It’s impossible to celebrate America’s 250th birthday without acknowledging the importance of the arts, culture and storytelling. As part of Breitbart’s special ongoing coverage for the 250, we reached out to some of Nashville’s most talented songwriters and artists and asked them to write original songs that reflect how they feel about America. The acoustic performances you will see mark the first time these songs have been heard by anyone and the first time they have been performed by their respective writers-artists. We are proud to present our readers with what we are calling American Soundtrack.
When you think of hot young writers in Nashville, there’s a name that always surfaces, seemingly no matter what circle you’re in: Nate Kenyon. Kenyon didn’t grow up on county music but rather was drawn to heavier acts like Eminem and Aerosmith. It wasn’t until later in life that he gravitated toward country, but those earlier influences of rock and rap didn’t stray far from the Georgia native and you can hear it in his unique singing and songwriting. Kenyon overlaps genres and pushes the boundaries of phrasing and melody creating a sound that’s just cool. It’s as simple as that. It’s cool.
NATE KENYON Photo: Chase Lauer
Among his many credits, he’s written with Lainey Wilson, has had cuts on albums for Lee Brice, LOCASH, two songs on Luke Bryan’s new record, and has collaborated with so many other high-profile artists and writers in Nashville.
Back in February, Breitbart went on the bus with Lee Brice to Turning Point USA’s alternate Super Bowl half-time show, where Brice debuted a song off his upcoming record Sunriser. The song, Country Nowadays, we described as an “intimately musical and lyrical yearning of a man who just wants to live his life at a time when so many are hellbent on telling others how to live theirs.” There were three writers on that song: Lee Brice, another Nashville hit-maker, Matt Alderman…and Nate Kenyon. And that makes sense, particularly after hearing his original song for Breitbart’s American Soundtrack entitled “US.”
When you listen to US, it feels like a passionate musical pointing of the finger reminding everyone to never forget real people doing real things. There’s almost a justified anger in what he’s written and how he sings it: a middle finger to the elites. Kenyon told us that when thinking about what kind of song he would write for this project, he thought about his mom who “lives in Baxley, Georgia, works for the post office, just middle America, just working her butt off.” He went on to say that “without those people this place [America] would fall apart.”
NATE KENYON Photo: Chase Lauer
From bus drivers to gas stations to attendants to brick layers, Kenyon covers a lot of ground with the imagery he evokes in the lyric and focuses on a common work ethic among those who keep this country running every day:
Up before the rooster crows
Working ourselves to the bone
Like our fathers did
And our fathers’ fathers did
And our fathers’ fathers’ fathers did
Everything in this song feels authentic like Kenyon knows everything and everyone he’s writing about personally…and his singing style only adds another layer of truth to what feels like an ode to populism. And what’s more, by using the first person collective, the singer-songwriter makes no distinction between himself and those he’s writing about, which makes this deeply personal.
“You can’t spell U.S.A without ‘US’”
NATE KENYON Photo: Chase Lauer
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US
Written by Nate Kenyon
Performed by Nate Kenyon
Ridin’ round the kids in a yellow bus
At the BP station turnin’ on the pumps
At the Waffle House fillin’ coffee cups up
Us
Makin’ sure the hair and the grass gets cut
Fixin’ all the pot holes and the ruts
Put’n all the bad guys in them cuffs
You can’t spell, U-S-A
Without us
You can’t spell, U-S-A
Without us
America without me
And my kind I guarantee
That the land of the free would go bust
Cause you can’t spell U-S-A
Without us
Us
Loading up these tractor trailer trucks
Growing corn and peas and any other thing you shuck
Tending bar, coaching ball
Painting walls, laying brick
Who you think builds the office
For them big wig pricks
You can’t spell, U-S-A
Without us
You can’t spell, U-S-A
Without us
America without me
And my kind I guarantee
That the land of the free would go bust
Cause you can’t spell U-S-A
Without us
Up before the rooster crows
Working ourselves to the bone
Like our fathers did
And our fathers’ fathers did
And our fathers’ fathers’ fathers did
Ohhh you get it
You can’t spell, U-S-A
Without us
You can’t spell, U-S-A
Without us
America without me
And my kind I guarantee
That the land of the free would go bust
They know good and damn well
This whole place would go to hell
Cause you can’t spell
U-S-A
Without us