Make Country Music For The Left Again
From searching for Keith Urban CDs at Goodwill with my dad to listening to Blake Shelton’s “God’s Country” (2019) while my grandma cried as she drove me to school, country music has always been a part of my life. Growing up in the rural Midwest, country was the chosen music of my friends, family, and high school dances. While this helped me discover some of my favorite musical artists, I also, unfortunately, witnessed my fair share of lifted trucks blasting Jason Aldean in my high school's parking lot. What, though, have I learned from my lifetime relationship with country music? It is a genre that has historically been about ordinary, working-class people, and listeners connected with it because it felt authentic and relatable.
But still, if you surveyed Georgetown students on the music they listen to, many would tell you they like everything except country. It’s unfortunate, but true. After all, what can we, cool, educated young people, resonate with in songs about the Second Amendment, backing the Blue, and traditional family values? Jason Aldean hits on these values in his song “Try That in a Small Town” (2023), where he discusses using the gun his grandad gave him against someone from “the city” who wants to “cuss out a cop, spit in his face / stomp on the flag and light it up” in his small town full of boys who were “raised up right.” For the politically left of center, music centered around these themes can feel alienating.
While Morgan Wallen may have lost many of us with his sharp turn toward conservative values, the current alt-country movement allows young people to connect and identify with country music again. Kid Rock alone doesn’t (and shouldn’t) define the “American experience” in music. Wilco’s work feels just as American to me. Though, for the record, I don’t think there’s anything uncool about enjoying mainstream country music. We all need our chicken fried, cold beer on a Friday night while wearing jeans that fit just right sometimes.
Beyond the country mainstream, the alt-country subgenre has recently seen a massive uptick in listeners across the indie music scene. If you’ve been tuned in to your TikTok audios, you may have heard MJ Lenderman tell you he has his houseboat docked at the himbo dome under yellow (or pink) sans-serif text. Lenderman, along with other alt-country acts, represents a departure from the neoconservative themes and right-wing politics that have dominated mainstream country music.
Sonically, Lenderman frequently draws comparisons to classic alt-country bands like Wilco and Drive-By Truckers. Thematically, he brings genuine relatability back to the country sound. He turns mainstream country's religious themes on their heads, subversively critiquing his Catholic upbringing and institutionalized religion more generally. Lenderman writes about modern isolation in the digital age, mirroring earlier country themes of rural isolation.
Lenderman has also aligned himself with prominent political figures of our generation. In April of 2025, Lenderman brought out New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani to speak on stage, building momentum for his Democratic primary win. While not a politically outspoken person himself, Lenderman creates a safe space in country music for leftists. Lenderman is not alone in this trend; The Chicks and Kacey Musgraves have both brought out Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico in recent concertsahead of the November midterm election cycle. Country music can perhaps then be a space just as welcoming for socialists as it is for NRA supporters; it all depends on the artist.
Aside from his solo project, Lenderman also plays guitar for another alt-country band, Wednesday, whose song “Elderberry Wine” has achieved notable success with over 11 million streams on Spotify. Additionally, Lenderman collaborated with Waxahatchee on “Right Back to It,” another alt-country track gaining widespread attention. In conversations with other music fans, Lenderman, Wednesday, and Waxahatchee are brought up constantly. This holy trinity of new alt-country has forged a movement in country music, one I believe can reconnect the genre with the young, politically active audience it once championed.
But this new subgenre isn’t the only source of Democratic or leftist politics in the country genre. Even mainstream country music has deep roots in working-class issues. Johnny Cash’s music and life were heavily defined by his involvement in political causes. He performed in prisons, produced an album addressing the oppression ofIndigenous people, and wrote songs highlighting the struggles of the poor and the addicted. Cash
shared key traits with modern artists: he was a Southern-raised Christian whose faith infusedhis music. Those Christian values, though, were rooted in love for the marginalized rather than in “law and order” politics. Importantly, Cash found inspiration in his predecessor Woody Guthrie, often recognized as the patriarch of folk music. Guthrie likewise laid the groundwork for early country and similarly tied his music to activism, often promoting socialism and anti-fascism. Ironically, then, I argue country music has the right roots: in the politics of the left.
It seems we’ve drifted far from country music’s origins in real, working-class American issues. The current climate of mainstream country music is one where Morgan Wallen can say the N-word and return to the stage three months later, at infamous MAGA supporter Kid Rock’s country bar no less. A 2024 Cornell study revealed that, among the top 1,000 U.S. streaming artists, every single one in the country genre trended more heavily in Republican areas. Even fans of artists like Zach Bryan and Tyler Childers, who have released songs calling attention to ICE violence and police brutality, respectively, demonstrated a strong conservative lean. Because of this, left-leaning country artists who speak out often facebacklash. Zach Bryan, for example, was recently criticized for wearing a Free Palestine shirt at his concert on Oct. 2. Audience members argued he was bringing politics into a place where people just wanted to listen to music. However, if the statistics prove anything, it’s that conservative politics are already intertwined with country music. This seemingly only becomes a problem when the message goes against the genre’s majority opinion.
Beneath the conservative backbone holding up mainstream country music, alt-country has long been operating behind the scenes. The Illinois band Uncle Tupelo helped establish the genre in 1990. Their debut album, No Depression (1990), explored themes of labor, economic struggle, rural isolation, and addiction. Critics dubbed Uncle Tupelo “alternative country” because the band fused elements of punk and alternative rock with country instrumentation and themes. After Uncle Tupelo disbanded, its members formed other influential bands, including one of my personal favorites: Wilco. Wilco’s work takes on major political and social issues; their 2001 album Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, for example, asks what it means to be an American citizen who disagrees with the country’s actions following 9/11. Wilco thus demonstrates that the country genre is a meaningful place to reflect on political, national, and personal identity.
Art is always, always, always political. And because country music is art, it, too, will always be political. However, its politics do not always have to lean right. Morgan Wallen doesn’t need to stand on stage endorsing Trump to alienate listeners on the left. The values embedded in music can resonate with—or distance—its audience. While few country artists publicly state their political affiliations, they have few incentives to do so given that the majority of the genre's audience leans conservative. It’s been discouraging to watch a genre with rich roots in progressive politics become firmly associated with the right. Beyond great music, alternative country artists now offer a path for left-of-center young people, a path to re-engage with a genre that historically belonged to all of us.
Dakota Gunnare is a sophomore in the College studying Public Policy with a minor in Math. Her go-to karaoke song is “Ring of Fire” by Johnny Cash.
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