Catholic and Country
Country music recording artist Bradley Banning experienced commercial success in 2017, then pivoted when he realized that the lyrics of many country songs were glorifying things that went against his Catholic faith. He switched to recording Catholic country music. (MaryAnn Luedtke Photograpahy)
GREENSBORO — You don’t often see someone witness to their Catholic faith while wearing a cowboy hat, but for the past three years that’s been the goal for country music artist Bradley Banning.
Banning has songwriting in his blood. The Texas native has written songs since childhood, inspired by his songwriter father and the countless hours he spent listening to music with him.
He became Catholic in 2015 and started releasing his own music in 2016. His 2017 single “Don’t Mess with Texas” made the top 20 on charts in Texas, an indicator of future success because of the state’s huge role in the national country music scene. Over the next few years, Banning saw a divergence between mainstream country music and the message of faith he wanted to share, so he switched to overtly “Catholic country music” around 2023.
He was in Greensboro for two shows Sept. 18 and 19 – a solo show aimed at families and then a volunteer appreciation event that featured both Banning’s music and country line dance lessons led by Rick and
Trish Edwards, parishioners at Holy Cross Church in Kernersville who run a line-dance instruction company.
Banning took time during his visit to share his thoughts on making Catholic country music:
CNH: Country music is not a genre that’s known for having a lot of Catholic artists. What has the experience been like?
Banning: There are some Catholics making country. I’ve met artists like Clay Walker, who is a convert as well (Walker came into the Church in 2017), and Craig Morgan is also Catholic. I’m seeing more and more that there are Catholics in this genre, but it can be really hard to share your faith because it’s true many country artists come from Protestant or nondenominational upbringing. I’ve made a joke where you hear a lot of songs about dating or marrying a preacher’s daughter that you met at the First Baptist Church, but there’s never a song about meeting someone at Mass at St. Mary’s.
CNH: What led you to change focus in your songwriting?
Banning: I wasn’t enjoying the music business. I didn’t relate to it. I really started thinking it was all vanity. I saw a lot of country music lyrics focused on the hook-up culture, on being an outlaw and a rebel, and not in a good sense. I decided if I was going to influence the culture, I wanted to do it in a good way.
Alcohol was also talked about a lot in lyrics, not in a good way, and I wanted to address that. I’m not a big drinker, but I’ll occasionally have a couple, and I wanted to find a way to write a song about just going out two-stepping and maybe having a drink with friends, but not the kind of alcohol culture you see in some country lyrics. I started being more intentional, trying to write songs about faith, family and real life.
CNH: Have you released any sacred music?
Banning: I recorded a version of “Stabat Mater” that a friend asked me to do, and it was a very encouraging experience.
CNH: What reaction have you received since you made the change to pursuing music as a ministry?
Banning: The reception has been great overall. There are always some people who either don’t understand where I’m coming from or the message, but that’s often because they don’t know the full picture. For the most part the shows and events have gone well, and I’ve had really great response to both my testimony and my work of sharing my faith through country music.
During a volunteer appreciation event at St. Pius X Parish in Greensboro, line dancing instructors taught participants some new steps just in time for the concert.
CNH: How did you come to the Catholic faith?
Banning: I was living in Nashville and had been going to a bunch of different churches because I felt that being in church on Sunday helped my week to go smoother. One night I was invited to Mass by a friend of mine who was in the process of coming back to the Church. I knelt down on the kneeler and I knew I was home. I’m not usually a crier, but I started crying for some reason, and that was the beginning.
Over the next two years, God really stepped in in a big way. My life had been going in a different direction, and I really didn’t know if I needed to fully become Catholic or not. But over a short period of time, I was fired from my job and my girlfriend broke up with me, so I told God, “I hear you. When does OCIA start?” and I came to the Church.
I really experienced some pretty mystical things, and I had a great community of people around me who helped me enter the Church. It was all just grace from God.
CNH: What artists have been a big influence on you?
Banning: I’ve loved country artists like George Strait and Keith Urban. But I’m also a huge fan of songwriters. If I like a songwriter, I’ll look for their credits on the CDs and follow their work. Among the songwriters
I like there’s my dad, one of my major musical influences, and writers like Dean Dillon and Paul Overstreet.
(Dillon wrote many songs for George Strait and also penned the song “Tennessee Whiskey,” which has been recorded by several artists, including Chris Stapleton, and is considered a modern classic. Overstreet’s songs have been recorded by George Jones, The Judds, Randy Travis, Keith Whitley, Blake Shelton and many others.)
CNH: Do you pray before you write a song and do you have any particular saint or devotion that influences you?
Banning: A lot of times the songwriting is much more fulfilling and you write something much more intentional and Christ-focused when you pray at the beginning.
I’ve dedicated a lot of songs I’ve written to particular saints that inspired the idea, and I’ll ask the saint to pray for the people who hear the song. I do have one song, “Be a Kid,” that was inspired by St. Therese of Lisieux, and I specifically dedicate it to her.
CNH: As a Catholic musician, what would be your advice to other Catholics who want to share both their faith and their artistic talents – whether that’s through music, writing or art?
Banning: Just pray and ask God to make you the man or woman He has asked you to be and wants you to be. It’s about being intentional, using your gift and not being afraid to use it in faith. For me, it’s not about building a catalog or building a business – it’s about being a more authentically Catholic version of myself.
— Christina Lee Knauss
More online
At www.bradleybanning.com: Listen to his music and learn more