Song Prompt: Hometown Theme

by | Mar 30, 2020 | Song Prompts

You can find quite a few songs with a hometown theme. That’s because they’re usually great places to write about – for a few reasons:

  • Hometowns are idyllic for many, and a source of pride – or some other emotion – depending on your experience.
  • Hometowns bring up a lot of nostalgia, so lend themselves to unique imagery primarily because people remember their hometown through their eyes.
  • They also take you back to a place that informed a lot of who you are, so make it simple to connect imagery with an emotion.

Let’s look at a few examples of fantastic songs that focus on the hometown theme.

 

Let It Go
This Travis Meadows song if off Killing Uncle Buzzy, and was the inspiration for my own song “North Of Forty” which you can find in the right rail on the site.

Let It Go
Giving Up On Your Hometown
Lori McKenna is the master of imagery, and most importantly, she relates the images to highly emotional situations.

For example, her mother passing and the relationship of the church, or her grandmother’s back yard, or her father-in-law’s old car and the porch swing he built that represented the love for his wife.

Wow – who thinks of that?! And that’s why Lori McKenna’s “Giving Up On Your Hometown” is here.

Giving Up On Your Hometown
Things Change
Texan Drew Kennedy (OK – adopted Texan) is a fantastic songwriter who, like Meadows and McKenna has a gift for imagery and creating emotional connections for the listener.

“Things Change” is a fantastic example of a recounting his childhood in coal mining towns ended up turning into a “don’t miss the moments” song when co-written with Travis Meadows.

They’ve captured a small town and turned it into something much bigger.

Things Change
McDowell Road
I’m book ending a bit with this one, also by Travis Meadows. His song “Let It Go” mentions McDowell Road, so, why not include it here so you can see how an element in one song can become the center of another.

McDowell Road

Now it’s your turn!