3 Country Songs From the Early 90s That Celebrate Life in a Small Town

If country music is about anything, it might be about celebrating the rural and often simple way of life. With that in mind, these are three of the best country songs from the first half of the 1990s, which all celebrate small-town living in America.

“Small Town Saturday Night” by Hal Ketchum

Hal Ketchum’s first single is “Small Town Saturday Night”. The song, written by Pat Alger and Hank DeVito, is part of Past The Point Of Rescue, Ketchum’s first album for Curb Records.

“Small Town Saturday Night” says in part, “Got a six-pack of beer and a bottle of wine / Gotta be bad just to have a good time / They’re gonna howl at the moon, shoot out the light / It’s a small town Saturday night.”

“Small Town Saturday Night” is one of only three songs that Ketchum didn’t write for Past The Point Of Rescue. Kathy Mattea sings background vocals on the project. This song remains one of Ketchum’s biggest hits.

“If The World Had A Front Porch” by Tracy Lawrence 

On Tracy Lawrence’s 1994 I See It Now album is “If The World Had A Front Porch”. The Top 5 single was written by Lawrence, Paul Nelson, and Kenny Beard.

A nostalgic song about longing for simpler times, “If The World Had A Front Porch” says, “It was where I first got up the nerve to steal me my first kiss / And it was where I learned to play guitar and pray I had the gift / If the world had a front porch like we did back then / We’d still have our problems, but we’d all be friends.”

I See It Now also includes “Texas Tornado”, a No. 1 hit for Lawrence.

“Chattahoochee” by Alan Jackson

Alan Jackson includes “Chattahoochee” on his A Lot About Livin’ (And A Little ‘Bout Love) record. Jackson’s first multi-platinum hit, “Chattahoochee” stayed at the top of the country charts for an impressive four weeks.

Written by Jackson and Jim McBride, “Chattahoochee” says, “Down by the river on a Friday night / Pyramid of cans in the pale moonlight / Talkin’ ’bout cars and dreamin’ ’bout women / Never had a plan, just a livin’ for the minute.”

Jackson and McBride wrote this song while Jackson was on the road. He liked the song so much that he played it for the first time the same day that the song was finished.

Jackson won two CMA Awards, both for Single of the Year and Music Video of the Year for this song.

Photo by Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images

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