‘Bro-Country’ Gets an Official Definition From the Cambridge Dictionary
"Bro-country," a term that started with the advent of artists like Luke Bryan, Jason Aldean and others singing about back roads, pickup trucks and tailgates, has been given an official definition by the Cambridge Dictionary.
On its blog, the dictionary defines bro-country as "a sub-genre of country music sung by young white men, featuring songs with macho themes such as trucks, drinking and partying."
The entry adds that bro-country is "[a] celebration of ... life that features trucks, beer and scantily clad women as the must-have accessories. The young country duo Maddie & Tae aren’t fans of the third element in the ‘bro-country’ trinity."
As the entry references, Maddie & Tae were the first artists to publicly criticize the genre in a song. Their debut single, 'Girl in a Country Song,' denounced the way women are portrayed in bro-country-style tunes, with the duo singing, "How in the world did it go so wrong? / Like all we're good for / Is looking good for you and your friends on the weekend / Nothing more / We used to get a little respect / Now we're lucky if we even get / To climb up in your truck, keep our mouth shut and ride along ..."
Other artists have openly criticized bro-country, even though it continues to dominate the airwaves. Clay Walker says it's "over the top," while Tyler Farr says he has "no clue what it is, and whoever invented that term, I’d like to smack him upside the head."
Most famously, Zac Brown spoke out against bro-country's popularity, famously calling Bryan's 'That's My Kind of Night' single "the worst song" he's ever heard.
“If I hear one more tailgate-in-the-moonlight, daisy-duke song, I’m gonna throw up," Brown said. "There’s songs out there on the radio right now that make me ashamed to be even in the same format as some other artists.”
But others have defended the style of music. Songwriter Dallas Davidson, who has penned some of the biggest hits of the last few years, says that bro-country is part of the growth of the genre.
“We’re writing what people want to hear,” Davidson says. “So what’s the backlash? More ticket sales? More money coming into Nashville? What’s wrong with that?”
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