Top of the Country: Brunette

This Top of the Country series blogs through the Country hits of the year, focusing this week on “Brunette” by Tucker Wetmore.

I’ll admit I’d never heard of Tucker Wetmore before his song hit number one. And it’s definitely an interesting one!

The music video has all the hallmarks of a classic Country song–it’s even set in the old West!

And yet, the song also breaks a number of conventions. Country music is heavily Southern (the imagery of this video aside, the genre doesn’t have much “Western” left in it). Which makes this bit stand out:

I need a brown-eyed 5′ 5″ north side of the Mason Dixon line
Kind ain’t climbed up in a four-wheel drive that’s lifted
Never been fishing, never been mudding

In other words, he wants someone not like the stereotypical country girl. Why? “Gotta be, gotta be one that doesn’t remind me of you.” And of course with that we’re right back in standard Country music territory.

This is something we all understand–when we are hurt or have suffered a loss, we often run in the opposite direction. This is not a new observation–it’s exactly what Adam does in the Garden of Eden after he and Eve sin. That of course doesn’t mean that there is sin in question every time. We don’t know the circumstances of this song beyond the obvious heartbreak, and there’s nothing wrong with preferring blondes to brunettes or vice-versa. That of course doesn’t mean we should run from our problems or try to drown them in new pursuits. One lesson of the modern world is that we cannot simply escape issues by piling new things on top of them. Only the forgiveness that comes through the Gospel can ultimately set us right. This song, however, does an interesting job of showing human attempts to solve problems in human ways. The video suggests this is not a futile pursuit, though the lyrics leave us wondering.

Dr. Coyle Neal co-hosts the City of Man Podcast, blogs here on Schaeffer’s Ghost, and is an Amazon Associate (which is linked in this blog). He teaches Political Science, Philosophy, and History in Southwest Missouri.