Country music isn't for everyone, though some elements are worthy of being heard. Dwight Yoakam has always been underappreciated, for instance, and punk country has, too.
There is a connection to folk, obviously, though that genre seems to be more general and observant. Country is more about interpersonal relationships, which can be good or bad.
In case of the songs that follow, it isn't good. The songs should not have been written or listened to; hopefully, the themes will not be explored further. They wouldn't in the pop world, but in pop-country? Anything might go.
3 of the ickiest country music songs ever (but one is pretty good)
“You’ve Never Been This Far Before” by Conway Twitty
What makes this song so gross is that Twitty appears to be singing to a much younger female who has yet to lose her virginity. This smacks of the kind of predatory behavior that many ignore. Surely, the songwriter was not self-aware enough to know what he was saying. Or, worse...he was.
The narrator says that the young female giving herself to him will only cause him to love her more. That's gross, Conway. Life isn't all about sex, of course. Can't you like her for who she is? Or, in the case of this song, who is she in a few years when she turns 18?
“Maybe I Mean Yes” by Holly Dunn
Oh, Holly. Why? It is easy to see how one could interpret this track as an excuse for a man to take advantage of a woman he misreads as saying "no." No means no, dude, but some people look for an excuse.
Maybe Dunn was being tongue-in-cheek here, but she might also be misunderstanding the listener's raw intelligence. Men stink! (I know because I am one.) And if someone hears "maybe" or "no" and thinks the person is truly meaning "yes," bad things (and illegal things) could happen. This track is
"Cowboys are Frequently Secretly Fond of Each Other" by Willie Nelson
This is a good song, and Orville Peck adds a nice flavor. The message might not be well-liked by a group that mostly leans to the right politically, but that doesn't mean events aren't happening, and the truth is the truth. Maybe there is a bit of humor to this, but it's real, too.
Plus, maybe we can just let people be people. Judge oneself instead of others, for instance. But many people aren't made that way. This song is a reminder of that.