Is Any Innocence Left in Small-Town U.S.A.?
There are so many country songs about small towns. But somehow, not one of them ever mentions Meth Watch.
Now, I know I'm gullible. And I like to believe that all those pictures of small towns that country music paints are real. But after spending eight hours in the car yesterday, traveling through the Midwest's rural farm towns, I was struck with the loss of innocence.
Where I expected to see Justin Moore's old dirt roads, I saw signs telling me, "This Town Is on Meth Watch." When I was looking for Rodney Atkins' lemonade stands, I saw only adult bookstores. When I wanted to see kids painting their names on dirt road bridges, I just saw billboards for fireworks outlets. And while I was trying to find Billy Currington's little country store with an old Coke sign, I saw boarded-up shops. There were no flat-bed trucks with guys selling turnips, either.
My actual final destination (a summer camp for my son) was right out of a country song. With muddy water and the stars-and-stripes and sweet tea, but I guess I was wishing the journey would've been more wholesome than it was.
Am I wrong? Are there quaint little towns out there that still have flourishing produce stands and mom & pop markets and good people? I've probably just been listening to the music too long, and too literally. But I do think little rural towns are hurting. I know the economy has left America with a ripple-effect of problems. It's as if the recession swept into these small towns, shut down all the local business and left. And took their innocence with it.
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Lori says:
I just wanted to let you know that the small towns this artist sing about still DO exist. They do. I live in one. I’m sure you be flooded with comments from others that do too. ;o)
Yvonne says:
John, I am afraid that you are correct, at least for this part of the midwest. we are in E.C. Kansas but I grew up in N.W. Kansas and the stories are pretty much the same. If it was not this recession that did the damage it was from any of the ones before it. Mainly in the 80’s. Yes many business are boarded up. the ones that are open are so expensive that you can not afford to shop there. We have been innundated by the “Mature” stuff. There are some other things that a person could complain about but why? We are so blessed to be here. I will say that if you come to this part of the state at the right time of year you will find flat bed truck with assortments of vegtables for sale. If you happen into the right store you will find that old coke sign ect. I must admit that I have never lived in a city of any size, and I have no desire to. I love that I live in the country where I can have a Mastiff, horse, bantum hens, cats and children all living together in peace (most of the time). It just creates a sence of peace and calm. We can see the stars, smell the rain and cut hay and raise our children with the Christ centered core values that we believe. Thanks and I hope that you get the oppurtunity to visit sometime, we alway have an extra room for company. God Bless you! P.S. thanks for the music that you make. Thank you Soldiers, We love you!
Mel says:
I can tell you that the Small Town USA video is legit. That video couldn’t be anymore real. That video was shot in his home town with real people and real places. It is very much still alive your just not looking in the right place…
Vicki says:
I live in one right now. We have a 5 and dime store that sells everything you can think of and still has the fresh popcorn going and the penny candies which is right in the center. Right beside it is the dollar store and beside it is the “Save-a Lot”. We also have the downtown drug store which sells prescriptions as well as you favorite soda fountain delight. Main street has flowers, trees, and the American flag flying on each post. We have one high school and one middle school in our county. We have the town newspaper that comes out every Thursday. People line up Wednesday night to get the first read which gives the full names in all the court dealings…who was speeding, whose house caught on fire..who’s getting married. Sports of course, is all about the local high school. This week it had the senior pictures of this year’s graduating class. Come to KY and you will find many towns like this one. We were a main downtown location for the movie “Elizabethtown”
Gloria says:
I wish I knew where that small town is that Mel is talking about ,I would like to go there.
I live in a small town in MS and the Innocence is just about gone and it makes me so sad, because I would like for my Grandchildren to grow up in the that innocent town like I did ,but around here it is gone.
Jasper says:
I am personally unsure if there is any innocence left in the world today. I would like to think there is though..
JrzWrld says:
Willie Nelson doesn’t and Johnny Cash and Walon Jennings didn’t. Sing about “innocence”, that is. It’s a relatively new trend in country music, which was actually pretty dark a lot of the time. From Patsy Cline and Hank Williams to Merle Haggard, George Jones, Dolly Parton, etc., none of them fetishized innocence to the extent that modern mainstream country has. They sang about drinking and cheating and heartbreak and murder, with a side helping of God. The stuff on the radio isn’t “country” - it’s suburban pop.
Alison Bonaguro says:
So happy for Lori and Vicki. It’s really great to know towns like that do exist!
Shell says:
yes, those small quaint towns do still exist. It’s like going back in time and such a peaceful feeling. The big “BUT” is there are no small time people left!
cj5 says:
I live in a small town and love it. It is much different than the City. I am always glad to get back home. The pace of the city is not for me. Small towns have changed also because the people have changed over the years. We never had to worrie what the kids watched on TV, movies etc. Our kids could play out side with out any worrie. When someone was sick everyone tried to help. People can live by each other for years now and not even know there names…. Sad
opelske says:
Vicki, your Town sounds wonderful. Please give me the name. I love traveling to small towns. By the way a friend of mine lived in Louisville, Kentucky for a few years and she could not believe how nice the people were - she would always ask them if they were real.
If anyone else knows of great small towns that haven’t been destroyed with “progress” and “modern-ism” please share the names of them.
I agree with you, cj5, it is truly sad. We live isolated lives. Perhaps the future will be different as more people begin to realize that small and simple is not only better but necessary.
ckid says:
I would just like to say that I am actually from Arkansas. There are towns like that all over our state and the south. So you obviously went to the wrong places. I actually live in one. If you blink you will miss it. We have a store and the most exciting thing on a Saturday night is the mud boggs. We don’t even have 100 people. Our people are good people and have strong Christian morals. I am proud to be from here and we are proud to have a singer like Justin to shine the light on our smalltown lifestyle. Comment if you agree. Thanks.
Taylor Smith says:
just gotta head to south dakota ;)
John Krantz says:
Whoever signed Justin Moore is on MethWatch. Signing Wade Bowen or Lucas Wynne would have = more albums sold.
K. Martin says:
I have to disagree with several of the comments posted. I live in a small-town in SC where the innocence is still there. My town is just like the songs describe. Most people want to escape it, but in the end they end up returning later on in life. Growing up in the Bible Belt Sunday mornings are filled with grace as we’re taught to fear God. There are kids selling lemonade at a make shift stand by their granddaddy selling watermelons out the back of his pickup truck. Everybody knows your name, family history, and most of the time they’re related to you. Several of our local restaurants have “liar” tables and coffee mugs with patrons names on them. We never schedule functions or dates on Wednesday nights because most people have Prayer Meeting & Choir practice. So, as I’ve described my hometown it goes to show ya’ll that there is still innocence in small-towns. Some of the best small-towns can be found in the heart of the South.
S.Saunders says:
Some people have descibed some wonderful sounding towns, mentioned the state but not the town I would like to be able to google search some of these towns and learn more. please put the nmae of the town it would help so much. Thanks
K. Thompson says:
I fare from small New England towns in Bar Harbor, Maine, Woodstock, Vermont and Great Barrington, Massachusetts in rural Western Massachusetts. Good old ataid and true Yankee values, where people are not commodities. They are valued for their sense of community, ethics, integrity and compassion. Established institutions that cultivate qualitative essense of life where individual rights flourish. As with unpasturized milk, the creme de la creme of society rises to the top. Their are no imposture.
I have lived in Alexandria, VA, for the past 30 years–.a suberb of Washington, DC, a city of tactical weasels who do not know the meaning of integrity, loyalty, human decency–what we owe to each other in a civilized society. Since the day I arrived my sole objective had been to return to my beloved New England. What has kept me here is writing wrongs, defending former colleagues whose careers have been compromised for the political gain of others. I am talking compromises engaged in by elected and appointed officials who traded on the lives of dedicated career professionals at senior levels.
Few of our elected officials and political appointee are expect. Collusion to obfuscate, conceal for corrupt purposes A to Z is the name of their game. I had hopes for Obama. But one year into his presidency, his Attorney General, Eric Holder, and his Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, have engages in heinous crimes. Contrary to his campaign pledge to reverse the expansion of executive privilege enacted by Bush Cheney, Obama has invoked state secrecy privilege in his first year in office at unprecedented levels. Never in our history has a sitting president invoked state secrecy privilege to prevent congressional oversight of violations of federal statutory law and to subvert recourse to civil and criminal courts of law.
It is so bad, so wretched evil, there is not an iota of hope for this Nation that I so dearly love. President Jimmy Carter brought me to Washington. My last hope was that Obama’s “change you can believe in” would include some of the programs Carter enacted that were repealed under Reagan. The only change Obama would bring to Washington was a change in his political platform. He lied. There is no hope for recovery for the victims whose lives have been shattered since he assumed office.
So it is back to my beloved New England where the cream rises to the top, no impostures. This time to Kennebunk, ME in a rose covered cliff hanging cottage overlooking the sea, rising early to jump on a lobster boat to hear tall tales of the sea while pulling traps with the catch of the day, returning to the cottage to fresh unpasteurized milk and eggs still warm from the chicken coop delivered to the door where I will cultivate a garden of roses, herb and vegetables. In Kennebunk a locked door is virtually unknown. Friends and neighbors still come calling unannounced to break bread over wine and cheese with great conversation flowing.
Best advise on small towns if to follow Thomas Jefferson’s advice: Live in the place in the world you most want to live in, be your own boss and cultivate a garden! No better place on planet earth than in the small towns in New England’s countryside.
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