Independence Day is here again, and so returns the America playlist! This year's Independence Day selection is pretty country heavy, but we've still got some great songs to check out this year. As always, the full playlist can be viewed on Apple Music @audioaesthetics.
Hillbilly Bone by Blake Shelton ft. Trace Adkins (written by C. Wiseman, L. Laird)
Featured on Shelton's 2010 EP Hillbilly Bone, this song is a pretty comical representation of introducing anyone, but in this case a "yankee" from New York, to southern American culture. Shelton and Adkins blend together well on this one, and while it's not a song I listen to a lot it can be a lot of fun when it comes on.
Yeah, I got a friend in New York City/He's never heard of Conway Twitty/Don't know nothin' 'bout grits and greens/Never been south of Queens/But he flew down here on a business trip/I took him honky tonkin' and that was it/He took to it like a pig to mud/Like a cow to cud/We all got a hillbilly bone down deep inside/No matter where you from, you just can't hide it/When the band starts bangin' and the fiddle sobs/You can't help but hollerin' "Yee-haw”/When you see them pretty little country queens/Man, you gotta admit that it's in them jeans/Ain't nothin' wrong, just gettin' on/Your hillbilly bone-ba-bone-ba-bone-bone
Boot Scootin' Boogie by Brooks & Dunn (written by R. Dunn)
Featured on Brooks & Dunn's 1991 album Brand New Man, this is canonically the first song I ever learned to sing (thanks, Mom) and is still one of my favorite country songs three decades later. Honky Tonks are a decidedly American pastime, particularly in the south, and if you've ever been to a good one you know exactly how much fun they can be.
Out in the country past the city limits sign/Well, there's a honky tonk near the county line/The joint starts jumpin' every night when the sun goes down/They got whiskey, women, music, and smoke/It's where all the cowboy folk go to boot scootin' boogie/I got a good job, I work hard for my money/When it's quittin' time, I hit the door runnin’/I fire up my pickup truck and let the horses run/I go flyin' down that highway to that hideaway/Stuck out in the woods to do the boot scootin' boogie/Yeah, heel toe, do-si-do, come on, baby, let's go, boot scootin’/Oh, Cadillac, Black Jack, baby, meet me outback, we're gonna boogie/Oh, get down, turn around, go to town, boot scootin' boogie
Riding with Private Malone by David Ball (written by T. Shepherd, W. Newton)
Featured on Ball's 2001 album Amigo, I first heard this song when I was in elementary school and it gave me an immediate emotional reaction that has me still loving it to this day. Country music will typically be your genre if you're looking for music honoring the armed forces, and this song is one of the best of its kind to me.
I was just out of the service thumbing through the classifieds/When an ad that said Old Chevy somehow caught my eye/The lady didn't know the year or even if it ran/But I had that thousand dollars in my hand/It was way back in the corner of this old ramshackle barn/With 30 years of dust and dirt on that green Army tarp/And when I pulled the cover off, it took away my breath/What she called a Chevy was a '66 Corvette/I felt a little guilty as I counted out the bills/What a thrill I got when I sat behind the wheel/I opened up the glove box and that's when I found the note/The date was 1966 and this is what he wrote/He said, "My name is Private Andrew Malone/And if you're reading this, then I didn't make it home/But for every dream that's shattered, another one comes true/This car was once a dream of mine, now it belongs to you/And though you may take her and make her your own/You'll always be riding with Private Malone"
All My Ex's Live in Texas by George Strait (written by L. Shafer, S. Shafer)
Featured on Strait's 1987 album Ocean Front Property, this is a great song to familiarize yourself with the great state of Texas and its various cities. Texas artists usually absolutely love to sing about their home, a lot like people from New York, California, and even Florida, and this fun country classic is no exception to that state pride rule.
All my exes live in Texas/And Texas is a place I'd dearly love to be/But all my exes live in Texas/And that's why I hang my hat in Tennessee/Rosanna's down in Texarkana, wanted me to push her broom/Sweet Eileen's in Abilene, she forgot I hung the moon/And Allison's in Galveston, somehow lost her sanity/And Dimples who now lives in Temple’s got the law looking for me
Amarillo By Morning by George Strait (written by P. Fraser, T. Stafford)
Featured on Strait's 1992 album Strait from the Heart, this is absolutely one of the most recognizable and iconic songs in country music. If you're unfamiliar, Amarillo is a city in the panhandle of Texas, and many other southern and southwestern American cities get shoutouts throughout the lyrics as well (Houston, Santa Fe, San Antonio, etc).
Amarillo by morning, up from San Antone/Everything that I've got is just what I've got on/When that sun is high in that Texas sky/I’ll be bucking at the county fair/Amarillo by morning, Amarillo I'll be there/They took my saddle in Houston, broke my leg in Santa Fe/Lost my wife and a girlfriend somewhere along the way/Well I'll be looking for eight when they pull that gate/And I hope that judge ain't blind/Amarillo by morning, Amarillo's on my mind
Automatic by Miranda Lambert (written by M. Lambert, N. Hemby, N. Galyon)
Featured on Lambert's 2014 album Platinum, this song is full of imagery designed to create feelings of nostalgia for a simpler time in life, and we've got a direct shoutout to the Texas City of Dallas in here. Whether you grew up in a small town or a big city, or if you're a Baby Boomer, Gen Xer, or Millennial, there's something in this song that'll likely stir up memories for you.
Quarter in a payphone, drying laundry on the line/Watching sun tea in the window, pocket watch tellin' time/Seems like only yesterday, I'd get a blank cassette/Record the country countdown 'cause I couldn't buy it yet/If we drove all the way to Dallas just to buy an Easter dress/We'd take along a Rand McNally, stand in line to pay for gas/God knows that shifting gears ain't what it used to be/I learned to drive that '55 just like a queen, three on a tree/Hey, what ever happened to waiting your turn, doing it all by hand/‘Cause when everything is handed to you, it's only worth as much as the time put in/It all just seems so good the way we had it/Back before everything became automatic
Steady As The Beating Drum (Main Title) by Pocahontas Chorus (written by A. Menken, S. Schwartz)
Featured in Disney's 1995 film Pocahontas, this song serves as sort of a double opener for the movie with The Virginia Company to show off the two sides of our story: John Smith and the colonists & Pocahontas and her tribe. While it's obviously an extremely fairytaleized account of the true story, Pocahontas was our first American Disney Princess and the team up of Stephen Schwartz and Alan Menken's composition makes this an S-Tier Disney soundtrack.
Steady as the beating drum, singing to the cedar flute/Seasons go and seasons come, bring the corn and bear the fruit/By the waters sweet and clear where the mighty sturgeon lives/Plant the squash and reap the bean, all the earth our mother gives
I hope everyone has a safe, fun holiday celebrating this long weekend! Happy listening, and see ya'll next week!
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