Ask someone why they like a particular artist and they’ll either say the artist is like them or they aspire to be like the artist. They listen to a band or style of music to let the rest of the world know who they are, or to reinforce their world-view back to themselves. I see this particularly in “Cowboy” music.

In truth, there are few people in the cattle business, riding horses and rounding up cattle. But there has been a consistently strong market for western clothing and country music. For the most part country music themes are current with the rest of the culture, but true cowboy music is still firmly set in the cattle drives of the old west. The audience requires authenticity to that era above all else. The artists are as likely to break off into cowboy poetry as a song.

Still, just living a somewhat “western lifestyle” requires commitment. Listening to country music reinforces the audience’s decision.

Several years ago there was a song called “Cowboy Logic” where several scenarios describe why the real cowboy is smarter than the lesser cowboys around him. If there was ever proof of what I’m talking about, that was it. Every time the singer said “He” describing this smartest cowboy, he could just have easily s been saying “You” in the mind of his listeners.

The best songs work when your audience says, “That song is about me!” or “I know that person!” or "I want to be that person!"

You can reach past their minds into their hearts. Do that and you will gather a large group of people who want other people to know they are your fans.