50 Best Country Songs About Sheriffs
Best Country Sheriff Songs
There’s something gritty that hangs in the air when a sheriff shows up in a song. It’s half badge, half myth, carrying both authority and unease. The word drags up saloon dust, flashing lights on a back road, or the quiet of a small town where everyone knows who holds the keys. Some tracks lean into the folklore, others twist the idea into a symbol for order or rebellion. A few don’t talk about sheriffs outright, but the mood fits so squarely into that role you can hear the boots hitting the floorboards.
Country music has always loved these figures, but they pop up outside the genre too. You’ll catch their presence bleeding into pop, rock, country, and R&B songs when the story needs a figure of power or someone chasing shadows. It’s rarely neat. Sometimes the sheriff feels like protection, other times a looming weight that presses down harder than the crime itself. That tension is what makes the best tracks land, the space between justice and control sounding out over steel guitar, fiddle, or a heavy drum line.
The appeal runs in the contradictions. A sheriff can be the folk hero keeping things steady or the obstacle standing in the way of freedom. Both versions have their place, and that’s what gives the theme its strange staying power. Some songs ride the image for storytelling flair, others sit with the mood and let it crack open into something bigger. With that in mind, here are the best country songs that lean into the sheriff theme.
Top 10 Lawman Country Songs
1. 'The Weight of the Badge' by George Strait
2. 'Highway Patrol' by The Lawmen
3. 'I Shot the Sheriff' by Bob Marley & The Wailers
4. 'The Sheriff' by The Modern Jazz Quartet
5. 'Officer Down' by Hannah Ellis
6. 'Bad Boys' by Inner Circle
7. 'Mr. Policeman' by Brad Paisley
8. 'Hold That Line' by Chris Darlington
9. 'Cop Car' by Keith Urban
10. 'Cool Water' by The Sons of the Pioneers
Country Songs About Cops and Justice #11 to 20
11. 'Mama, He's Crazy' by The Judds
12. 'The Law' by Andy Capp
13. 'The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia' by Reba McEntire
14. 'Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town' by Kenny Rogers
15. 'El Paso' by Marty Robbins
16. 'Officer Down' by Chase Rice
17. 'Sheriff You Want To' by Luke Combs
18. 'I Fought the Law' by The Bobby Fuller Four
19. 'The Legend of Wooley Swamp' by The Charlie Daniels Band
20. 'The Ballad of Billy the Kid' by Billy Joel
Country Songs About Legal Authority #21 to 30
21. 'The Devil Went Down to Georgia' by The Charlie Daniels Band
22. 'Jolene' by Dolly Parton
23. 'Outlaw Women' by Hank Williams Jr.
24. 'Thunder Rolls' by Garth Brooks
25. 'A Country Boy Can Survive' by Hank Williams Jr.
26. 'I'm a Lawman' by Waylon Jennings
27. 'The Ballad of Paladin' by Johnny Western
28. 'A Boy Named Sue' by Johnny Cash
29. 'Long Haired Country Boy' by The Marshall Tucker Band
30. 'Mama's Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys' by Waylon Jennings & Willie Nelson
Country Songs About Outlaws and Lawmen #31 to 40
31. 'The Gambler' by Kenny Rogers
32. 'The Ride' by David Allan Coe
33. 'He's a Lawman' by Ronnie Milsap
34. 'The Sheriff' by Johnny Cash
35. 'The Lawman' by Cody Jinks
36. 'The Good Ol' Boys' by Waylon Jennings
37. 'Cop Car' by Sam Hunt
38. 'The Sheriff of Good Intentions' by Chris LeDoux
39. 'The Fireman' by George Strait
40. 'Wave on Wave' by Pat Green
Country Songs About Law and Order #41 to 50
41. 'Sheriff' by Steve Earle
42. 'Officer' by Miranda Lambert
43. 'The Ballad of Jesse James' by The Louvin Brothers
44. 'The Legend of the Sheriff' by David Houston
45. 'The Law' by Randy Travis
46. 'The Sheriff' by David Frizzell
47. 'The Outlaw' by Billy Joe Shaver
48. 'The Man in Black' by Johnny Cash
49. 'The Warden' by Hank Williams Jr.
50. 'I'm a People' by George Jones
© 2025 Carson McQueen
