I've always loved music, and even when I was a metalhead as a kid, I still had that pop music side (VIZION with Lee Z), as well as punk rock, classic rock (Bob Seger, AC/DC, Kiss, Alice Cooper), hardcore, indie rock...
I've run sound for cover bands, sang in every band that would let me...
But as I get older, country stirs something in me that I can't describe. It's like hearing a James Taylor song — when I was a kid, our local radio played all that kind of stuff all the time (Steve Schaeffer at WNBT - did I spell it right? He's STILL DJ'ing today I bet) — as a kid, you don't have that emotional connection to it as you do when you're older.
Now when I hear "Country Road" (or "Fire & Rain"), it's like the journey has created all these layers to it... I think of my childhood and Mom having the radio on all the time, I think of Scott Turner playing at the Gaslight every Friday night when I was in my twenties and still figuring out who I was, I think of Sunday drives when you just jump in the car and crank up the radio and see where the music takes you.
Country music...
- The Charley Pride records at my grandmother's house. Working at WalMart and having these country music promo videotapes that played George Jones and Reba in endless loops, and selling tons of Tim McGraw / Garth Brooks cd's to locals and wondering what all the fuss was about.
- Huffman's Office Equipment on Main Street where they always had country music on, and I knew that Tiffany Stewart was just cringing must of the time because she'd much rather hear Type O Negative or Pink Floyd.
- The time I helped Kevin @ KC101 do a live remote because I had radio experience and knew the console, then seeing the possibility of a guy doing it out of a house (I was soooo tempted to buy a transmitter and start doing pirate radio)
Which brings us to today... I had a recent phone call with an old friend, someone I met in my teens primarily because of our mutual love for heavy music, and became the best of friends for some 20+ years now. When he & I talk these days, invariably the conversation comes around to what music we're digging lately, and I kind of felt too weird about it to tell him that — although I still look for new music of many types these days — more and more it's country.
I wonder now why I didn't share that... why I held that part of me back? Is it because he'd likely razz me about it? Nah, because razzing each other for us, over 20+ years, has become an art form, and we're secure enough in who we are to not give a crap if the other one looks at us weird. Is it because I knew he wouldn't be able to relate? Maybe. We don't get to speak much these days, so I'm not going to spend a lot of time talking to him about something he will not relate to. I don't know.
But, yeah, I'm really getting more an more into country. It seems to stir something in me, like an old friend, or a memory of home. I have every Joe Nichols cd. I'm totally looking forward to the new Jimmy Wayne coming out next week (ironically, he's covering "Sara Smile", and you don't get much more WNBT/classic rock/old-school than a Daryl Hall & John Oates song like that one). I'm into guys like Keith Urban, Dierks Bentley, Gary Allan, Tim McGraw, and even George Strait. I'm getting into new country too, like Lady Antebellum and Love & Theft, Craig Morgan, Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan, & Chris Young. I love the song "Small Town USA", I saw Vince Gill in concert a few years back.
I don't talk or post a lot about it. I don't know why. Maybe it's because I don't see a lot of other people talking about country music. Maybe it's because my wife sees that side of me every day, and that's enough. I don't know.
So, yeah. I love country music. I said it. It's out there.
I can even put it up there right next to my love for my beloved hard rock/heavy metal, and alternative rock, and adult alternative, and classic rock.
And there's exceptions too. There always are. I still can't stand the "Yee Haw" aspect, that "Woo hoo, play somethin' country" vibe, the Trailer Choir "rockin' the beer gut" type twangy country party tunes...
I can't stand "Eight Second Ride", or "Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy". I have my limits.
But I'd be happy to tell you what I love. I always have been, and always will.
If you'd like to hear some of the songs I've into this year, you can check out my playlist 'Country '09' on Lala.com for free:
