‘Country's Cool Again’ by Lainey Wilson - Lyrics & Meaning

Back in October 2023, Lainey Wilson shared a short, tantalising snippet of her performing an acoustic version of a brand new song, ‘Country's Cool Again’. Shortly after, Lainey unveiled her sprawling 2024 Country's Cool Again Tour, which hinted that the impending track would play a key role in her upcoming album rollout.

Sure enough, after dropping another couple of teasers across her socials, Lainey confirmed the hotly anticipated song would be arriving on streaming platforms on February 16th.

The swaggering, uptempo song is widely expected to be the lead single off Lainey's 2024 album, with many fans speculating that ‘Country's Cool Again’ will be the project's title-track.

The timing of the release feels particularly apt, given the fact that the song revolves around the rapidly burgeoning popularity of country culture, with Post Malone, Lana Del Rey and Beyoncé having all announced debut country albums for 2024. When you couple this with the all-genre chart domination enjoyed by Morgan Wallen, Zach Bryan and more in 2023, it feels as though country is indeed ‘cool’ again.

Sonically, ‘Country's Cool Again’ aligns perfectly with the themes and messaging behind the lyrics, with the track opening with a joyously twangy bass accompanied by a lighter, more playful guitar. As Lainey kicks off the first verse, the composition is built out, with a deliberate, simple drum pattern keeping the energy high.

Throughout the chorus, Lainey Wilson's captivating presence and delivery combines with the introduction of a more emphatic beat, which incorporates a reverberating clap that makes you feel as though you're part of a live show audience.

‘Country's Cool Again’ creates a similar ambience to the assured strut of Bell Bottom Country stand-outs such as ‘Grease’, ‘Hold My Halo’, ‘Smell Like Smoke’ and ‘Hillbilly Hippie’.

“I was born in boots on humble ground
These kinda roots, yeah, they sure don't grow out
Yeah, even in a guitar town
My crooked drawl, the way I sung
My mama's genes sure stuck out like a thumb
In a Metro City crowd”

Although appearing largely frivolous and tongue-in-cheek on the surface, ‘Country's Cool Again’ contains a number of references to Lainey's upbringing and her journey so far.

She outlines how she was born into a rural, modest home in Baskin, Louisiana, before emphasising that, no matter how popular or famous she might become now she's made it big in Nashville, her roots will never ‘grow out’ - a witty play on the ‘roots’ that anchor her to the ground, as well as the way dyed hair ‘roots’ grow out over time.

The line about her ‘mama's genes’ drawing attention to her when spending time in the big city seems to mean both the fact that it'll aways be in Lainey Wilson's DNA to be country, as well as potentially being heard as ‘mama's jeans’, reiterating the idea of Lainey having humble beginnings and wearing hand-me-downs.

“Oh me, oh my, how things have changed
And I can't believe my eyes these days”

The ‘Wildflowers and Wild Horses’ hitmaker prepares to launch into the chorus by expressing her bemusement at the current state of the music industry. When she was growing up, country music and the overall country aesthetic was ridiculed - but now...

“Everybody wanna be a cowboy
Drive a Jon boat, whip a John Deere
Everybody want a backwoods front porch
With a tub full of iced-down beer
Must be something in the water flowing out of the holler
Blue collar musta caught a new wind
Doggone, dadgum it, didn't see that coming
Country's cool again”

Lainey outlines how surprised she is to find that, now, country music is being championed as the ‘cool’ new genre, with country songs surging to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 and a plethora of mainstream Hip Hop and Pop artists crossing over.

What makes ‘Country's Cool Again’ all the more heartwarming is the seemingly unplanned fact that Lainey has a key role in helping the genre to be considered ‘cool’ today, particularly after Bell Bottom Country won the 2024 Grammy for Album of the Year.

She rattles through an array of typical country tropes and imagery, such as floating in a Jon boat, which is often used for fishing, as well as outlining how everyone wants to ride on a John Deere tractor, sit on an old porch swing and crack open some cold ones.

Towards the end of the chorus, there are a flurry of satisfying internal rhymes, before Lainey incorporates a couple of classic Southern phrases - ‘doggone it’ and ‘dadgum it’ - both of which are exclamations meaning roughly the same as ‘darn it’.

“Once you get a taste, you'll lick the spoon
Learn every word to ‘The Dance’ and ‘Neon Moon’
And next thing you know
You'll hang a swing on a piece of land
Start sayin' things like, “Hell naw”, “Hot damn”
Yeah, and if you dip your toe
You'll get bit by the bug and wanna wait in line
And that's the kind of trend, oh, that I could get behind”

The 2024 Grammy winner warns the listener that, once they try the country way of life, they won't be able to get enough. Lainey name-checks two iconic ‘90s country songs, Garth Brooks’ ‘The Dance’ and Brooks & Dunn's ‘Neon Moon’, both of which will become staples on your playlist, should you decide to follow the trend and go ‘country’.

She predicts you'll even want to take inspiration from the typical country music stories about buying a piece of land and putting up a swing, so you can build a family out in a bucolic idyll. Lainey Wilson then introduces a couple more signature Southern phrases - ‘Hot damn’ and ‘Hell naw’ - before doubling-down on the idea that, once you start to dip your toes in the country waters, you'll be hooked.

“Everybody wanna be a cowboy
Drive a Jon boat, whip a John Deere
Everybody want a backwoods front porch
With a tub full of iced-down beer
Must be something in the water flowing out of the holler
Blue collar musta caught a new wind
Y'all hop in the back, how 'bout that?
'Cause country's cool again
Ain't that some shit? I found a few hits
'Cause country's cool again”

The last instalment of the chorus is virtually the same as the first, with the addition of the lines ‘Y'all hop in the back, how ‘bout that?’ and ‘Ain't that some shit? I found a few hits’.

With the former, Lainey Wilson stresses that everyone is welcome to join in and have some fun in the world of country, a notion perhaps directed at the more mainstream artists that are looking to venture into Music City. Then, with the second newly introduced lyric, Lainey jokes about how she's scored ‘a few’ hits - a very self-effacing statement, given she's currently en route to securing her sixth consecutive No. 1.

The ‘Ain't that some shit’ line could be a nod to Morgan Wallen's song, ‘Ain't That Some’, which is similarly celebratory about a country way of life - but this seems unlikely. Having said that, Morgan did post a cryptic comment to his Instagram Stories soon after Lainey's 2023 CMA Entertainer of the Year victory, ‘I guess Country's Cool Now’.

Due to its apparent ‘Country's Cool Again’ reference, fans were divided over whether this was a jibe directed at Lainey, or a hint at an upcoming collaboration.

Ahead of the release, Lainey Wilson shared how happy she was to finally be making this fan-favourite available, “I’m so excited to announce my brand-new song, ‘Country’s Cool Again.’ This past year has been a wild ride and truly shown me that Country music is really loving me back. This track is an ode to my upbringing and the story of my journey in this industry – where I have been and where I am now. I’m feeling all the love from Country music fans, and I can’t wait to hear everyone singing this song back to me while we’re out on the road this year”.

“I was born in boots on humble ground
These kinda roots, yeah, they sure don't grow out
Yeah, even in a guitar town
My crooked drawl, the way I sung
My mama's genes sure stuck out like a thumb
In a Metro City crowd

Oh me, oh my, how things have changed
And I can't believe my eyes these days

Everybody wanna be a cowboy
Drive a Jon boat, whip a John Deere
Everybody want a backwoods front porch
With a tub full of iced-down beer
Must be something in the water flowing out of the holler
Blue collar musta caught a new wind
Doggone, dadgum it, didn't see that coming
Country's cool again

Once you get a taste, you'll lick the spoon
Learn every word to ‘The Dance’ and ‘Neon Moon’
And next thing you know
You'll hang a swing on a piece of land
Start sayin' things like, “Hell naw”, “Hot damn”
Yeah, and if you dip your toe
You'll get bit by the bug and wanna wait in line
And that's the kind of trend, oh, that I could get behind

Everybody wanna be a cowboy
Drive a Jon boat, whip a John Deere
Everybody want a backwoods front porch
With a tub full of iced-down beer
Must be something in the water flowing out of the holler
Blue collar musta caught a new wind
Doggone, dadgum it, didn't see that coming
Country's cool again

(Woo, yeah)

Cool, cool, cool, cool
Country's cool again
Cool (Cool), cool (Cool), cool (Cool), cool
Country's cool again
I said cool (Cool), cool (Cool), cool (Cool), cool
Country's cool again
Cool (Cool), cool (Cool), cool (Cool), cool
Country's cool again

Everybody wanna be a cowboy
Drive a Jon boat, whip a John Deere
Everybody want a backwoods front porch
With a tub full of iced-down beer
Must be something in the water flowing out of the holler
Blue collar musta caught a new wind
Y'all hop in the back, how 'bout that?
'Cause country's cool again
Ain't that some shit? I found a few hits
'Cause country's cool again

So cool
Again”

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