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Can Country Songs Take You to Church?

Singer-Songwriters Explain How

In the latest Billboard Country Update, music journalist Tom Roland wrote a story about how a few newer country songs have almost crossed over into Christian music or even gospel-tinged tunes.

The songwriter who wrote Tim McGraw’s latest No. 1 song “Humble and Kind,” for example, says the song came from her desire to give her five kids life lessons without taking it too far.

“I was lucky that it didn’t end up being preachy. It could have,” Lori McKenna said at a show recently.

And she’s not the only one talking about the abundance of Godly country songs hitting country radio these days.

“A lot of country music fans are in church on Sundays … are very spiritual people. They can also have church (with these songs) no matter where they’re at,” Florida Georgia Line’s Brian Kelley said about the duo’s latest hit “H.O.L.Y.”

“I’m a Christian person and have a very strong belief that we will be reunited someday and this world is temporary and there is some place that we are going to go. I think that people really connect to those songs because of that,” Carrie Underwood said of the handful of religious-themed songs in her discography, like 2009's "Temporary Home."

“I just can’t imagine walking through life not knowing that there is a higher power who has our best interest at heart, who truly loves us more than we could ever fathom," said Lady Antebellum's Hillary Scott, who has released "Thy Will" as the first single from her upcoming solo album, Love Remains. "To think that we are just walking around on earth, just trying to find our way through it (without purpose), I just can’t look at life like that. I just can’t."

Scott said "Thy Will" evolved organically.

"It’s not like we all sat in a room and schemed," she said. "It just naturally happened that way, and I think it’s just showing that people are trying to find their footing in a really uncertain world right now. I think there’s a lot of reasons why people don’t feel safe."

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