"Country Must Be Country Wide" is the title of a song co-written and recorded by American country rock

Country rock

Country rock is sub-genre of popular music, formed from the fusion of rock with country. The term is generally used to refer to the wave of rock musicians who began to record country-flavored records in the late 1960s and early 1970s, beginning with Bob Dylan and The Byrds; reaching its greatest...

 artist Brantley Gilbert

Brantley Gilbert

Brantley Gilbert is an American country rock music singer-songwriter. He has released two albums, both on the Average Joe's Entertainment Group label. His songs have also been recorded by Colt Ford and Jason Aldean. In February 2011, he left Average Joe's label to join Valory Music Group, where he...

. It was released in April 2011 as the first single from the deluxe edition of his 2010 album Halfway to Heaven

Halfway to Heaven (album)

Halfway to Heaven is the second studio album by Brantley Gilbert. Produced by The Atom Brothers, it was originally released on March 16, 2010 via Average Joe's Entertainment....

.

Content

In the song, Gilbert sings about the country music fanbase, saying that it is not limited to the Southern United States

Southern United States

The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive area in the southeastern and south-central United States...

. Gilbert told Taste of Country that he wrote the song while on tour with country rap artist Colt Ford

Colt Ford

Jason Farris Brown known professionally as Colt Ford, is an American country music artist and former professional golfer. He has released three albums via his own Average Joe's label, and has charted four singles on the Hot Country Songs charts...

. Ford told Country Weekly

Country Weekly

Country Weekly is an American tabloid style weekly magazine established in 1994. The magazine focuses on country music stars and events, and regularly features exclusive interviews with recording artists and country music news...

that, while touring through Ohio

Ohio

Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...

, he realized that "there are rednecks everywhere[…]I was like, 'those people are all just like us, but they just sound different.'" Gilbert added that while in Ohio, he saw a man exit a truck while dressed in a cowboy hat and boots, which inspired the first verse of the song.

Critical reception

Dan MacIntosh of Country Standard Time

Country Standard Time

Country Standard Time is a website dedicated to country music and related genres such as Bluegrass and Rockabilly. It provides news and musical reviews pertaining to the genre. It was established in 1992 by Jeffrey B. Remz as a print magazine, which was first published only in New England but went...

thought that the song "lives up to that 'up to 11' promise" that he thought was established in the songs that Gilbert wrote for Jason Aldean

Jason Aldean

Jason Aldine Williams is an American country music singer, known professionally as Jason Aldean. Since 2005, Aldean has recorded for Broken Bow Records, an independent record label for which he has released four albums and twelve singles...

 ("Dirt Road Anthem

Dirt Road Anthem

"Dirt Road Anthem" is the title of a song written by American country music artists Colt Ford and Brantley Gilbert , both of whom recorded their own versions of the song. Jason Aldean re-recorded the song for his 2010 album My Kinda Party, and released it as the third single from the album in April...

" and "My Kinda Party

My Kinda Party (song)

"My Kinda Party" is a song written and originally recorded by country-southern rock singer-songwriter Brantley Gilbert from his 2009 album Modern Day Prodigal Son...

").

Chart positions

Chart (2011)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Billboard (magazine) Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis... Country Songs Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales...	1
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...	50
Canadian Hot 100 Canadian Hot 100 The Canadian Hot 100 is a music singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine which ranks songs in Canada. The chart debuted in the Billboard issue dated June 16, 2007 and was made available for the first time via their online services on June 7, 2007...	95