Are Country Hits Today’s Soft Rock?

SONG GUIDE: “Trouble With A Heartbreak” – Jason Aldean
SONG GUIDE: “Slow Down Summer” – Thomas Rhett

If you were a fan of Fleetwood Mac, Hall & Oates, Journey, or Richard Marx, then today’s Country hits are right up your alley. Like the Soft Rock hits of the ’70s through the ’90s, the Contemporary Country genre features memorable melodies with great hooks, well-crafted lyrics, and body-swaying, mid-tempo grooves.

“Trouble With A Heartbreak” by Jason Aldean and “Slow Down Summer” by Thomas Rhett reached #1 and #2 on the Country charts and I can’t help drawing a few comparisons to the big, melodic hits of the 1970s.

So let’s take a deeper look and see what gives these songs their huge appeal. Along the way, maybe we’ll be able to answer the question: Do they really share DNA with the soft rockers of past decades?

Song Guide: Tattoos On This Town – Jason Aldean

Hit Country artist and songwriter Jason Aldean.


Songwriters: Michael Dulaney, Wendell Mobley, Neil Thrasher

Start with a great title

First of all, let’s take a look at this amazing song title:”Tattoos on This Town.” It’s a tremendous example of a short phrase that can support and inspire an entire song. It’s unique and fresh, and immediately made me wonder what the song would be about. Before even hearing the song, listeners are bound to ask: “What does this phrase mean?”

When you have an intriguing title like this, you’ve got to answer the questions it brings up and do it in a way that’s creative, yet clear and understandable. That’s just what these writers did: A tattoo is a permanent mark on the skin. The first line of the chorus is “It sure left its mark on us…” Got it! The town left its mark on the singer. The title is tied right into the lyric.

But these writers went even further: the images in the lyric show us the marks the singer and his friends left on the town. The whole song is framed by the title and satisfying the questions it brings up for listeners. (For more on answering the questions the title asks, read Shortcut #44.)

Listen to the song. Read the lyrics.

Watch on YouTube.

Read the lyrics to this song online.


(Shortcut numbers refer to my book Shortcuts to Hit Songwriting.)

GENRE: Contemporary Country

(What is a genre? Watch this video.)

Contemporary Country is a style that blends the melodic Rock sound of the 1970s with today’s songwriting techniques—vivid lyrics and melodies with a lot of momentum. We’ll take a look at both of these as we go through the song.