Country Music

I grew up on my older brother’s musical tastes. Those tastes did not, by any means, include country music. So much so that when I purchased a Garth Brooks album as a pre-teen, he ensured that it disappeared, undoubtedly to the depths of the fire pit that we used to burn our trash. (We’re country kids, remember?)

By the 6th grade, when other girls were listening to New Kids on the Block, I had decorated my locker with Def Leppard posters. Since my brother and I were always really close (Garth Brooks album incident notwithstanding), his leaving home for the Air Force Academy in 1994 was especially hard on me. I took comfort in going to his room to raid his cassette collection. That’s when I fell in love with Dream Theater, Savatage and Queensryche.  By the 8th grade, I was a progressive rock girl, through and through.

Over the years, my taste in music has become much more varied than the short list of black t-shirt bands I grew up on. I’m a fan of indie artists like Will Oldham, sing-songwriters like David Gray, and secular bands with heavy Christian roots like RED and Skillet. Of course, there are a handful of obscure artists like Emily Wells on my ipod. My favorite album right now is Peter Gabriel’s “Scratch My Back”, consisting entirely of love songs written by outstanding lyricists, many of whom I also listen to.

I don’t like classifying music by genre, since I can hear so many cross-genre influences in most of the music I listen to. For the sake of brevity though, my music collection contains artists ranging from metal to pop, jazz to orchestral. And now, just over a year after moving back to small town, Missouri, it’s begun containing country.

I never thought I’d see the day that I’d say this, but I really like a lot of the country music on the radio now. I can relate to songs about heartbreak and simple life in the country. I find my head bobbing along almost involuntarily as I drive down the road tuned in to 92.3 WIL, and I think it goes without saying that I’m a total road trip rock star, since most country songs are written in a simple vocal range that even altos like me can handle.

My interest in country music hasn’t stopped with the radio though. This year I purchased my second country music album (remember the Garth Brooks incident) Lady Antebellum’s “Need You Now”, and you know what? It’s flipping fantastic. I challenge any of you country music haters out there to find a non-country album released this year (aforementioned Peter Gabriel album doesn’t count) that has songwriting that’s as touching, with harmonies that as fantastic, as “Need You Now”.

Make no mistake, I still rock out to hard rock on an almost-daily basis, but this small town girl genuinely appreciates modern country music, too.

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1. Dark Was the Night
2. Country Days Run
3. Country Days: This Small Town’s Big Tradition
4. Vegetarian Food in Cattle Farming Country