Country's Cool Again

Album: Whirlwind (2024)
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Songfacts®:

  • Forget the rhinestone cowboys and city slickers, Lainey Wilson's singing the truth: country is cool again. After Hot 100 #1 songs in 2023 for Morgan Wallen, Jason Aldean, Oliver Anthony and Zach Bryan and Kacey Musgraves, everyone wants a taste of that backwoods life... Even Beyonce!. "Everybody wanna be a cowboy, drive a jon boat, whip a John Deere " she sings. Seems like country's hotter than a jalapeno on a July day, and Wilson's riding the wave like a champ.
  • Hailing from the heart of Louisiana, Wilson isn't just jumping on the country bandwagon. No, sir, her roots run deeper than a catfishing pole. "Even in a guitar town my crooked drawl, the way I sung," she winks, "My mama's genes sure stuck out like a thumb."

    "Country isn't just a genre for any of us that live and breathe it every day," said Wilson. "It's a way of life. It's always been cool and I think I speak for everyone when I say, we're just glad it's gettin' a lil more love these days."
  • Wilson wrote "Country's Cool Again" with her music director and guitarist Aslan Freeman, as well as her frequent co-writers Dallas Wilson and Trannie Anderson.
  • Let's talk sound. Producer Jay Joyce throws down a sonic gumbo: Guitars twanging, percussion kicking, and Wilson's voice leading the charge. Joyce plays the Farfisa organ and djembe drum and Freeman the electric guitar. The other musicians are.

    Steve Fischle: pedal steel guitar
    Bryan Sutton: acoustic guitar
    Rob McNelley: electric guitar
    Tommy Scifres: bass guitar
    Kevin Nolan: Rhodes piano
    Fred Eltringham: drums
    Matt Nolan: percussion

    Jay Joyce and Trannie Anderson sing the background vocals alongside mixing engineer Jason Hall.
  • Lainey Wilson told Countrytown that she got the idea for "Country's Cool Again" from scrolling through TikTok and seeing young people fully embracing the Western lifestyle: wearing hats, riding horses, and rocking Wrangler jeans. "It's really inspiring to see people celebrating the way of life I grew up with," she said. "It makes me feel at home and proud of my roots."

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