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This is an edition of the newsletter Pulling Weeds With Chris Black, in which the columnist weighs in on hot topics in culture. Sign up here to get it in your inbox every Thursday.
In October, I wrote an edition of this newsletter about how I was seeing a lot of people dressing like cowboys. Call it the Yellowstone effect—but it has also crossed over into popular music, and Post Malone is doing it better than almost anyone. His new album F-1 Trillion, which comes out later this month, features an all-my-rowdy-friends-are-comin'-over-tonight lineup of new country bros: Chris Stapleton, Blake Shelton, Brad Paisley, and Morgan Wallen. Even Dolly Parton has a feature. The album cover is a photo of a vintage two-tone blue F-150 pickup truck being vertically dropped into water, a nod to Gonzalo Lebrija's "History of Suspended Time (A Monument for the Impossible)." He has a Bud Light endorsement deal and a “Country Forever” playlist on his Spotify where Tim McGraw and Vince Gill hits share space with Sturgill Simpson and three different songs by Diamond Rio. It’s been a long journey, from face tattoos and cornrows to Luke Combs duets.
For many years, the evolution of a pop star meant embracing hip-hop and/or R&B. When Justin Timberlake went solo post-N’Sync, he tapped The Clipse and Bubba Sparxxx (LOL) for features. Then in 2018, he released Man of The Woods, an album that featured Chris Stapleton. Although Timberlake is from Tennessee, the shift from “Suit and Tie” to “Flannel” was a bridge too far. The album was met with mixed reviews. Beyonce, who hails from Texas, also tried with this spring’s Cowboy Carter, which did just fine but wasn’t as well received as you’d expect a genre-busting album by a global superstar might be. But in 2024, a guy who came onto the scene as a mediocre facsimile of Future is doing the Super Bowl pregame show in $50 boot cut Wranglers and dueting with Dwight Yoakam.
Southerness is selling across the board, and it doesn’t have to be genuine to work. To most, it feels unvarnished, and the country or even country-tinged songs are often uncomplicated hits. Pop music has gotten more computerized, more digital, and fussier. Country music is traditionally simple songs with recognizable structures that lyrically touch on subjects all of us, Southern or not, can relate to. Heartbreak, drinking, smoking, being on the porch. What other genre is going to write a love song to a truck? It often feels authentic and straightforward. So when you consider the state of the world, it’s obvious why it’s having a moment. Right now, a Nigerian-American artist from Virginia named Shaboozey is celebrating his third week at No. 1 on the Hot 100 With “A Bar Song (Tipsy).” It’s a smash that caters explicitly to millennials with a hook that cribs from J-Kwon’s 2004 megahit “Tipsy.” The yee-haw agenda is real and very profitable. I am sure Posty won’t be the last one to jump on the bandwagon.