2023 Review: Country music stars who won the culture war

2023 was a big year for country music, with several artists winning the attention and love of many conservatives for their singers weighing into the current culture war.

From beer battles to speaking out against government corruption, their songs were trending on social media and high atop the music charts.

Here’s a look back at the artists who had everyone talking.

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Kid Rock

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Kid Rock has not made his political affiliations a secret in the past, being a supporter of former President Donald Trump. However, he went viral this year over a video he released in which he used a gun to shoot multiple cases of Bud Light and said “F*** Bud Light” to the camera. Kid Rock’s video was posted only a few days after transgender social media influencer Dylan Mulvaney received a customized can of Bud Light featuring Mulvaney’s face on it.

The singer revealed in November that he and Trump spoke to the CEO of Anheuser-Busch, which owns Bud Light, at a recent UFC event, during which the three of them had “a great conversation.”

“‘Cause you know, if you put this in context, why did this start?” Kid Rock said on Fox News’s Hannity. “I told him that, and I go, ‘You signaled to a lot of people like myself, like-minded people,’ put the trans thing aside for a minute, right? But by sending that can to the trans kid, you kind of signaled to us, you support this lifestyle, and more importantly, men being in women’s sports or in my granddaughter’s locker room. Most of us draw a hard line right there.”

By the end of the year, Rock said he was ready to drink Bud Light again. “At the end of the day, when you step back and look at it, like, yeah, they deserved the black eye, they got one, they made a mistake,” he said. “Do I want to hold their head underwater and drown them because they made a mistake? No, I think they got the message, like, hopefully, other companies get it, too.”

Jason Aldean

The country singer released his biggest hit this year after his song “Try That In A Small Town” was censored by Country Music Television, which removed the song from its channel’s rotation. This resulted in the song becoming a massive hit on multiple major music platforms, including Spotify, YouTube, and iTunes.

Aldean said the song, released in mid-July, “refers to the feeling of a community that I had growing up, where we took care of our neighbors, regardless of differences of background or belief.” As of Dec. 10, the music video has over 45 million views on YouTube and over 1.3 million likes.

During his first public appearance since the song’s censorship on July 21, Aldean stated he believes that “everybody’s entitled to their opinion” but that just because someone thinks something “doesn’t mean it’s true.” He added that in the wake of CMT pulling his song, he “saw country music fans rally like I’ve never seen before” and that “it was pretty bada**.”

“Thank you guys so much,” Aldean said.

Oliver Anthony

The singer to arguably make the biggest impact on the world of country music this year is also the newest on the scene.

The song that put Oliver Anthony on the map, “Rich Men North Of Richmond,” as of Dec. 10 has been viewed over 102 million times on YouTube and has over 2.3 million likes. A report released a couple of weeks after the song’s release stated that the singer was making north of $40,000 a day.

The song is about working-class people who feel beaten down and abused by politicians in Washington, and has been praised by many people as the anthem for the working man. Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has praised the song, calling it “extraordinary.”

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Next year, all three singers will be heading out on tour, with Anthony performing internationally for the first time. His 2024 tour “Out of the Woods” will begin in February and end in September.

Meanwhile, Kid Rock and Jason Aldean will perform in various small towns across seven states for their “Rock the Country” tour, including Louisiana, Missouri, South Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, and Kentucky. Musical talents who will be joining them include Koe Wetzel, Brantley Gilbert, Travis Tritt, Miranda Lambert, Hank Williams Jr., and Lynyrd Skynyrd, among others.