There are love songs, and then there are over-the-top romantic songs. Although love songs have been part of country music since the beginning, these are three of the sappiest country love songs, which all came out in the 2020s.
Videos by American Songwriter
“Love You Anyway” by Luke Combs
In 2023, Luke Combs released “Love You Anyway”, song he wrote about his wife, Nicole Combs. Written by Combs, Ray Fulcher, and Dan Isbell, the song appears on Combs’s Gettin’ Old record.
“Love You Anyway” says, “There’s just some things that leave a man no choice / Like a compass needle needing its true North / Even if I knew the day we met you’d be the reason this heart breaks / Oh, I’d love you anyway.”
“It was Valentine’s Day 2020,” Combs recalls of the song. “I was playing a show and had dedicated ‘Beautiful Crazy’ to Nicole (my fiancée at the time). And said something along the lines of, ‘If you’re in here, I love you. If not, you know I do anyway.’”
“Happy Anywhere” by Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani
There may not be a song that more accurately sums up Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani’s relationship than “Happy Anywhere“. Out in 2020 on his Body Language record, “Happy Anywhere”, Ross Copperman, Josh Osborne, and Matt Jenkins are the song’s writers.
The uptempo track says, “Yeah, the beauty of the northern lights / In my mind is faded / The blue sky over Telluride / Next to you is kinda overrated / The winding road, let it twist / My home’s wherever your heart is / I’m running wide open / I was born with my feet in motion / But since I met you, I swear / I could be happy anywhere.”
Released in the middle of a hard time for a lot of people, Shelton says “Happy Anywhere” reminded him of the silver lining of being home with Stefani.
“I’d be lying if I said that I’m not having a blast being stuck at home … because I’ve just never gotten to do it before, since I’ve owned a home,” Shelton said at the time (via Elle).
“The Painter” by Cody Johnson
Cody Johnson didn’t write “The Painter”, but he could have. Written instead by Benjy Davis, Kat Higgins and Ryan Larkins, the song reminds Johnson of his wife, Brandi, so much, she appears in the video.
“The Painter” says, “I don’t remember / Life before she came into the picture / Brought the beauty I was missing with her / Showed me colors I ain’t never seen / She took chances / With every wall I built, she saw a canvas / I thank God every day for how He made her / My life was black and white, but she’s the painter.”
“My favorite lyric in ‘The Painter’ is for every wall I built, she saw a canvas,” Johnson says. “If there’s anything that describes my marriage with my wife, Brandi, it’s that line.”
Photo by Terry Wyatt/WireImage
Leave a Reply
Only members can comment. Become a member. Already a member? Log in.