Real country fans wouldn’t check out the printed lyrics. But I did, and it turns out he was crooning about the Southern states, specifically Tennessee in the summer, which is when the song came out, and which is like Southern California in the fall and winter (sort of; maybe not).

The song is on Jake’s new album, also called “Days of Gold,” out next month.

As you may know, Nashville isn’t the only capital of country music. There’s also the Bakersfield Sound, which is rougher and tougher. It’s built around the sonics of old Okies and other Southerners who came out here decades ago to work in the oil fields. Two of the main ones are Merle Haggard, that Okie from Muskogee, and Buck Owens (apparently no relation to Jake Owen).

In his Fullerton shop, Leo Fender invented some of his early guitars to put the twang in the Bakersfield Sound.

Here’s Merle: