Maren Morris

As all regular readers of Culture Shock know, we cover a lot of the goings on in country music. Not only am I personally a fan of the genre, but it is one of the few remaining subsections of art that isn’t outright hostile to conservative and traditional values. There are music executives in Nashville and the corporate media who would like to subvert the genre away from its roots in telling the stories of working-class people and reflecting on the hardships and joys of a simple American life.

Maren Morris, a country music artist who won a Grammy for her debut single “My Church,” announced in an interview with the Los Angeles Times that she is officially leaving the genre. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out! Announcing her departure from country music in the LA FREAKING TIMES should tell you everything you need to know, but let’s dive a bit deeper into why Morris is so upset.  According to Morris, country music is toxic and filled with “misogynistic and racist and homophobic and transphobic” people (really capturing all of the buzzwords there, Maren!) . She apparently got tired of trying to “burn it to the ground and start over,” instead feeling satisfied that country music is “burning itself down.

Cuss out a cop, spit in his faceStomp on the flag and light it upYeah, ya think you’re toughWell, try that in a small townSee how far ya make it down the roadAround here, we take care of our own That’s a sampling of the lyrics to “Try That in a Small Town,” the new Jason Aldean single that led left-wing Twitter trolls to try to “cancel” the country music star. Critics claimed the song was racist, particularly because the music video was filmed in front of the Maury County Courthouse in Tennessee (which was the site of a lynching back in 1927) and features news clips of BLM and antifa riots.