🎸 Top 10 Faith-Infused Country Songs: The ACM’s All-Time Best Honorees 🔌
Weekend Plug-in 🔌
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(ANALYSIS) “Telling folks that Jesus is the answer can rub them wrong,” as Brad Paisley put it in a 2010 song.
“But this is country music,” Paisley proclaimed, “and we do.”
Sure, drinking and cheating songs characterize a whole lot of the genre, known for its roots in working-class, blue-collar American life.
But faith, too, infuses many Nashville hits, as illustrated by the 60th annual Academy of Country Music Awards — broadcast live May 8 from Frisco, Texas, and now streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
Cody Johnson won the ACM’s Song of the Year honor for “Dirt Cheap,” about an old cotton farmer refusing to sell his land to developers offering “top dollar.”
The song reflects on “that little girl that used to swing right there” and the spot “under that white oak tree beneath the cross … where my best (dog) buddy’s buried” and the place “where that woman … said ‘yes’ when I got down on one knee.”
“No, it ain’t something you fall into,” the old man says of his property. “It’s something God gives you. And you hold onto.”
“Dirt Cheap” songwriter Josh Phillips gave credit for the award to his “Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
READ: Preach It, Jelly Roll: Emotional Singer Celebrates Another Big Award
“Without him, this don’t happen,” Phillips told the cheering ACM crowd.
Over the past six decades, the ACM has recognized a number of faith-friendly hits with its Song of the Year and/or Single of the Year honors.
My Top 10 favorites (with a few representative lyrics):
1. “Believe” by Brooks and Dunn (2005 Song of the Year).
Old man Wrigley lived in that white house
Down the street where I grew up
Momma used to send me over with things
We struck a friendship up
I spent a few long summers out on his old porch swing
Says he was in the war when in the Navy
Lost his wife, lost his baby
Broke down and asked him one time
How ya keep from going crazy
He said I'll see my wife and son in just a little while
I asked him what he meant
He looked at me and smiled, said:
“I raise my hands, bow my head
I'm finding more and more truth in the words written in red
They tell me that there's more to life than just what I can see
Oh, I believe”
2. “Three Wooden Crosses” by Randy Travis (2003 Song of the Year).
A farmer and a teacher, a hooker and a preacher
Riding on a midnight bus bound for Mexico
One's headed for vacation, one for higher education
And two of them were searching for lost souls
That driver never ever saw the stop sign
And 18-wheelers can't stop on a dime
There are three wooden crosses on the right side of the highway
Why there's not four of them, heaven only knows
I guess it's not what you take when you leave this world behind you
It's what you leave behind you when you go
That farmer left a harvest, a home and 80 acres
The faith and love for growing things in his young son's heart
And that teacher left her wisdom in the minds of lots of children
Did her best to give them all a better start
And that preacher whispered, "Can't you see the Promised Land?"
As he laid his blood-stained Bible in that hooker's hand
3. “Where Were You (When The World Stopped Turning)” by Alan Jackson (2001 Song of the Year and 2001 Single of the Year).
Where were you when the world stopped turning
That September day?
Were you in the yard with your wife and children
Or working on some stage in L.A.?
Did you stand there in shock at the sight of that black smoke
Rising against that blue sky?
Did you shout out in anger, in fear for your neighbor
Or did you just sit down and cry?
Did you weep for the children, they lost their dear loved ones
Pray for the ones who don't know?
Did you rejoice for the people who walked from the rubble
And sob for the ones left below?
Did you burst out with pride for the red, white and blue
And the heroes who died just doing what they do?
Did you look up to heaven for some kind of answer
And look at yourself and what really matters?
I'm just a singer of simple songs
I'm not a real political man
I watch CNN, but I'm not sure I can tell you
The difference in Iraq and Iran
But I know Jesus, and I talk to God
And I remember this from when I was young
Faith, hope and love are some good things he gave us
And the greatest is love
4. “Forever and Ever, Amen” by Randy Travis (1987 Song of the Year and 1987 Single of the Year).
You may think that I'm talking foolish
You've heard that I'm wild and I'm free
You may wonder how I can promise you now
This love that I feel for you always will be
But you're not just time that I'm killing
I'm no longer one of those guys
As sure as I live, this love that I give
Is gonna be yours until the day that I die
Oh, baby, I'm gonna love you forever
Forever and ever, amen
As long as old men sit and talk about the weather
As long as old women sit and talk about old men
If you wonder how long I'll be faithful
I'll be happy to tell you again
I'm gonna love you forever and ever
Forever and ever, amen
5. “Jesus, Take the Wheel” by Carrie Underwood (2005 Single of the Year).
She was driving last Friday on her way to Cincinnati on a snow-white Christmas Eve
Going home to see her mama and her daddy with the baby in the backseat
50 miles to go, and she was running low on faith and gasoline
It'd been a long, hard year
She had a lot on her mind, and she didn't pay attention
She was going way too fast
Before she knew it, she was spinning on a thin black sheet of glass
She saw both their lives flash before her eyes
She didn't even have time to cry
She was so scared
She threw her hands up in the air
Jesus, take the wheel
Take it from my hands
'Cause I can't do this on my own
I'm letting go
So give me one more chance
And save me from this road I'm on
Jesus, take the wheel
6. “Live Like You Were Dying” by Tim McGraw (2004 Song of the Year and 2004 Single of the Year).
He said, "I was in my early 40s with a lot of life before me
When a moment came that stopped me on a dime
I spent most of the next days looking at the X-rays
Talking about the options and talking about sweet times"
I asked him when it sank in
That this might really be the real end
How's it hit ya when you get that kind of news?
Man, whatcha do?
And he said:
"I went skydiving, I went Rocky Mountain climbing
I went two point seven seconds on a bull named Fu Man Chu
And I loved deeper, and I spoke sweeter
And I gave forgiveness I'd been denying'"
And he said, "Some day I hope you get the chance
To live like you were dying"
He said, "I was finally the husband that most the time I wasn't
And I became a friend a friend would like to have
And all of a sudden going fishing wasn't such an imposition
And I went three times that year I lost my dad
“Well I, I finally read the good book
And I took a good long hard look
At what I'd do if I could do it all again”
7. “I Hope You Dance” by Lee Ann Womack (2000 Song of the Year and 2000 Single of the Year).
I hope you never lose your sense of wonder
You get your fill to eat, but always keep that hunger
May you never take one single breath for granted
God forbid love ever leave you empty-handed
I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean
Whenever one door closes, I hope one more opens
Promise me that you'll give faith a fighting chance
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance
I hope you dance (dance)
I hope you dance (dance).
I hope you never fear those mountains in the distance
Never settle for the path of least resistance
Living might mean taking chances, but they're worth taking
Loving might be a mistake, but it's worth making
Don't let some hell-bent heart leave you bitter
When you come close to selling out, reconsider
Give the heavens above more than just a passing glance
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance
I hope you dance
8. “Holes in the Floor of Heaven” by Steve Wariner (1998 Song of the Year).
One day shy of 8 years old
When grandma passed away
I was a broken-hearted little boy
Blowing out that birthday cake
How I cried when the sky let go
With the cold and lonesome rain
Momma smiled said don't be sad child
Grandma's watching you today
'Cause there's holes in the floor of heaven
And her tears are pouring down
That's how you know she's watching
Wishing she could be here now
And sometimes if you're lonely
Just remember she can see
There's holes in the floor of heaven, and she's
Watching over you and me
Rounding out the Top 10, I’ll mention two songs that lack lyrics overtly about faith but nonetheless strike me in that way.
These include “The Dance” by Garth Brooks (1990 Song of the Year) and “The Wind Beneath My Wings” by Gary Morris (1983 Song of the Year).
What about you? Which songs would you include on such a list — whether ACM winners or not?
Inside The Godbeat
Did anyone see it coming — a U.S.-born pope, that is?
A week before the selection of Cardinal Robert Prevost — now Pope Leo XIV — the National Catholic Reporter’s Vatican correspondent, Christopher White, wrote:
It is typically absurd to think of an American as pope. But in this conclave, a Chicago-born Augustinian friar who has spent much of his life outside of the United States is worthy of serious consideration.
Cardinal Robert Prevost, 69, heads the influential Vatican Dicastery for Bishops, the office tasked with advising the pope on bishop appointments around the world.
Loyola Press quickly announced that White will write a book titled “Pope Leo XIV: Inside the Conclave and the Dawn of a New Papacy.”
Plug-in earlier reported on White’s decision to join Georgetown University’s Initiative for Catholic Social Thought and Public Life this summer as associate director for strategic engagement and senior fellow.
The Final Plug
While in Detroit this past weekend reporting a story (look for my feature soon at Religion Unplugged!), I attended a Rangers-Tigers game and visited a church where a colleague gave the sermon.
I wrote a column about my experience.
Bobby Ross Jr. watches his favorite team, the Texas Rangers, play the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park in Detroit. (Photo provided by Bobby Ross Jr.)
Happy Friday, everyone! Enjoy the weekend.
Bobby Ross Jr. writes the Weekend Plug-in column for Religion Unplugged and serves as editor-in-chief of The Christian Chronicle. A former religion writer for The Associated Press and The Oklahoman, Ross has reported from all 50 states and 18 nations. He has covered religion since 1999.