Suburban dad country music is on the rise; the genre's husbands are in control

A recent tweet shows pop-country singer-songwriter ERNEST gleaning songwriting inspiration from Bill Martin Jr.'s half-century-old children's book "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?"

"Almost named 'Miss That Girl' [as] 'Country Boy Lullaby' because it is obviously a lullaby, lol."

He isn't the only guy thinking this way. For the next three decades, country music could spawn a bumper crop of songs aimed at 30-plus-year-olds who are starting families and buying starter homes.

The growth from 'boyfriend'

Currently, a baker's dozen of male acts in their early 30s, all married many with children, are responsible for 20% of country radio's No. 1 hits from roughly the past half-decade.

Yes, Gabby Barrett's heartbreak, Blanco Brown and Walker Hayes' fanciful TikTok dance anthems and Morgan Wallen's whiskey-soaked nights have dominated country's sales charts in the past eight years.

But the lion's share of songs filling country's still-important radio dial, to the tune of the equivalent of 300 million singles sold in the past decade, has been handled by singing and songwriting by one of these men: Kane Brown, Luke Combs, Dan + Shay, Jordan Davis, Russell Dickerson, ERNEST, HARDY, Tyler Hubbard, Brian Kelley, Thomas Rhett, Dylan Scott, Mitchell Tenpenny and Brett Young.

Billboard's Tom Roland coined the term "boyfriend country" in 2018, highlighting married artists' "sensitivity" and being "in awe" of their wives.

As more boyfriends become husbands and start families, this trend expands and develops likely multigenerational legs.

Instead of writing songs about boozy, philandering evenings or living in rural America, they're instead penning tunes about cultivating a backyard plot into a miniature farm with chickens, goats and horses.

Only one of the parties responsible for the sound, 32-year-old Combs ("Forever After All," "The Type Of Love We Make"), is at the place in his career where he can sell out stadiums regularly. What the rest are accomplishing, however, may be more impressive.

Between 3,000 and 30,000 people a night, including many newly married suburban couples fresh from years hanging in dive bars and looking for love routinely fill amphitheaters and arenas to hear the 12 other acts mentioned perform songs about erring less in the direction of wild nights on the town.

The sub-genre and movement's forefather, Rhett — a married father of four — discussed the movement in a 2021 interview.

"Keeping it completely honest? Well, [I'm currently most inspired by] 'You're Welcome,' from the [Disney film] 'Moana' soundtrack,.'" he said.

"When I hear the 'Frozen' or 'Coco' soundtracks, watching my kids be hilarious and cute and living life while hearing those songs has given me so many ideas."

Jordan Davis' 2022 Country Music Association Song of the Year "Buy Dirt" is the era's current pinnacle moment.

The husband and father of two told The Tennessean that his Luke Bryan collaboration (written with his brother Jacob and brother tandem of Josh and Matt Jenkins, both husbands) is an "honest and vulnerable" song about "faith, family and fun" that extols the virtues of marriage, hard work, tithing at church and raising a family.

Notable, too, is Russell Dickerson's 2021 Jake Scott collaboration "She Likes It." It achieved platinum-selling status by celebrating nights spent on the couch with margarita cocktails and John Denver's greatest hits cued up on a streaming playlist. It's a luxury that only a husband of 10 years, weary from changing diapers after returning from a month on tour, can conjure.

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Also, Tyler Hubbard, fresh from a split with country and pop hitmakers Florida Georgia Line, has dedicated roughly 75% of his debut solo album (self-titled, out on Jan. 27) to Hayley, his wife of seven years. He tells The Tennessean, "next to my relationship with God, keeping my marriage in order has led to my evolution as a man and allowed everything else in my life to fall into place."

'Suburban dad's' unique demographics

"We've moved on 100% from the bro-country phase," says Chris Owen. The self-described "country music chart insider" is a well-regarded on-air personality at Buffalo, New York, pop-flavored country radio station WYRK.

Owen agrees that newlywed, newborn-raising, busy and overworked consumers in country music's mainstream fanbase streamline their listening tastes to narrowly programmed playlists and country radio.

When listening to new music is squeezed between Target trips, youth soccer league games, Pilates classes, or weekend pickup basketball games and hunting excursions, listening tastes are directly impacted.

Country music's broad reach now encompasses Miranda Lambert and Carrie Underwood, upstarts like Zach Bryan and Bailey Zimmerman, or bridging into Americana beloved stars Charley Crockett and Billy Strings.

However, age and interest-wise, the diversity of listenership found via social media and streaming, where artists like those mentioned reign supreme currently, doesn't exist in this emerging space.

"Mainly mature ballads about settling down" — namely in America's growing suburban towns like Nashville's booming Franklin, Madison and Murfreesboro — are more in line with what this rapidly establishing demographic wants to hear in country music, Owen says.

The days are gone when most of the genre's male stars, and their fans,- lived near the downtown bars they frequented in song lyrics. Instead, take a drive out to the suburbs and exurbs and there they are, comfortably tucked away.

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A 2022 study from Montana State University economist Daniel Bigelow found that, since 2015, urban sprawl has slowed in America. However, a January 2022 Bloomberg piece notes that Murfreesboro — a 40-minute drive from downtown Nashville — has seen a 20% growth in population since 2017.

The relaxed lifestyle inspired by life miles away from Music City's downtown now holds a more significant stake in the genre than ever.

How does this movement endure?

The married and newborn-rearing demographic is likely to hold court for a while.

"In radio, we [mainly] program channels for 25-54-year-olds," Owen says. "So, a group of 30-year-olds have that success by [serving] the exact people that we're programming to, with relatable content, could impact the format for 25 years."

For Owen, the current era mirrors 1990-2010, when 30-somethings such as Diamond Rio, Hometown News, Lonestar and Tim McGraw emerged into superstardom with songs like "Wrinkles," "Minivan," "Mr. Mom" and "She's My Kind of Rain."

Notably, McGraw's ability to extend that success into CMA and Grammy wins for 2016's "Humble and Kind," released when he was 49, speaks to the longevity that 30-somethings locked into family and love-aimed country have historically had — and could have again.

Along with the male acts between ages 30-35, others like 37-year-old Jon Pardi, 39-year-old Cole Swindell, 43-year-old Walker Hayes and the quartet Parmalee (all in their 40s) are older outliers with recent No. 1 singles who still fall well within the discussed range and song styles.

"[Swindell, Pardi, Parmalee and Hayes] aren't going anywhere — and because country music is [currently] an expanding genre, they're still brand new to many listeners, who are as old as they are."

Even deeper still, Kane Brown's latest hit "Thank God" features a duet with his wife — Berklee College of Music-educated vocalist Katelyn.

The trend is entrenching as much as its evolving.

Owen laughs while offering a final thought:

"Country music's male stars shouldn't be afraid to grow old in suburbia. Getting married and becoming a parent is a niche worth carving into."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Suburban dad country music: 30-something husbands top the charts