4 Country Songs That Will Make You Long for Home if You’re From Small-Town America

There’s a certain kind of nostalgia and pride that comes with being from a small town, and plenty of country songs through the years have praised rural America beautifully. The following four songs, in particular, might just make you long for your small hometown, especially if you haven’t been back in a while.

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“Take Me Home, Country Roads” by John Denver from ‘Poems, Prayers & Promises’ (1971)

Few songs out there describe the beauty of the great American landscape quite like John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads”. While this song is more about the stunning nature and vision of the American South and less about small towns, it’s also about taking roads back home. And who wouldn’t want to go back home if home looks like this?

“Hero In Your Own Hometown” by Mary Chapin Carpenter from ‘A Place In The World’ (1996)

How about a bit of a deep cut? This non-single from Mary Chapin Carpenter’s A Place In The World is all about how easy it is to feel like a hero when you’re a youngin’ in your small hometown. There’s so much excitement and potential about what the future holds, and Carpenter describes this perfectly on this 1996 country gem.

“The Way I Talk” by S.G. Goodman from ‘Old Time Feeling’ (2020)

Being from a small town is about a lot more than lacking the trials and tribulations of a big, packed, major city. It’s about more than hanging out in the back of a pickup truck. This song from S.G. Goodman explores the more difficult aspects of small-town life, from poverty to more complex ideas like identity politics and class. If you like some folk with your country, give “The Way I Talk” a spin.

“Small Town” by Florida Georgia Line from ‘Can’t Say I Ain’t Country’ (2019)

Our last entry on this list of country songs about small-town life was a bit heavy, so how about a funnier entry in which Florida Georgia Line sings about a laundry list of stereotypes about small towns? Fishing, county fairs, tractors, cow-tippin’, and other fun things that this duo lists off in “Small Town” will have you yearning for a simpler time.

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