Since it is a common strategy of country music to convey values and norms of its audiences, these depictions often transformed in line with changing societal values/norms of audiences (Wiggins, 2009, 8). Now appealing to wider audiences, country music videos needed to represent values/norms of mainstream society. For instance, when Travis’ “Forever and Ever, Amen” was released, the country music audience held conservative values, which were in turn portrayed throughout the video. However, when “Ready to Run” was released more than a decade later, societal values and audiences had changed. Particularly prominent within “Ready to Run” are gender roles, specifically challenging a marriage expectation, which coincides with transformations of gender
By 1998, more women were living independently (doubled since 1970), and the percentage of women between the ages of 30 and 39 who had never been married had nearly tripled since 1970 (Spraggins, 2000, 2). By transforming alongside its audiences and mainstream society, country music videos could continue to tell mores specified and appealing stories.
