Get away from the hustle and bustle of a big city, and small towns shine all over the country. A much simpler way of life, these four country songs celebrate everything that is good about rural America.
Videos by American Songwriter
“Chattahoochee” by Alan Jackson
Alan Jackson had a multi-platinum, No. 1 hit with “Chattahoochee“. Released as a single in 1993 on his A Lot About Livin’ (And a Little ‘Bout Love) album, Jackson wrote “Chattahoochee” with Jim McBride.
The song references the Chattahoochee River in Georgia, where Jackson is from. He admits he initially did not expect the song to become such a big hit.
“When we cut that, it was a fun, uptempo thing about coming [of] age,” Jackson says (via Billboard). “I thought, ‘Well, yeah, it’s a fun song. And I like it, and people in Georgia are gonna like it. Nobody in the rest of the country, the rest of the world, don’t know what it is or care about it.’”
“Chattahoochee” says, “Down by the river on a Friday night / Pyramid of cans in the pale moonlight // Talking about cars and dreaming about women / Never had a plan, just a living for the minute / Yeah, way down yonder on the Chattahoochee / Never knew how much that muddy water meant to me / But I learned how to swim and I learned who I was / A lot about living and a little ’bout love.”
“My Tennessee Mountain Home” by Dolly Parton
Nothing about Dolly Parton’s childhood was easy. Growing up as one of 12 children in a two-bedroom cabin in East Tennessee, Parton still has fond memories of her formative years, challenging as they were.
Written by Parton, “My Tennessee Mountain Home” is the title track of her 1973 album. The song says, “In my Tennessee mountain home / Life is as peaceful as a baby’s sigh / In my Tennessee mountain home / Crickets are singing in the fields nearby.”
Eventually, Parton found a way out of her rural home, becoming an unlikely success story.
“I imagined it, I dreamed it, I worked for it,” Parton tells USA Today. “And God was good enough to let me have it.”
“Small Town USA” by Justin Moore
There may not be a better anthem for rural America than “Small Town USA” by Justin Moore. His first No.1 single, from his 2009 self-titled debut album, the song is written by Moore, Jeremy Stover, and Brian Dean Maher.
“Small Town USA” begins with, “A lot of people called it prison when I was growing up / But these are my roots, and this is what I love / ‘Cause everybody knows me and I know them / And I believe that’s the way we we’re supposed to live / I wouldn’t trade one single day in small town USA.”
“Small Town Saturday Night” by Hal Ketchum
“Small Town Saturday Night” is Hal Ketchum’s debut single, out in 1991 on his Past The Point Of Rescue record. Pat Alger and Hank DeVito are the writers of the song.
“Small Town Saturday Night” says, “Lucy’s got her lipstick on a little too bright / Bobby’s gettin’ drunk and lookin’ for a fight / Liquor on his breath and trouble on his mind / And Lucy’s just a kid, along for the ride / Got a six-pack of beer and a bottle of wine / Gotta be bad just to have a good time / They’re gonna howl at the moon, shoot out the light / It’s a small town Saturday night.”
Photo by Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images
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