Singer, songwriter (and surfer) Jake Owen has been on a roll with a succession of number one country hits starting with “Barefoot Blue Jean Night” five years ago and now his “American Country Love Song,” released a few weeks ago, the second single from his album “Real Life.”
Clever, up tempo, corny and twangy, this song confirms everything that people who don’t like Country music say is bad about it, and, conversely, millions of Country music fans will embrace the perfectly crafted lyrics that tell a tale of small-town teenage love—the cute parts:
It’s butterflies and Bud Lights
And
It’s two tickets to a concert
And
It’s Chris loves Jenny on a license plate
It’s daddy getting mad cause you came home late
It’s one last kiss in the driveway
Hey radio DJ can you play that song
And though Owens is from Florida, where the song’s storyline begins and ends—Spring break in Daytona Beach– it was written by three of Nashville’s finest: Ross Copperman, Ashley Gorley and Jaren Johnston.
Nothing like the American landscape and culture to inspire Country songs. In 1991 Hal Ketchum described his own slice of real life in rural America in “Small Town Saturday Night.”