Column: An anthem for the next GOP convention? Country music’s latest lyric controversy

Country music fans gave us a hint of their politics recently, or seemed to, by sending Aaron Lewis’ “Am I the Only One” to the top of the charts. I’d rather listen to it than, say, this on the country charts by Walker Hayes: “My girl is bangin’/She’s so low maintenance/Don’t need no Champagne poppin’ entertainment/Take her to Wendy’s/Can’t keep her off me/She wanna dip me like them fries in her Frosty.” By comparison, the Aaron Lewis song is like something by W.H. In 1969, Merle Haggard made the connection explicit between country music and right-wing cultural politics when he released “Okie from Muskogee.” Conservative politicians like Richard M. Nixon and the segregationist Alabama Gov. Just listen to Lamar Morris singing his rousing version of “Let’s Put George Wallace/In the White House.” And too often, country music fandom has been mixed with an ugly Southern Confederate pride, and sometimes with out-and-out racism.