There is a growing groundswell in sports, music, and even Hollywood of support for a return to sanity and more conservative traditional values. Films like “The Sound of Freedom” and “Top Gun: Maverick” were wildly successful without pushing woke themes, while others like the failed romcom “Bros” and the recent string of Disney flops prove that the American people are creating a seismic shift in the culture wars.
However, the industry that is making the most noise and significant headway in terms of squashing cancel culture is the music industry. Numerous songs have been written in recent years, decrying cancel culture and censorship. It isn’t just conservative country music, either. Wildly popular rock bands like Shinedown and Falling in Reverse have written anti-cancel culture songs that have actually been played on the radio, seeping their message into the brains of younger listeners.
Rap music has also seen a shift. Tom McDonald, the outspoken conservative rapper, has seen a surge in popularity, and even Ice Cube, who just a few years ago recorded several songs highly critical of then-president Donald Trump, has spoken out against censorship and the left.
The country music world seems to be the space where the most noise is being made, and most people are paying attention. Traditionally, country music has always been very conservative in nature due to the age of the average fan. Older folks tend to lean more conservative politically, and the genre tracked well with their audience.
In more recent years, the country music audience has shifted to a younger demographic. Most younger, new country artists have stayed silent politically, especially in their music. However, since the attempted cancellation of superstar Morgan Wallen in 2021, fans and artists alike have been letting the industry and the left know which direction they lean.
Chief among those voices is Nashville bar owner and country star John Rich. Rich’s bar, The Redneck Riviera, is unashamedly patriotic and pro-America, and his music is very similar. The “Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy” singer dropped a new album on Friday of patriotic, anti-woke songs that should land the artist at the top of the charts.
Rich spoke about the album and country music in general. He said: “There’s no doubt that artists like myself, Aaron, Jeffrey and now Oliver Anthony are showing the world that it’s possible to have massive success without bending the knee to the liberal music industry. People are fed up with fakery and manipulation, so when music comes out that’s truly from the heart and has not been edited or programmed by the music industry, they respond in massive numbers. We The People are vastly more powerful than the corporate music entities, and it’s great to see them supporting in mass the music that truly touches them.”
Rich is, of course, referring to Staind frontman and successful country soloist Aaron Lewis, newcomer Jeffrey Steele, and Oliver Anthony, whose song “The Rich Men North of Richmond” shot to the top of the charts despite no airplay and Anthony having no backing from a record label.
The success of Rich and other like-minded conservative artists displays the clear message that most Americans aren’t on board with wokeness and cancel culture.
The more the industry tries to hold down talented artists by not playing their music simply because they hate their politics, the more the country music fans are pushing back with their dollars. The culture war can be won, and victories are piling up in country music thanks to artists like John Rich.
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