Essie Country - Promoting Authentic Country Music of the 21st Century
This website, its name, and its mission are dedicated, in loving memory,
to my Mom, Essie Johns, who passed away at age 93 on January 14, 2025.
Greetings to the fans of real country music, and welcome to this week's
Essie Country's 21st Century
Real Country Music Song of the Week:
(For the week of 11-16-25 - 11-22-25)
Baby You Do by Braxton Keith
Braxton Keith’s unique country voice and style bring to life a well-crafted, complex song that easily earns a spot on this week’s Essie Country’s 21st Century Real Country Music Song of the Week. It’s an excellent song and a standout performance.
Cowritten by Braxton, along with Brandon Kinney, Josh Thompson, and Wynn Varble, “Baby You Do” is an up-tempo song that deals with the haunting memories and the sad goodbyes of a lost love that follow him wherever he goes. It captures the mental anguish that comes with a breakup of someone you still love.
Braxton describes himself as trying to revive traditional values of old-school country music with a modern twist. His “about the artist” info on Spotify states, "...whose rootsy honky-tonk sound mixes contemporary hooks with the traditional twang of storytellers like Marty Robbins and Merle Haggard. It's a sound that's already taken hold in Texas, where the Midland native penned his first tunes as a teenager.”
I agree with Braxton. The songs in my Braxton Keith Spotify playlist have a traditional country flavor that satisfies my appetite for traditional country music artistry and songs. Braxton has become one of my favorite new traditional country artists. I hope he becomes one of your favorites, too.
There is only one way to find out if “Baby You Do” is worthy of the praise I give it and deserving of a spot on the exceptional list of true country music songs chosen for Essie Country’s 21st Century Real Country Music Song of the Week. How? By clicking on the link below:
Please give us your thoughts (we appreciate it) about this week's song of the week: Comments
Real Country Music Song of the Week Archives for 2025, 2024
Playlist for the entire Essie Country's Real Country Music Songs of the Week
Standing Ovation Performances
This website promotes real country music artists and songs
that haven't got past the pop/hip-hop hijacking of today's country music. Excellent real
country music talent and outstanding real country music songs like those listed on our webpage
are not given the opportunity to become the real stars of country music that they are and deserve.
My Letter to Orlando's 93.2 FM New Country Radio
Jay Eewards September 29, 2025
92.3 FM New Country
4192 N John Young Pkwy
Orlando, Fl 32804
Ref: Country Music
Greetings Jay,
On September 29, 2025, from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. I decided to challenge myself and listen to your radio show. You played 14 songs during that time. I haven’t listened to country music radio in years. The reason is that country music radio has betrayed the country music genre by playing “new” country, which is heavily influenced, if not completely hijacked, by the pop and hip-hop genres. Listening to your radio show for one hour confirmed why I don’t listen to country music radio anymore, because it “ain’t” country! I did not enjoy that hour.
Your one-hour show wasn’t all bad. You did play two “flashback” hits: Chattahoochee by Alan Jackson and Chicken Fried by Zac Brown Band. Additionally, you played Luke Bryan's latest single, "What Makes You Country," and Scotty McCreery's latest single, featuring Hootie and the Blowfish, "Bottle Rockets."
Luke’s single wasn’t bad; it was country, but not as traditional a country sound as I like, but that’s okay. Scotty’s song was disappointing. I like Scotty McCreery, and his performance on this song was country. I don’t believe Scotty can sing anything else but country. However, Hootie and the Blowfish's insertion into the song was a concession to the pop and hip-hop-heavy influence on today’s country music. But the song is on Billboard’s Top 40 Country singles chart, and I believe that it is Scotty’s highest-ranked song on the chart, which is sad. He has had far better songs that were real country.
It is sad that today’s country music includes songs like this week’s number one on Billboard’s Top 40 Country chart, Happen to Me by Russell Dickerson. I’m sorry, that isn’t country. And what is it with Run Boy Run by Bekx? That absolutely isn’t country music. Then there is Bloodline, by Alex Warren and Jelly Roll. Please, that’s country? There are plenty more songs in Billboard’s Top 40 Country that I could mention are problematic being listed on a country music list, but what’s the point? The country music industry, including country music radio, ignores traditional country music.
Country music has gone so far from its core of traditional country music that Shaboozey’s song “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” was nominated for Best Country Song and Best Country Solo. If country music were a religion, classifying Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” would be sacrilegious. Country music has gone the way of today’s Democrat Party; they are no longer recognizable as for what they once were.
As a Country Music radio station, you should be playing songs like Wish It Was Me by Gunnar Lathem, Stuck by Ariel Hutchins, Barbershop by Bernie Nelson, Pray by Erin Viancourt, I Wasn’t Through Loving You Yet by Cameron Wrinkle, Hell of a Highway by Jake Worhtington, Be Here Now by Will Bannister, and Two Steppin’ by Charlie McCabe. All those songs are true country music songs that should be on every country music station's playlist. They are all potential number one hits if they were on a true country music playlist. If you haven’t heard those songs, perhaps you should take some time and listen to them. If you do, you will hear “real” country music and not the “fake” country music that you and other country music radio stations are playing.
I know the “cat is out of the bag,” and country music will never go back to what it was and should be. I know 92.3 FM radio will continue to have a playlist dominated by ‘fake’ country music, and the country music industry will continue to push pop. hip-hop country. However, I am who I am —a lifelong fan of traditional country music —and I am doing what I can to preserve it.
As a retired Air Force Master Sergeant and a retired Florida State employee, I have dedicated my retirement years to promoting real country music. In doing so, I created a website to do just that. This letter is not about my website. I do not receive any compensation for it, and I do not expect anything from you regarding my website. The website is essiecountry.com. I only mention it because you can visit my website and find “real” country music there. I provide that information to validate my dedication to promoting traditional country music. In case you are wondering, my website is named after my mom, Essie.
Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Gene Johns
MSgt, USAF Retired
Keep it Country!
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Essie Country Gold
This is real country music at its best!
Two Steppin' Stuck Lonely Leave Me Alone Old Time Melody
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Shot Glass Dancin' Around It Hell of a Highway On Top of the World
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