An online article was published in The Washington Times back in January that talked about the recent division that has occurred amongst country music fans. The article talks about "Bro Country" and how it differs drastically from what is known as "traditional country." One country artist has been speaking out about this "sub-genre" on his Twitter page. That artist is Blake Shelton. The article puts this so called "Bro Country" up against what some consider "traditional." There is no doubt that the country genre has changed in the past few years. In David Eldridge's article, it states,

The latest battle has on one side the “bro-country” artists such as Luke Bryan, Blake Shelton, Jason Aldean and Florida Georgia Line, who have taken over the charts by trading fiddles and pedal steel for pop hooks and hip-hop and rap flourishes. On the other side are more traditional artists and their like-minded fans and critics.


First let's ask, what exactly is "Bro Country?" According to the same Washinton Times article,

The bro-country term was coined last year by New York Magazine’s Jay Rosen, who describes the genre as 'music by and of the tatted, gym-toned, party-hearty young American white dude.'

Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Images
Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Images
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Whether you are a fan of the newer country stylings or not, it must be accepted that the change is inevitable. We saw this last year with the Florida Georgia Line hit "Cruise," which stayed at number one for many months. It also crossed over into the pop genre when Nelly joined FGL for a remix of the song.

There are many country artists that have spoken out against the changes to "traditional country" including Zac Brown. For example Brown recently criticized Luke Bryan's "That's My Kind of Night" saying it was the "worst song I’ve ever heard. If I hear one more tailgate-in-the-moonlight, Daisy Dukes song, I’m gonna throw up.” Even rock legend Tom Petty has spoken up about the "new country." According to the same Washington Times article, Petty told Rolling Stone Magazine,

I hate to generalize on a whole genre of music, but it does seem to be missing that magic element that it used to have. I’m sure there are people playing country that are doing it well, but they’re just not getting the attention that the [other] stuff gets. But that’s the way it always is, isn’t it?

Country is a unique genre in the sense that it comes in different forms. And like Blake said, it is always changing. Blake even points out in another tweet the different types of country:

Blake did forget one category in another tweet that I can't include because of some choice language used, however the "sub-genre" he is talking about is "Beach-Country."

Whether Country Music fans are ready or not, change is coming and history is being made.

Florida Georgia Line knows that and hopes fans are looking forward to it:

They're currently working on that second album which I am sure will have plenty of "Bro-Country" in it.

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