I Heard A New Country Song About Red 40 & Couldn’t Tell Whether It Was A Parody Or Not

This one had me stumped.

These days it’s getting harder and harder to tell the real country songs from the parodies. And I’m not just talking about the AI songs that are clearly making fun of country music: I’m talking artists who put out country songs that are so bad it’s hard to tell whether they think it’s actually good or not.

Obviously one of the first songs that comes to mind is Lan Law’s “Country To The Bone,” which went viral on TikTok a few months ago and even landed them a show on Broadway, but was so objectively bad that nobody was really sure whether they were in on the bit or not.

Well folks, I found another one to present to you today.

I had never heard of Mary Kutter until a few months ago when they started talking about her on a podcast I listen to (shoutout Circling Back). I assumed she was just some new artist who was starting out on TikTok, and didn’t really dig any deeper into her or her catalog.

But recently I heard another song from her that has me wondering what in the world is going on.

This song is about Red 40 (yes, the food dye). How do I know that? Well, she tells us right at the beginning of the song:

“This song is about Red 40”

Straightforward and to the point. I appreciate the clarity.

And listen, Red 40 is a hot topic right now, especially with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy and his “Make America Healthy Again” push to ban artificial additives and food dyes. I’m all for it. So maybe Mary Kutter was just hopping on the trend and wanted to make a socially conscious song about something that’s important to her.

Let’s take a look at the lyrics and see how she did:

“Mama packed it in my lunchbox
Drank it from a juice box, it tasted like cherries
Colors sitting on my spoon
Commercial called it fruit, it didn’t grow on trees
We prayed and blessed our supper
But that meal was good and cursed
Well fed but 6 feet under
Crumb trail behind the hearse

Yeah they sell, sell, sell
Keep them profits pouring
Poison’s flying off the shelves
Labels got no warning
They tried to sugarcoat it
But we’re done buying that story
We’re seeing red, seeing red, seeing red
Red 40″

@marykutter

Things that cost $3.99 gonna cost you good years of your life #red40 #countrymusic

♬ original sound – Mary Kutter

I mean, I can’t even lie, that line about blessing your supper “but that meal was good and cursed” is kind of a banger.

Now like I said, I support the message behind the song. And there are a lot of songs out there about the health crisis that’s sweeping our country, and especially the drug crisis in Appalachia, though they’re usually a little more subtle with their message. Tyler Childers’ “Nose On The Grindstone” immediately comes to mind. Brad Paisley had a song called “The Medicine Will” a few years ago. Philip Bowen, another artist from West Virginia, had a song called “Vampire in Appalachia” with Josiah and the Bonnevilles.

My point here is those songs are generally a little more metaphorical with their message. But not Mary Kutter. Nope. She leaves no room for ambiguity in her song: It’s about Red 40.

Well I was a little confused by the song, so I had to do some more research into Ms. Kutter. She’s from central Kentucky, the great-granddaughter of a bootlegger, and as it turns out, she’s actually written a couple of songs for other artists that have had some radio success, including “Never Leave” by Bailey Zimmerman and “Wreckage” by Nate Smith.

Her song “Devil’s Money,” which is about her bootlegging family heritage, has over 2 million streams on Spotify, and she’s got over 100k monthly listeners, which may not sound like a lot but is actually a pretty good showing for a new independent artist.

A lot of her songs have a pretty overt message about life in Appalachia, like “The Devil Wore A Lab Coat,” which is obviously about the prescription drug crisis in states like West Virginia and Kentucky. She’s got a pretty good voice, and while her songwriting might be a little rough around the edges, it clearly resonates with an audience who can likely relate to the problems she’s singing about.

I assume that Mary Kutter is trying to build a niche in her corner of Appalachia, making music and singing about the problems that states like hers are facing and telling her family stories. And hey, it seems to be working.

Either that, or she’s one heck of a troll.The post I Heard A New Country Song About Red 40 & Couldn’t Tell Whether It Was A Parody Or Not first appeared on Whiskey Riff.