My dog died, my truck broke down, and my wife left me. These are the themes most people correlate with country music. Admittedly I thought the same thing for most of my life. Along with the sad, sappy lyrics I couldn’t stand the twang guitar and vocals. There was nothing about the genre that appealed to me or the lifestyle with which it is usually associated. I was born and raised in a moderately large city with dreams of one day living in New York.
While in college, still with big city aspirations, I met a hick from the North. He worked as a ranch hand during the summers and was as country as they come. I didn’t like the amount of guns and knives he owned or his boots and Carhartts, but for some reason I just couldn’t stay away from him.
After dating for several months I spent the summer with him and his family. They lived outside of a small town in an even smaller town, as did all of their relatives. The area is absolutely beautiful. Their house was tucked away in the mountains on several acres with a view of the lake. One morning there was even a moose at the bottom of the driveway. With all this incredible scenery and lack of a large, bustling city it was the natural habitat of cowboys and hicks and that crowd only listened to two kinds of music: country and western.
At first I thought my ears might bleed from horrible sounds of one country song after another, but because there were no other options I began to listen to the lyrics of the songs. I soon discovered that these modern country songs were nothing like what I had assumed. The artists sung of everyday life, of having fun with friends, spending time with family, getting loud and crazy at parties, loving their country, having faith, and yes sometimes love and heartbreak. So many of the songs were uplifting and just plain funny. Eventually I couldn’t help but sing along and the more songs I heard, the more I appreciated the music and the small town lifestyles about which they sang.
Though he and I are no longer together (thank goodness and good riddance), that one summer literally changed my life. Not only am I now an avid country music listener, but I have also given up those big city dreams and replaced them with ones of having a family, raising kids in a small town and tight knit community, and living away from the suburbs with nothing but open fields surrounding the house. How this lifestyle will fit with desires to work in international politics, I have no idea. It may not, but I have plenty of time to figure things out and get a job before I plan on settling down.
In the meantime I simply plan on continuing my country music listening and going to as many concerts as I can. I have recently attended Eric Church and Zac Brown Band concerts. They were completely different than concerts of different kinds of music. I can honestly say I had more fun at those concerts than any others. I think country singers can relate to their fans more than other genres and this allows them to better connect with their audiences and bring them into the music. They not only sing the songs; they are talented entertainers and give amazing performances.
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