What song best represents America? Music Guys and Islanders choose

Is there one song that stands above all the rest when it comes to representing America — particularly in the midst of this semiquincentennial year of celebrations?

The Rock’s own Music Guys, authors David Browne and Tom Junod, reprising the buddy show they’ve been performing for the past seven years, dedicated their session on Friday, Aug. 28, to answering that question. Typically offered each summer as a feature of the Shelter Island Public Library, the Music Guys event convened at St. Mary’s Church Hall while the library’s expansion is underway. Library Director Terry Lucas introduced the program and let the audience know that “merch” — Music Guys T-shirts designed by Mary Theinert — were available for sale.

In the leadup to the event, Islanders were invited to submit their own musical suggestions via the library’s website. Then Mr. Browne, a senior writer at Rolling Stone, and Mr. Junod, a senior writer at ESPN.com, compiled them for a final review before the audience, which filled the church hall.

Mimicking the bracket format of the NCAA basketball tournaments, the top entries were lined up as a Sweet Sixteen competition, divided into Stars and Stripes to fit the patriotic theme.

When the names of the top contenders were revealed — listed on a screen with the technical help of the library’s Head of Adult Services Sara Garcia, there were some obvious choices and a few surprises. Up there with the Star-Spangled Banner, America the Beautiful and This Land is Your Land, Bing Crosby’s rendition of Don’t Fence Me In was in contention, as was Dolly Parton’s Coat of Many Colors. The latter, an outstanding song in its own right, may have been nominated as an homage in the week she passed away to Ms. Parton, a true American Independent. Sly and the Family Stone’s Everyday People offered an aspirational moment to consider: it’s not enough to professthat we’re all created equal: “We got to live together.”

Mr. Junod offered a personal reminiscence of travelingto China with his wife, Janet, to adopt their daughter, when a group on a bus broke into the song Country Roads. As he shared the story, audience members agreed that it had become  a beloved song around the world, as people who may have never been to West Virginia shared a longing to “take me home, to the place I belong.”

As the songs went through elimination rounds, Mr. Browne played snippets of each, offering some history as well. America the Beautiful, he said, had been written as a poem by Katherine Lee Bates in 1893 as she traveled from Wellesley, where she was a professor, across the country to Pike’s Peak. It was set to music by a church organist, S.A. Ward, and became the paean to this nation that has been performed millions of times around the world. It was Ray Charles’ rendition that was up for a vote in the final round against Country Roads, and as Mr. Browne played it one last time, the room shared Mr. Junod’s visceral response: “It gives me chills.”

With the song declared the winner, the audience lifted their own voices in a heartfelt rendition of America the Beautiful’s first verse. Less dramatic than the Ray Charles version, perhaps, but a moment for everyday people to share and take with them as they traveled home, down country roads.