Worldviews in Music: A Rhetorical Study of Philosophies of Truth and Reality in Country Music and Contemporary Christian Music

This study examines the philosophies of truth and reality that are communicated through the lyrics of Country and Contemporary Christian Music. The lyrics from the top ten songs from the years 1980, 1990, and 2000 were collected and analyzed for both genres. The songs were then coded and placed in one of eight categories: N/A, Naturalism, Transcendentalism, Theism, Naturalism/Theism, Transcendentalism/Theism, Naturalism/Transcendentalism, and Undeterminable. Country and Contemporary Christian Music’s trends were discussed individually as well as compared and contrasted to each other. Results found that Contemporary Christian songs communicate a Theistic view of truth and reality every time worldviews were brought up. In Country music it was found that truth and reality were interpreted in a broad spectrum of ways. There is no way of predicting if a Country song will have worldview implications. If the song does discuss worldview, there is also no way of predicting which worldview will be promoted. Examples of every worldview category and combination were found in the 30 Country songs analyzed. The findings of this study help communication scholars understand what philosophical assumptions are being communicated through the lyrics of Country and Contemporary Christian Music.