When Country Came Back To Town

(album: Southern Star - 2023)

I was there when Shooter Jennings rewound the sound like a cassette
I watched Jamey Johnson cut (You) "Can't Cash My Checks"
Back then Rowdy Jason Cope was running shine sunset to vine
Picking songs with Leroy Powell, making redneck isms rhyme

I guess now everyone knows Cousin Dave but he been around awhile
Proving simple truths and music, they just don't go out of style
It's hard to tell when you're in it sometimes the moment's too profound
But if I had to bet my money
That's when country came back to town

Right after that I moved to Nashville and most the Broadways stars
Wanted to be Cody Canada, Ryan Bingham or Hayes Carll
They seemed too cautious to commit, so they surrendered to the game
But nobody sang like Brandi Carlile or wrote like Nikki Lane
But you couldn't deny that it was lost or how it would be found
But when Sturgill climbed High Top Mountain
Country came back to town

Beyond the pickups and the backroads, you could almost hear it play
Though it was softer than a whisper through the pines
Some say it never left, some say that it got saved
Some say, like everything, it changes over time
Well all I know for certain is I'm glad I was around
When country came back to town
Oh, when country came back to town

As the divide grew even greater between commerce and art
Folks like Miranda Lambert kept the beat inside its heart
Right along with Chris and Morgane and Kacey Musgraves too
What took the world so long to catch on, for us was nothing new
But by the time the torch was passed and the hatchet was laid down
Music Row had nearly burned to ash
When country came back to town

Beyond the pickups and the backroads, you could almost hear it play
Though it was softer than a whisper through the pines
Some say it never left, some say that it got saved
Some say, like everything, it changes over time
Well all I know for certain is I'm glad I was around
When country came back to town
Oh, when country came back to town

Now here we are eighteen years later with a list a mile long
Of names like Childers, Jinks, Price, and Whitey, Hood, Shook, Cook, Cauthen and Combs
Lord knows it's hard to name them all, but hell, right off the top of my head
Isbell, Eady, Patton, Moonpies, Turnpike, Colter, and Crockett
And won't be stopping, no name dropping till history books echo the sound
Of all the folks who saddled up and drove country
Back to town
Oh, back to town