Luke Bryan rocks a DeKalb corn baseball cap
In the last 10-20 years, country music has become something more people in cities listen to, but it has always been popular with farmers. There has to be a good reason. Recently, I was in Nashville with a lot of farmers and the reason became crystal clear as Luke Bryan (YouTube, Twitter and Facebook) took the stage. When he sang the first words to the song “Rain is a Good Thing” the farmer crowd went nuts! The full lyrics and the video to the song are below, but here’s the first verse:
My daddy spent his life lookin’ up at the sky
He’d cuss, kick the dust, sayin’ son it’s way too dry
It clouds up in the city, the weather man complains
But where I come from, rain is a good thing
In looking to see who wrote the song (it seems it was Luke Bryan and Dallas Davidson) A website called song facts says:
As Bryan is the son of a farmer who was dependent on rain he decided that he wanted to write a positive song about precipitation. Luke explained to The Boot: “We worked in agriculture, so we were always looking up at the sky, checking if it was raining or if rain was in the forecast. That always kind of set the tone for the mood in my household, whether we had rain coming in or not. Or if it had rained, we knew the crops would be good and it was going to be a good week around the Bryan household.
Luke Bryan shares the stage with farm kids
See, a lot of the people who write or perform country music come from farms and small towns so the music is something that clicks. The topics can be very familiar to farmers. And in case that isn’t enough illustration, Luke Bryan has done a farm tour the last few years taking his concerts to farms in his home state of Georgia. Drought there the last few years makes me know “Rain is a Good Thing” hits home.
On the other hand, rap tends to touch upon things that resonate with more urban audiences. That doesn’t mean you can’t have crossover and I’d suggest Colt Ford has done just that, incorporate country music themes into rap beats. It also doesn’t mean some farmers don’t love other rap and of course not every farmer likes country!
This week, I’ve got family in from out of town and we have really been enjoying the awesome weather with a visit to the zoo and the arch. But today is a rainy day and even though I’m living in the city, I have enough country in me to sit back and relax knowing its been dry and farmers will surely be saying “rain is a good thing.” So with that in mind, I hope today brings a lot of good things to the young corn plants in this part of the world.
Hope you enjoy seeing all the cotton farms and farmers featured in this video! Let me know if you have other reasons farmers like country music.
“Rain is a Good Thing”
(Verse 1)
My daddy spent his life lookin’ up at the sky
He’d cuss, kick the dust, sayin’ son it’s way too dry
It clouds up in the city, the weather man complains
But where I come from, rain is a good thing(Chorus)
Rain makes corn, corn makes whiskey
Whiskey makes my baby feel a little frisky
Back roads are boggin’ up, my buddies pile up in my truck
We hunt our honeys down, we take ’em into town
Start washin’ all our worries down the drain
Rain is a good thing(Verse 2)
Ain’t nothin’ like a kiss out back in the barn
Wringin’ out our soakin’ clothes, ridin’ out a thunderstorm
When tin roof gets to talkin’; that’s the best love we made
Yea where I come from, rain is a good thingRepeat Chorus
(Bridge)
Farmer Johnson does a little dance
Creeks on the rise, roll up your pants
Country girls, they wanna cuddle
Kids out playin’ in a big mud puddleRepeat Chorus
Rain is a good thing, rain is a good thing, rain is a good thing
via Cowboy Lyrics.
*dreamy sigh* I love Luke Bryan.
Janice, I’m actually compiling a list of songs that “every country kid should know” — with songs from today ranging back to…well, yeah. I was wondering, would you help me groom the list? I’d like to get it down to 10. All the songs have an emphasis on a more rural life.
I definitely wouldn’t mind your feedback, since you are one of the experts on all things culture! 😀 Let me know if you’re on-board. And thank you for giving me a free dose of adorable in the form of Luke Bryan today!
I would love to help! In fact, I made a redneck playlist a few years ago that includes a few songs that should definitely be on the list!
I take the perspective of the farmer that doesn’t listen to country. It’s not that I don’t like country, I just don’t turn my dial to the country station. I’m just more into classic rock, hard rock, and metal. Jazz and classical are great too. It has been a while since I played regularly, but I’m a decent pianist and a trumpet player too! Music classes are part of the reason I never took an Ag class in high school. No time!
All that being said I really appreciate that there are still artists and musicians in country music which is the same thing that draws me to other music.You know people actually singing and playing instruments? Pop has become just dance party or bar/club music in my opinion. Ke$ha is fun and catchy, but I doubt I’ll sit down just to listen to an entire album at home. Fire up some Iron Maiden though and I could sit and listen to the intricacies for hours!
Gotta give props to the fact there are lots of choices out there! Last year I saw Ke$ha in concert and was totally underwhelmed, but Ludacris was incredible that day as were Mumford & Sons. Luke Bryan gives an incredible show too. I tend to listen to things all over the spectrum but have to say a lot of metal is just not my thing. To each their own. 🙂 Some pop is okay, some not. I tend to like people who write meaning and tell stories whether that’s through lyrics or the melody. Blues grabs me at my core as does the Stax sound of soul…. growing up in Memphis that was my core. I have had awesome music and concert experiences throughout my life!
‘Cause it’s real!! We can relate to it. From “Big Green Tractors” to “Daddy Won’t Sell the Farm” to “Amarillo Sky” it’s what we can relate to. Reality, not reality tv. 🙂
🙂 I knew you’d like this post!
I am like Bryan Scott, country isn’t the first thing on my dial, but there are always some good catchy tunes that capture my attention. I recently wrote a blog post about rain being a good thing http://zweberfarms.com/rain-is-a-good-thing/ We are having rain as well today. It is nice that my husband can take a mini vacation between milkings to relax. He has been working too hard lately with the early planting season. 🙂
So rain really is a good thing for you guys! 🙂
Why can’t country just stay country?
There’s a lot of old school country music…. its doing really well too. 🙂
Country + Rap = CRAP! Unless your name is Colt Ford, Big and Rich or Jason Aldean! ; ) lol! I guess Tim McGraw did a little rapping too…hmmmm…I guess as long as they have have cute butts they can sing to their hearts content!
Well I know you aren’t suggesting Colt Ford has a cute butt! LOL! He’s a great guy though… We had a chance to visit a while and he knows my cousin pretty well. We chat on Twitter now and then too.