Country music’s canon of songs is filled with compositions celebrating the support and comfort of family — and particularly the championing, caring, uplifting work of mother figures, whether they be biological, adoptive, or titular.
There are numerous country songs about moms and motherhood, such as The Chicks’ “Lullaby” or Faith Hill’s “You Can’t Lose Me,” songs both modern (such as Lauren Alaina’s 2011 release “Like My Mother Does”) and classic (such as the 1993 Glen Campbell and Steve Wariner collaboration “The Hand That Rocks the Cradle”).
Songs such as Country Music Hall of Famer Reba McEntire’s 1991 Hot Country Songs top 10 hit hit “Fancy” highlight the lengths to which mothers will go to ensure their children have a chance at a better life. Other hits, such as Blake Shelton’s “The Baby,” delve into the grief of losing a mother. Country music has always included a considerable portion of songs that revolve around nostalgia — whether for a childhood hometown or a young love — but also on idyllic memories of a matriarch’s unconditional love and guidance. And of course, there is the bit of advice that Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson offered to mothers everywhere, when they released their 1978, four-week Country Songs No. 1, “Mammas, Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys.”
As Mother’s Day approaches and families prepare to shower mothers with flowers, Sunday brunches at fancy restaurants, and other gifts that honor them for being a bedrock of strength to those around them, adding music to the mix never hurts.
Ahead of Mother’s Day, Billboard looks at 10 country songs celebrating and acknowledging the role of mothers on their children’s lives.
Included on his 2014 album Man Against Machine, this tender ode to mothers was written by Don Sampson and Wynn Varble. The song was first recorded by Bonnie Tyler and later covered by Brooks. The song centers around a conversation between an unborn child and God, in which the higher power helps calm the child’s fears about being on Earth, by telling the child about “a loving angel, tender, tough and strong,” a mother who will look after the child’s best interests.
Included on her Grammy-winning album By The Way, I Forgive You, Carlile offers up a nuanced, emotion-filled and frank look at the changes motherhood wrought, along with joys it brought. “The first things she took from me were selfishness and sleep,” she sings of being a mother to her daughter Evangeline — detailing ways being a mother demanded life shifts and certain losses, but adding, “None of that is ever who we are.” Carlile wrote the song with Phil Hanseroth and Tim Hanseroth.
Included on Gill’s 2019 album Okie, and written by Gill with Dean Dillon, “A Letter to My Mama” serves as a music-driven apology and thank you from Gill to his mother, as he apologizes for youthful indiscretions. “I’m sorry I was selfish/ Just chalk it up to youth,” he sings, and later in the song adds, “There’s no one in this world I love, like you.”
In 1968, “Mama Tried” reached the pinnacle of Billboard’s Hot Country Singles chart and stayed there for four weeks. Early in his life, Haggard spent time incarcerated at San Quentin State Prison, though, unlike the song’s lyrics, he was not sentenced to “life without parole.” Lyrics such as “In spite of all my Sunday learning, towards the bad I kept on turning/’Til mama couldn’t hold me anymore,” acknowledge the years his mother continued trying to keep her “one and only rebel child” on a more upstanding path.
McEntire is known for recording songs that elevate strong, hard-working women who aren’t cowed by life’s circumstances. Released in 2001, this song is an ode to persevering mothers who rise above difficult circumstances — in this case, celebrating a single mother who works two jobs in order to provide for her children. Written by Shelby Kennedy and Philip White, the song was included on McEntire’s Greatest Hits Volume III: I’m a Survivor, and a version of the song later was used as the theme song for her long-running television show Reba.
Featured on McGraw’s 2020 album Here on Earth, “I Called Mama” was written by Marv Green, Lance Miller and Jimmy Yeary. The song’s lyrics, wrapped in pedal steel and acoustic guitar, details how the unexpected passing of a close friend prompts the song’s central figure to make the most of every moment and call his mother to hear her voice and appreciate that he can still connect with her. “I Called Mama” reached No. 2 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart.
Dolly Parton’s 1971 classic is inspired by her own childhood story of her mother generously making Parton a homemade coat, only for Parton to find that the other kids at school made fun of the multi-colored, homespun coat. Ultimately, the song’s message centers on realizing that a person’s character and pride in themselves is more important than their financial or social circumstances — and the song praises Parton’s mother for the garment and for “sewin’ every piece with love.”
This song from Swift’s Fearless album (written solo by Swift) focuses on how her mother is a constant champion, there with protection, wisdom and a positive outlook. Swift delves into how her mother was a balm for teenage uncertainty, angst and dealing with mean girls on lines such as “I don’t know who I’m gonna talk to now at school/ But I know I’m laughing on the car ride home with you.”
Released in 2010 as part of Underwood’s Play On album, “Mama’s Song” finds Underwood singing about assuring her mother that she’s met the man of her dreams. Underwood released the song shortly after she wed her husband Mike Fisher in July 2010. Underwood wrote the song with Kara DioGuardi, Marti Frederiksen and Luke Laird.
Included on Anne Wilson’s 2024 album Rebel, “Praying Woman” was written by both artists, alongside Trannie Anderson, Matthew West and Jeff Pardo. CMA and ACM entertainer of the year winner Lainey Wilson and CCM-country singer Anne Wilson sing of how the prayers of a mother serve as encouragement and comfort for her kids.
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