"Country Girl" is a song about "a country girl getting up there getting a little wild", according to co-writer Dallas Davidson. Bryan said that he and Davidson came up with the idea after listening to hip-hop songs, when Bryan began playing a "groove". He then told Davidson that the country genre needed more songs about "country girls shaking it a little bit". Davidson said that he and Bryan were initially "suspicious" about the song's prospects as a hit, since it sounded so different from "Rain Is a Good Thing", which Davidson also co-wrote. After he found that he got a positive reaction from playing it in concert, Bryan then decided to release it as a single.
Song structure
The song is set in E dorian, with open fifths in the accompaniment instead of chords, forming a pattern of E5-G5-D5-E5 twice in the verses. The chorus uses this pattern twice, and then follows it with a pattern of E5-G5-A5-E5-D5-A5-E5-G5-A5-E5 as Bryan sings "Country girl, shake it for me, girl, shake it for me, girl, shake it for me." Clare Dunn sings backing vocals.
Critical reception
Matt Bjorke of Roughstock gave the song a four-star rating and calling it a "ditty" but saying "the song screams hit" and calling it "downright charming." Kevin John Coyne of Country Universe gave it a B grade, saying that Jason Aldean would have been too aggressive in this song, but Bryan "melts away its sexist edge by layering it with goofiness and playful energy." He goes on to call it a "shamelessly catchy ditty."
Commercial performance
The song was released for sales digital six weeks after the song was released to radio. It debuted on the BillboardHot 100 chart at number 22, the highest debut of the week with 105,000 copies sold. The song reached its 3 million sales mark in the United States by April 2014, making it then the third best-selling song by a male country music solo artist. As of August 2017, the song has sold 3,660,000 copies in the US.
Music video
The music video was directed by Shaun Silva and premiered in May 2011. It was filmed in Los Angeles at Siren Studios. The video tells a story of a small-town girl coming to L.A. to audition and beat out all the big-city dancers.
