Country music is well known for being music people can relate to, but sometimes people take offense to reality.  Below are different examples of coutnry singers who started a little controversy.  Is there a country song you found offensive?  Maybe Reba's old song Fancy?  Or Deanna Carters Strawberry wine relatin to loss of innocense at a young age.  Now a days with most music genres there is a chance someone will find a lyric or message offensive but we all seem desensitized to it. Just my opinion : ) ~Jessie B

The following is thanks to Country’s Controversial Side
By: Sarah J. Frederick

Angel Fire;

Jaron and the Long Road to Love "I'll Pray for You" caused a few people to wince, but it was just meant to be a fun catchy tune. 

One of Country music’s most recent controversial song was by Toby Keith. “Courtesy of the Red, White And Blue (The Angry American)” is a song Keith wrote and recorded in honor of his father, a veteran of World War II. The song tells its listeners the anger Keith felt after the events of September 11th, and because of one line in which Keith sings, “We’ll put a boot in your ass,” ABC News broadcaster Peter Jennings would not allow the song to be performed on his July 4th television special. That began what would eventually turn into a national controversy, where fans even sent boots to Jennings.

When Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks was asked to comment on Keith’s song, Maines said in the September 17, 2002, issue of Country Weekly magazine, “I hate it. It’s ignorant, and it makes country music sound ignorant.” The short article entitled “War of the Worlds” failed to include Maines’ comments where she said that the song is an attack not only against those who attacked America, but also against that entire culture. Maines’ comments added to the controversy since Maines is an established individual, although her statement also questioned her understanding of the song. Nowhere in the song is the entire Afghani culture attacked. It is not even mentioned in the song. Keith could have written the song about any attack on America. Although it was about September 11th, it did not have to be. Making comments about a song without knowing the truth behind it is what helps to make a song even more controversial, because that makes other people begin to see the song without the truth behind it. This is heavily opinionated, but it seems that Maines just did not like the attention Keith was getting for the controversial song. Maines and others should side with their fellow artists and support each other when the press is working against a song. Maines, of all people, should understand how important it is to stand behind a controversial song.

n March of 2000, Maines and band mates Emily Robison, and Martie Maguire (then Martie Seidel), better known as the Dixie Chicks released “Goodbye Earl,” the third single off their sophomore album Fly. Although “Goodbye Earl” had a fun melody and catchy lyrics, it was probably the most controversial song of the year. In the song, two friends –Marianne and Wanda– scheme and formulate a plan to kill Wanda’s abusive husband–Earl. They poison Earl, dump his body at the lake, and are never held accountable for the crime they committed even though “Earl had to die.” While Earl’s death was fitting and deserved, the song was said to promote acts of violence and demonstrate that it is OK to murder someone as long as it is justified.

Another controversial song in country music that is said to promote more violence is Garth Brooks’ “The Thunder Rolls.” This song, like “Goodbye Earl” is about domestic violence, but rather than poison her husband, the abused wife in this song shoots and kills her husband. The song was considered so controversial that radio would not play the entire song. A radio edit of the song was released, cutting out the last verse of the song–the verse in which the woman shoots her husband. I am not a huge Garth Brooks fan, so it was not until I bought Brooks’ Double Live album that I realized there was another verse to the song.

It seems like domestic violence is a popular but controversial topic in country music, because Martina McBride released the Gretchen Peters-penned “Independence Day,” which can be found on McBride’s 1993 release The Way That I Am. In the song, a woman takes the life of both her abusive husband and herself when she cannot take any more beatings. The song, told from the woman’s daughter’s point of view justifies the act because the woman and child can both finally be free, and it is truly their Independence Day.