What a pill. We finally graduated from the Check Engine Light era in auto mechanics, only to wake up to the Check Tire Pressure era where it seems like every vehicle is always warning us about low tires, whether they’re actually low or not.

Recently I was in a tire shop getting the ol’ truck some new rubber and trying to reset the tire warning light, when my ears immediately latched on to the music they were playing in the background. As a self-admitted high-nosed American music snob, usually whatever music is playing at a business or chirping from a radio immediately gets zoned out for the sake of sanity. But when I heard Cody Jinks, chased by Zach Bryan, followed up by Tyler Childers, I knew someone had some good taste in music.

As I sat there in a public space waiting for the tire work to be done, I started jotting down the songs that were played, intrigued at the mix, and what it might say about where we’re at in country music in 2024.

Here were the 30 songs that played in the roughly two hours I waited to have the work done:

Cody Jinks – “Hippies & Cowboys”
Zach Bryan – “Nine Ball”
Tyler Childers – “All Your’n”
Zach Top – “I Never Lie”
Zach Bryan – “Sun To Me”
Clay Walker – “She Won’t Be Lonely Long”
Chris Stapleton – “Tennessee Whiskey”
Tyler Childers – “Feathered Indians”
Whiskey Myers – “Broken Window Serenade”
Luke Combs – “When It Rains It Pours”
Tyler Childers – “Charleston Girl”
Chayce Beckham – “23”
Cody Johnson – ‘Human”
Shenandoah – “Two Dozen Roses”
Tracy Lawrence – “Time Marches On”
Hank Williams Jr. – “Family Tradition”
Turnpike Troubadours – “7&7”
Treaty Oak Revival – “I’m The Worst”
Flatland Cavalry w/ Kaitlin Butts – “A Life Where We Work Out”
Dwight Yoakam – “Fast As You”
Luke Combs – “Drive”
Parker McCollum – “I Can’t Breathe”
George Strait – “Write This Down”
Brooks & Dunn – “My Maria”
Brooks & Dunn – “Neon Moon”
Chris Stapleton – “Traveller”
Midland – “Drinking Problem”
Gavin Adcock – “Run Your Mouth”
Cody Johnson – “Dear Rodeo”
Cody Jinks – Mamma Song”

HERE WERE SOME OBSERVANCES:

1. Cody Jinks, Tyler Childers, Whiskey Myers, Treaty Oak Revival, Turnpike Troubadours, and Flatland Cavalry can hold their own right beside Luke Combs, Chris Stapleton, and George Strait in a playlist.

This isn’t a hypothetical. Playlists curated for public spaces and radio stations will only be enhanced by expanding the artists they pull from to include independent, non-radio performers. In fact, that might be the only way they will survive in the streaming era. Radio must make playlists that sound like the playlists people make for themselves and their friends.

2. Luke Combs, Zach Bryan, Cody Johnson, and Chris Stapleton can exist on the same playlist as top independent country acts.

Every time names like Zach Bryan and Luke Combs come up on snobbish music sites like Saving Country Music, the comments sections fill up with people saying these performers are no different than Sam Hunt, Morgan Wallen, or Florida Georgia Line. Are they as good of songwriters as Tyler Childers? Probably not. Do they have the same blue collar heart as Cody Jinks? Not likely. But they’re fine, and you can fit them right on a playlist like this, and not make listeners want to bail. Also, including them broadens the audience that a playlist appeals to, helping to passively promote the more independent performers.

3. Brooks & Dunn, George Strait, Dwight Yoakam, and Hank Williams Jr. are as relevant as ever.

Why don’t we hear great classic country music songs on the radio, or in public spaces anymore? Sure, radio is always going to focus primarily on the latest singles from current artists, and it should unless it’s a classic country station. But why are so many fans young and old latching onto the music of Zach Top? It’s because it reminds them of music from the ’80s and ’90s. So why not play that music too? It fits better with many of today’s current artists and radio singles than other radio singles from folks like Old Dominion or Kane Brown that have no real organic fans.

4. No Morgan Wallen

It’s still true that Morgan Wallen, HARDY, are artists of that ilk are probably a hair better and more country than the top names of the Bro-Country era. But they’re still incredibly polarizing, and still questionably country, except for a few select songs. Morgan Wallen is the most popular artist in all of country music, so it’s not like he’s a completely manufactured creature of radio like some performers. He has real fans. But you don’t need him to curate a great country playlist that will still appeal to young people and a broad audience. Even though big mainstream names like Luke Combs and Parker McCollum appeared on this playlist, most Morgan Wallen singles would stick out like a sore thumb.

5. Not a single woman.

Honestly, this is the biggest takeaway. 30 songs played in roughly two hours, and not a single song by a woman was played, with the only exception being a “feat.” appearance by Kaitlin Butts on a song with her husband, Cleto Cordero of Flatland Cavalry. And you got the vibe that if you listened for another 30 songs and two hours, you probably wouldn’t hear a woman at any point.

This is how pronounced the discrepancy between men and women is in country music. You don’t have to be “woke” to recognize this. This isn’t a demand that all radio and playlists be 50/50 women. But it feels like there should be at least some women, or in this case, even one woman. If they had added one song from a solitary woman, they would have boosted the women on the playlist by 100%. If they had added three women, they would have boosted it by 300%.

It’s playlists like these that make it not an opinion, and not a political stance that women in country music have a harder hill to climb. It makes it an empirical fact. And as exciting as it is to see independent country breaking through to the mainstream, this gender discrepancy remains an issue.

Conclusion:

It’s hard to look at a playlist like this played in a public space, and not conclude that country music has improved over the last few years. It’s also hard to not conclude that some work still needs to be done. But the kingmakers on Music Row no longer hold the ultimate power. The listeners do. And those listeners should continue to demand their tastes be represented by country music’s greater institutions, like mainstream radio and award shows.

FYI: The playlist was part of a service that businesses subscribe to, and that can be curated to with multiple channels available for each genre.