What Is Country Music? Shenandoah Say It Comes Down to the Lyrics
Shenandoah have been around long enough to see plenty of country trends come and go, but they believe that some parts of country music remain the same no matter what decade it is. Below, the band's Mike McGuire discusses his definition of country music, and reflects on what it's meant to him over the years
If you're going down the road in a car and just scanning channels, you might stumble onto a pop station and be able to just tell in the production: That's not a country station. That's not a country record. But yet you may go onto the next one, and there might be a drum loop on it, but you can still tell, "That's a country station I'm listening to."
I think part of it has to do with the lyrics. Country's always been more story-oriented, you know? It's just a different kinda lyric, coming from country bumpkins like us!
I think folks from the South tend to write songs that are about real life, and you hear a lot of that in country songs still, today. Even though the production might be a lot more pop, the lyrics are still earthy.