Country Music & Christianity
Welcome to countrymusic/christianity.ca where we explore the connection between secular country music and the traditional American values. The site showcases how lyrics, music videos, and the artists themselves demonstrate multiple key aspects of the American ideals—rooted in Christianity, politics and the American Dream.
Website Purpose
This website will hopefully demonstrate how Christianity is a pillar of American country music and how country music is not necessarily as secular as most tend to believe. Country music has a variety of religious themes such as the numerous references of faith, symbols of christianity and ideologies or norms of the religion such as strong family traditions and gender roles. This website will explore each of these themes to further explore how country music is inherently christian.
The History of Christianity and Country Musics Relationship:
Country music has extremely deep roots in the deep south of the United States which is geographically heavily influenced and populated by christians and deeply religious cultural norms. The deep south also has a strong connection with Gospel music because of its religious population and ties which brings in the relationship with country music. Essentially, christianity has become deeply rooted in country music because of the region in which it originates and the popularity of christian values and gospel music in that area.
Country music has been subjected to no greater influence than southern religious life,' Bill Malone argued in the opening pages of Country Music USA" (Hayes, 2010).
Country music as a catalyst for christian views and values of family and tradition, the American Dream and patriotism.
Christianity and Country music are and always have been intertwined, a perfect example of this is the song Amazing grace, recognized as a gospel hymn and having strong connections to christianity has been covered by numerous country music stars over the years. Such as, Lee Ann Womack, George Jones, Dolly Parton, Johnny Cash, Alan Jackson, Willie Nelson, etc. There has and will always be a strong connection between christianity and country music/musicians.
Resources and Information
Bibliography
Hayes, J. (2010). Religion and Country Music. Religion Compass, 4(4), 245–252. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-8171.2009.00209.x
Meier, K. J. (2019). Looking for Meaning in All the Wrong Places: Country Music and the Politics of Identity. Social Science Quarterly, 100(1), 89–108. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26613226
Morgan, T. N., Hampton, C. A., Davenport, S., Young, E., Badzinski, D. M.,
Richardson, K. B., & Woods, R. H. (2012). Sacred Symbols with a Secular Beat? A Content Analysis of Religious and Sexual Imagery in Modern Rock, Hip Hop, Christian, and Country Music Videos. Journal of Religion and Popular Culture, 24(3), 432–448. https://doi.org/10.3138/jrpc.24.3.432
Kingsbury, P., & Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. (1998). The Encyclopedia of Country Music: The Ultimate Guide to the Music. Oxford University Press.
Marsden, G. M. (1990). Religion and American culture. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
Breen, T. (2008). The Messiah Formerly Known as Jesus: Dispatches from the Intersection of Christianity and Pop Culture (1st ed.). Baylor University Press.
Stopper, Jessica. "Carrie Underwood's 'ordinary' Life Guided by Faith and Family." Life & Style, June 5, 2024. https://www.lifeandstylemag.com/posts/carrie-underwoods-ordinary-life-guided-by-faith-and-family/.
"37 Bible Verses about Jesus Being the Light of the World." Crossway Bibles. 2001.https://www.openbible.info/topics/jesus_being_the_light_of_the_world.
Christianity.com Editorial. "What Is the Bible Belt? Know the States, History, and Beliefs." Christianity.com, May 18, 2023. https://www.christianity.com/church/the-bible-belt.html.
Fitzgerald, Pamela. "Journalist Goes to Dollywood, Is Shocked over Christianity." That Park Place, July 15, 2022. https://thatparkplace.com/journalist-goes-to-dollywood-is-shocked-over-christianity/.
Thomas W Simpson, Faith as Trust, The Monist, Volume 106, Issue 1, January 2023, Pages 83–93, https://doi-org.qe2a-proxy.mun.ca/10.1093/monist/onac025
Nicholson, Jessica. "Country-Contemporary Christian Music Collaborations: 5 Recent Pairings." Billboard, February 28, 2025. https://www.billboard.com/lists/country-christian-music-collaborations/.
Zurlo, G. A. (2024). Gender Gaps in World Christianity: Membership, Participation, and Leadership. Review of Religious Research, 66(4), 512–536. https://doi.org/10.1177/0034673X241279593