In the early 21st century, country music absorbed elements of pop, altering its sound as it reached broader audiences. Recently, however, the genre has pivoted toward familiar ground, marked by a renewed interest in 1920s folk traditions and hillbilly country through contemporary singer-songwriters. As both emerging and established artists adjust their sound in response to this revival, it raises new questions: are we simply revisiting the same artistic cycles? If so, does this cyclical nature allow for a modern form of country soul, or has contemporary culture outgrown its gospel and soul roots?
While many listeners today appear less engaged with the music of earlier eras, recent developments challenge that assumption. Just weeks ago, it was assumed that soul influences had no place in modern country. Meghan Patrick’s Golden Child, however, suggests otherwise.
With the single itself, “Golden Child,” charting in the top ten in Canada and currently in the top 20 in the US, the record demonstrates that gospel-infused country can still resonate with contemporary audiences, signaling the potential for a meaningful resurgence.
In an exclusive interview with Country Central, Patrick describes her gospel sound as the product of many influences. Patrick’s talents were first recognized during her early opera days. “I don’t know if I ever loved opera; it was kind of something I was pushed into because I was just good at it,” she says. “I realized pretty quickly I wasn’t really passionate about it.” This understanding led her to leave that program and pursue her interest in Jazz. “Especially through college, I was very heavily into Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, and Aretha Franklin, which definitely influenced me just as a vocalist,” she explains. However, her biggest influence, she expresses, was “Aretha Franklin, and I think that’s where you get that soul and gospel from.” It is these foundations that account for the gospel undertones and her strong vocals in tracks like “Safe Place to Break.”
Patrick’s songwriting roots are equally expansive. Rather than growing up squarely within the boundaries of the bluegrass country she was raised on, she found herself drawn to artists who existed just outside its center. “But when it came to songwriting and lyrics, I was more inspired by, I like to say, artists and bands that were country-adjacent… Maybe not right down the middle country: John Prine, the Eagles, a lot of Southern rock, the Allman Brothers. So that definitely inspired me a lot in the way I write songs and how I tell stories,” she explained.
However, when she began writing on her own, she wasn’t trying to fit into any genre at all. “I had to figure out who I am as a solo artist and writing songs by myself,” she says. “I wasn’t trying to write country songs. I was just writing songs. And my friends were like, ‘Well… that’s a country song.’” This organic relationship she had with both soul and country is perhaps what allows “Golden Child” to feel both classic and new. “I wasn’t trying to become country, it was kind of just coming out of me naturally, and that’s why I just finally embraced it.” It is no surprise, then, that Patrick calls bluegrass music, and more specifically her bluegrass band, The Stone Sparrows, her “gateway drug to country.”
That experiential storytelling philosophy extends to her collaborative production process. She is quick to credit her longtime producer Karen Kosowski, whom she calls “grossly underrated as a songwriter and producer.” Patrick laughs before she further gives us a glimpse into her mind, “I have a running playlist that we [Kosowski and Patrick] share, and anytime I hear a song that I love for any reason and it could be any genre: I like this guitar tone, I like this tempo or this beat, I love the melody, I love the style or the vibe of this” Kosowski’s attentiveness is ever-present. “We’ll get into writing, and she’ll say, ‘Oh, I worked up this track or idea or guitar riff, and I can just tell how closely she pays attention to the music I love and the things that I send her.” Meghan’s collaboration with her co-writers and Karen helped develop her artistic identity.
Building that identity into a cohesive body of work, however, was its own beast. “One of the most challenging but fun parts of building my catalog and making records over the last few years has been finding a way to make all of those pieces fit together and make it feel cohesive as a project.” Soul vocals, bluegrass textures, and modern country songwriting unified under the identity of Meghan Patrick. “I’m still kinda old school and a believer of records, albums, projects…this is a story that I am telling, this is the theme and the vibe,” she explains. “Golden Child” was designed to be an experience. “I believe there are listeners who still value the same things I value when it comes to making music,” she pleads, “I’m just trying to find those listeners, and sometimes that’s a longer road.”
Patrick first found such listeners in Canada, where she had spent about two years with Warner Records Canada. Before success in Canada, “I had played a couple showcases for a few labels, and what I heard more than once was ‘man, we love your music, we love your voice, we’d love to have you, it’s just we have a girl on our roster so we can’t sign you right now’ a girl, singular.” Her career trajectory reflected a broader shift in the industry. “Nobody was signing women, we were in the thick of the bro country era and it was so hard for women to break through at that time” but “labels love to sign a bunch of fucking dudes that all sound the same and are doing the same thing, but not a woman” and “one of the only female artists that managed to kind of break through and find their own lane to me, was Kelsea Ballerini.”
These obstacles coincided with the pandemic, which upended traditional paths towards success in music. The social media boom began reshaping how artists were discovered and sustained. “Labels aren’t in the business of developing artists anymore… if you can’t follow up, they’re gonna drop you or shelve you, and you’re ending artists’ careers before they even start.” Her own longevity and career path inform her advice to young artists. “Don’t sign a record deal yet,” she urges. Instead, she advocates patience when a new artist is gaining momentum. “Make that money, continue to hone that craft, have a story, write a shit ton of songs” so that “you can walk in [to a record deal] holding the cards.” She urges new artists to create a future for themselves without relying on external sources.
If country music is indeed cyclical, Patrick demonstrates that building a sound and sustaining a career today carries many of the same challenges, perhaps in new forms, as it did when the genre was first taking shape. “It is hard to break through, and it is a longer path when you want to do something unique and original, and that’s different than what’s trending and working at the time, but I’d rather be ahead of the curve and take a longer road than be a copy of something that someone else already did.”
