underwood’s “Church Bells” rings out: a song about a woman beaten by her alcoholic husband until she finally murders him. Not exactly light stuff. (Incidentally, country music has a disproportionate amount of music about women murdering men. I can think of at least a half a dozen such songs right off the top of my head. I wonder why that is?) Right after that, one of my favorite songs from last year: “Different for Girls” a refreshing – and refreshingly honest – look at the differences between men and women in love, relationships, and breakups. With lines like, “A guy gets drunk with his friends and he might hook up/Fast forward through the pain, pushing back when the tears come on/But it’s different for girls,” it also admits to the downside of a macho culture that denies men the opportunity to express their emotions: “When the going gets tough, yeah, the guys they can just act tough.”

At #17 is Eric Church’s award-winning “Record Year” about a man using music and alcohol to get over a breakup: “I’m either gonna get over you, or I’m gonna blow out my ears.” Miranda Lambert’s best song to date (in my opinion) is “Vice” ending last year at #30 (It topped out at #2). It’s (another) song about drinking too much and hooking up with strangers, filled with beautiful regret. The music video for the song begins with a car wreck; not exactly a subtle metaphor, but perfectly suited for the life described in the song. I love it because it reminds me of Paul’s words to the Romans, “For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.”

Is country music getting too shallow to deal with hard truths? I’m not so sure. Certainly, it deals with far more serious issues than modern Top 40, (or even most older Top 40, for that matter). While the state of the culture can indeed be seen in our music, Droak reads too much into the country charts. A few upbeat songs about tractors and beer never hurt anybody, let alone elected a President.

What say you?