Recently, there has been a big shift in country music towards music that is more “friendly” for mainstream audiences. The once-somber tones of southern life that filled music have been replaced by rap solos and pop beats.

Although this style of “country pop” has proven to be very successful for the music industry, certain artists choose to stick to their roots.

One group of artists that choose to do so are Maddie and Tae, a new country duo from Texas who sing traditional songs about life, love and God.

The first thing you might notice when listening to their songs is the more subdued, traditional style. Classic instruments and ballads are used in all their songs.

There is still some pop-rock to be found here, but it’s at least somewhat subdued from the appropriation of the country genre that we have on the radio today.

In their new album, Maddie and Tae’s music mostly focuses on the struggles of growing up. This was actually one of my biggest problems with the album “Start Here.” Everything they say in the album seems like it has been said before.

Because of this cliche message, some of the music felt devoid of real thought or spirit. In the album’s defense, it did have some undertones of feminism, but not enough to make any point deeper than “I am woman, hear me roar.”

The music also contains some down-to-earth style inspirational lyrics, especially evident in their song “Waitin’ on a Plane.” Again however, it’s nothing that hasn’t been done before. In fact, it almost feels that they are taking a page from Taylor Swift’s book, who is on the same label as they are.

Still, from a musical perspective, the musical score is technically sound, and at least above the average mainstream watered-down country we usually get.

It’s a good start, but I wish they had invested more thought into the meaning of their songs rather than basing their music off of sounds that people want to hear.