Jelly Roll and More Country Stars Tell Us Why They Love America

Independence Day is right around the corner, and nobody knows American pride like the stars of country music.

“Music — especially country music — brings people together no matter what,” Chris Lucas of LoCash shares exclusively in the latest edition of Us Weekly, on newsstands now. “Music just tends to bring everyone together in America.”

The country music duo, which consists of Lucas and Preston Brust, showcases their love for America in many of their songs, including the patriotic “Three Favorite Colors.”

“I got three favorite letters / And lemme spell ’em out for you / They say USA / Where I wish everything was made / Every truck, every boot and every tool / Yeah, I got three favorite colors / And that’s red, white and blue,” they sing in the 2023 song.

In addition to LoCash, country stars like Jelly Roll, Wynonna Judd, Carly Pearce and many more told Us why they love America — just in time for the 4th of July. Keep scrolling to read more about country music’s American pride:

Jelly Roll

“This country has changed my entire life,” the musician, whose real name is Jason Bradley DeFord, told Us while promoting his National Donut Day campaign with Dunkin’. “The freedom to do what I do here … thank God for this country because I’m able to do [things like] eating donuts and shooting visual arts for money today. It’s absurd.”

Jelly Roll — who has had a massively successful year with hits like “Need a Favor” propelling him to earn his first Grammy nomination for Best New Artist — also celebrates the importance of American art.

“What I do know about art in America is that we influence everybody,” he said. “I know that because I now talk to international artists. I get features from the U.K., I get features from Germany, I’ve done features with these artists, and they’re all chasing American sound.”

Wynonna Judd

“From New Jersey to California to the hillbilly part of Kentucky where I’m from, I’ve had experiences all over America,” the country music legend told Us. “What I love most is the diversity, the melting pot.”

Yet Judd is most grateful to the U.S.A. for the opportunities it has provided her.

“I went from welfare to millionaire. I was raised by a single parent. We had food insecurity and we lived on food stamps,” Judd told Us. “I am forever grateful because America showed me that regardless of where I came from, I could make it in country music and have the life I have.”

Alana Springsteen

“America was built on dreams. It was built on dreamers,” Springsteen told Us at CMA Fest. “That’s something I’ve felt my whole life.”

Springsteen grew up in Virginia Beach, where she began writing songs at age 9 before heading to Nashville to pursue music full-time.

“My parents are self-made, like, have never worked a nine-to-five, just gone out and done their thing and made it work,” she continued. “I think growing up in that environment and realizing that you can do anything you put your mind to in this country because we have that freedom is everything.”

Carly Pearce

“I’ve traveled a lot overseas and I feel like I always come back and I’m just so grateful for how our country is run and the things that we take for granted that not everybody has,” the “We Don’t Fight Anymore” singer told Us. “You just go, ‘Wow, we are blessed to live here.’”

Charles Esten

Esten has spent several years on television shows named after American locations: Nashville and Outer Banks. Yet Esten has also traveled the nation as a musician, and he praises the diverse landscapes across the United States.

“[There is] a broad expanse. What you want, you can find,” he told Us at CMA Fest. “We just toured Europe and they have that to some degree, but when you’re in a certain country, a lot of the country looks like that country. This country, you want your desert, find your desert. You want your mountains, find your mountains.”

Brooke Eden

The country singer and American Idol alum seconded Esten’s notion.

“[I love] how different everything is,” she told Us. “I mean, you can be in Florida and be in the sunshine and it’s all flat, and then you can drive and be in Arizona and it’s orange and mountainous and there’s nothing flat about it. And then you can be in Colorado up on a mountain and you can go snow-skiing.”

Chapel Hart

“What I love most about America is the food,” Chapel Hart’s Trea Swindle told Us at CMA Fest. “The food, the food, the food!”

Swindle’s cousin and bandmate, Danica Hart, chimed in with her own response.

“You get to be who you want to be,” she said. “Even if you don’t like it, you get to be that in America.”

Adam Doleac

“There’s just something about the optimism of America that you see,” the country singer and Mississippi native told Us. “You’re seeing it so much now with social media. If you have a good idea, it could change your entire world, it’s so cool.”

Doleac continued: “Whether it’s a song idea or a business idea … to just have an idea and chase after it and get it is unbelievable. It’s such a cool way to be able to live.”

With reporting by Mandie Decamp, Christina Garibaldi and Jeremy Parsons