Nihilistic Millennial Angst Headlines the Texas Music Charts

Kaitlin's much slower and sadder version isn’t about an escape from a stale marriage. Instead, “Jackson” to Kaitlin represents the hotbed of a rockin’ relationship. The woman in Kaitlin's version longs to go to Jackson, to “ride off just like Johnny and June.” Trust me, June wasn’t going to ride off with Johnny to Jackson. Rather, she chastises Johnny for even wanting to go.

"But they'll laugh at you in Jackson… They'll lead you 'round town like a scalded hound
With your tail tucked between your legs,” June threatens. 

Kaitlin’s version is a lament that seems to be aimed at a Xanaxed Millennial boy devoid of most ambition; a troubled soul that our society has pushed our young men to become. In Kaitlin’s version, she chronicles what many single young adult women lament about constantly. That is, boys in their age group do not act like men.

While Johnny and June say Jackson is the place to go to escape the boredom of a stale relationship, Kaitlin longs for a man who would want to go to “Jackson” at all.

Kaitlin sings:

He said I'm saving up to buy you a diamond
He said it won't be much but I'll get you one soon
I thought we'd be married in a fever
I thought we'd ride off like Johnny and June.

Watch: Kaitlin Butts' version of "Jackson"

There’s much to unpack there. The boy cannot commit (or has no money to commit). A Millennial may argue this is the case as Generation X and the older Baby Boomers have plundered the American Dream leaving a 20-something man saddled with student loan debt but no degree (because perhaps Kaitlin’s boy dropped out of college), thus qualifying him only for a job taking orders in the drive-thru at a fast food joint. It’s hard to save for a diamond with that career path much less fulfill Kaitlin’s wants and desires.

Kaitlin wants a diamond and a commitment and apparently doesn’t care that the diamond might be small, or “won’t be much.” She’s desperate for her man to show any sign of getting “married in a fever, hotter than a pepper sprout,” as Johnny and June sang about in 1967. What Kaitlin doesn’t understand is the Cash version was recorded before President Richard Nixon took the country off the gold standard, when a man could still work and still would (to quote Merle Haggard) — and make a living doing so.

Kaitlin Butts’ lament continues:

Empty promises around every corner
I can barely see the light in your eyes
You say you're wrong and you say you'll change
But your heartbreak lips remain the same
And they're too good at tellin' lies.

Unable to live up to the wants and desires of the woman who wants him, Millennial boy cheats and breaks Kaitlin's heart. In the end, there’s no hope and nihilism about the relationship overcomes her. 

Kaitlin concludes:

So I don't think we'll make it to Jackson
No I don't think we'll make it that far
No I don't think we'll make it to Jackson
As long as you keep breaking my heart.

There’s nothing better than a slow moving sad song involving nihilistic Millennial angst about relationships to liven up the Texas Country Music Charts this week.

Cody Canada and the Departed and their remake of the 2000s Cross Canadian Ragweed hit “Lonely Girl” is at the top this week. We dove into that song last month.

Number 2 is Parker McCollum’s latest single, “Handle on You.” Parker is still drinking because he misses his girl. At least it’s not a pharmaceutical.

Donahew’s #3 “Starts at a Bar” is a fun song about drunken one night stands. It’s not dreary like Kaitlin’s “Jackson” because neither partner has dreams of diamond rings or going to Jackson at all. Instead it’s just a variation of Jimmy Buffet’s “Why Don’t We Get Drunk and Screw?” 

William Clark Green’s “Anymore” should be one possible answer to Kaitlin’s “Jackson.” 

“This house that I bought for you now seems like a big waste of space,” he sings. 

If most Millennial boys are like the guy Kaitlin portrays in “Jackson,” good ‘ol William Clark may be the unicorn. First and foremost, his song means he didn’t just buy a diamond, he bought her an entire house! But she still left him! Maybe Millennial women can never be satisfied. 

There’s more, though.

After she left him, Green sings that in his sadness, he took time off from his normal night of drinking to clean the house. It left me wondering if Green’s woman was familiar with Kaitlin’s “Jackson” at all?

Green’s “Anymore” is up 40 spins this week, rising seven places to #28 on the chart. Other than “Jackson,” this song is one to watch.

Watch: William Clark Green's "Anymore"

The CDX Chart for Feb. 8, 2023 is available in *pdf here.