Author(s): Mary Louisa Cappelli

Abstract: The narrative discourse of country music from 2016 to 2021 constructs a worldview clinging onto a nostalgic sense of community and moral values despite a world torn asunder by Covid 19, politics, race, gender, and religion. Country music during these tumultuous times offers listeners a moral community and a sense of unchanging place and shared meaning. In this article. I examine the construction of moral communities in contemporary country music by unpacking the structure of small-town values and sensibilities, including the vestigial Puritan religious attachments to the Judeo-Christian bible and loyal attachments to a poetic sense of place and community. I argue that a close narrative analysis of Top Billboard Country Music’s lyrics reveals how these hometown values are framed to construct a world of collective effervescence.

Keywords: Country Music, American Values, American Life, American Families, Small town America, Christianity, American Politics, Rural America, American Polarization.

Article Info: Received: 10 Dec 2023; Received in revised form: 12 Jan 2024; Accepted: 20 Jan 2024; Available online: 07 Feb 2024

DOI: 10.22161/ijels.91.19