There are some great suggestions here!

One particular theme I've come across in many songs is that of a fella's love figured as a flower of a specific place (Virginia Rose, Flower of Magherally, She's a Flower from the Fields of Alabama). This theme points to several cultural realities of Southern and Irish identity: the strong identification of place as feminine in Southern and Irish symbolism (which in turn points to the nurturing character of agrarianism), the idea of "roots" (all three songs figure their characters as literally rooted in place through naturalizing them as flowers), and the emphasis on love of place through this thorough interweaving of romantic love and place love. Pretty cool to think that there might be an unconscious cultural understanding of symbolism that's made me love all those songs I've loved growing up.   

Lee III