For a while- we're talking around the 6th grade through recent years- I denied enjoying country music (don't continue reading if you don't give a lick about the genre or my revelation, haha!) Hunter would walk in the room to me watching CMT and try to change the channel, causing me to get upset. He would question why I even wanted to watch it if I disliked the music as much as I claimed I did. And you know, when I became a teenager, country music honestly went down hill. For the most part, I can't stand modern country. I would have to say late 80's, early 90's country is what gets me. But I recently bought Lady Antebellum's latest album and was listening to it this morning while driving Kasen to school. I thought "there is just something so soothing to me about good country...." So that got me thinking!
I've been through a lot of crud in the short 25 years that I've been alive- too much to explain- but just trust me. A LOT. I grew up in Birmingham, Alabama and, believe it or not, used to have buck teeth and talk real southern. My family listened to all kinds of music, but I think our bond was country music. Hal Ketchum, Mary Chapin Carpenter, The Judds, Alison Krauss (before she lost a bajillion pounds) Brooks and Dunn, The Mavericks... In the summer, my sisters and I would play for hours in our backyard with a water hose and a radio blasting country music. When a good country song would come on the radio, that was the only time I'd hear my mom sing and it made us so happy that we would all sing. I remember this one song my dad loved and always said it was written about my mom called "She don't know she's beautiful" by Sammy Kershaw. I also remember driving to the lake with my dad and sisters and feeling so happy when Alabama's "Born country" came on the radio....
Good country brings me back to a place when everything felt ok. Because it made me happy when I was younger, hearing it now makes me feel safe and gives me peace. Isn't that so strange? You would never look at me and think "I bet that girl listens to country music" and really, I don't. If I hear an old song from my childhood on the radio, it makes me so happy. And once in a blue moon, an artist or a band will come out with a song that somewhat resembles the way country used to be and I'll cling to it. I think everyone has something that connects them to the past, whether it's good or bad, and well... there ya go. Country is mine.
Here's to my childhood!
