There are enough sexy songs getting played on country radio right now to warrant a “booty call song” category in stations’ music scheduling software.

That’s because the latest burgeoning trend in country music seems to be songs with overtly sexual themes. And while country radio stations are known to quickly edit songs with potentially offensive language, such as the “ass” reference in the chorus of the Zac Brown Band’s “Toes,” the most interesting thing about this new crop of sexually-themed songs is that so many of them are becoming consensus hits, completely unencumbered by radio edits.

Current examples include Chris Young’s recent No. 1 hit “Getting You Home (The Black Dress Song),” plus Lady Antebellum’s (pictured) “Need You Now” and Dierks Bentley’s “I Wanna Make You Close Your Eyes.” Other recent examples (of both hits and non-hits) cited by radio programmers are: Lee Ann Womack’s “Last Call,” Whitney Duncan’s “Skinny Dippin’,” Lady Antebellum’s “Lookin’ For A Good Time,” Keith Urban’s “Kiss A Girl,” and Jake Owen’s “Eight Second Ride.”

So, why do these kinds of songs not trip the trigger for programmers who are otherwise uber-conscious of not alienating soccer moms listening in the car with their kids, the same programmers who are quick to edit songs for language?

Consultant Joel Raab says it’s simply because, “Songs are subject to interpretation. ‘Need You Now’ could be needing a conversation, company, or something else.” He does note, however, that “Need You Now” is one of the first songs I have ever heard that specifically addresses ‘drunk dialing,’ and I think that’s why it resonates so well. (Not for me, of course.)”

Nate Deaton, GM of KRTY San Jose, Calif., thinks many of these songs fly under the radar because they’re “a little over the head” of many children, and the songs are written in such a way that “parents can explain to their children a meaning of a phrase in a non-sexual way. [For example,] ‘Well she wants to get her dress off because it is uncomfortable’.”

“It is not what trips a PD…it is what feedback you get from listeners,” says WZZK/WNCB Birmingham, Ala., PD Justin Case. “They let you know pretty quickly when they believe something crosses the line …They call B.S. when they think you are not living up to your positioning.”

“For the last seven years, country has become less sensitive to this type of material,” says consultant Pam Shane of Shane Media. “Part of it, no doubt, comes from the total openness in pop music, which many programmers have to deal with in their jobs as cluster managers. The singers [cited above] are all younger and have themselves grown up with people saying exactly what they mean instead of resorting to innuendo.”

Asked if sexual themes are simply less likely to draw listener complaints, WKKT Charlotte, N.C., APD/MD Ryan Dokke says, “It depends on the song and how it’s heard by the audience.”

Deaton recalls getting a call from a listener who “asked what to tell her son when he asked why it gets hotter when the sun goes down [a reference to a Kenny Chesney song]. I suggested using her imagination.”

But Raab is among the broadcasters who don’t think the current crop of songs is likely to offend listeners. He believes Young’s “Getting You Home” is a song that “walks right up to the line, but doesn’t cross it. It’s such a big hit because he’s expressing what so many feel,” he says. “I personally don’t think today’s music with more overt sexual themes have crossed the line. The listeners will let us know when they do.”

“Perhaps the stories are more accepted because adults think most of it goes over the heads of young kids and relates directly to their lives,” says Case. “Women still drive county music, and I think those romantic/sexy songs can be like experiencing a romantic movie … The younger listeners to other formats are bombarded with explicit lyrics. Our younger listeners punch around a dial. It is … understandable that [country] songwriters would ramp up the sexy to attract some of those younger listeners who are getting similar themes from other formats.” But Shane thinks some listeners are concerned about adult themes and, she says, “stations that are in touch with their audiences—stations with live jocks available most of the time—do hear about it. Of course, listeners often don’t realize what the lyric really means quickly. Usually, it’s after the words come out of the mouth of one of their children.”

The broadcasters surveyed for this story have mixed opinions on whether there seems to be more songs than usual right now with sexual themes, and why that might be.

“There’s so much passion in country,” says Raab. “Country is real life. Sexual themes tastefully expressed are, and always have been, a part of our music.”

Shane thinks “there have been more hits lately that are reasonably sexy.”

Deaton says that while there may not necessarily be more sex-themed songs right now, there ARE more of them that are becoming hits. “Like any other theme cycle, someone has success with one and everyone wants to do one,” he says, noting that Lady A’s “Lookin’ For A Good Time” may have started the ball rolling with its “Would you get the wrong impression, if I called us a cab right now” lyric. “But these songs are getting played and working so everyone wants to do something,” Deaton says.

But Case calls the large number of similarly themed songs right now “coincidence. We’ve seen times when there are a bunch of drinking songs, beach songs, death songs. Now some sex songs are stacking up on programmers’ desk. I don’t think it is [by] design.”

And Dokke suggests, “Maybe we are just noticing it more.”

Of course, sexual themes are hardly a new concept in country music. In fact, when discussing the topic with programmers, two words come up a lot: Conway Twitty.

Raab thinks Bentley is “a modern day Conway Twitty. Dierks, to his credit, is more subtle,” he says. “’I Want To Make You Close Your Eyes’ is not nearly as overt as ‘My trembling fingers touching forbidden places’ from Conway’s ‘You’ve Never Been This Far Before,’ a huge hit in the ’70s. [Bentley] gets this point across in a tasteful way.”

Case actually thinks many older songs were more explicit than today’s batch. He cites as examples such classic titles Jeanne Pruett’s “Satin Sheets” (1973), Twitty’s “I’d Just Love To Lay You Down” (1976), Merle Haggard’s “Let’s Chase Each Other Around The Room” (1984), Loretta Lynn’s “Don’t Come Home A’Drinkin’ (With Lovin’ On Your Mind)” (1967), and more recent titles such as Paul Jefferson’s “Check Please” (1996), Toby Keith’s “I’m Just Talkin’ About Tonight” (2001), Faith Hill and Tim McGraw’s “Let’s Make Love” (2000) Keith Urban’s “Raining On Sunday” (2003) and Garth Brooks’ “That Summer” (1993).

Dokke adds Twitty’s No. 1 hit “Slow Hand” (1982) to the list. And few songs were as overly bawdy as Big & Rich’s 2004 top 15 hit “Save A Horse (Ride A Cowboy),” which Deaton adds to the list.