Day #28: Yea, this is Country Music

                I’ve been described as “country” on more than one occasion. Everyone can tell I’m coming when my red truck pulls into the beach volleyball courts blasting country music, which is my absolute favorite. Unfortunately, since I moved away from home, I have had to cut myself off from it after exceeding the 40 hour a month Pandora limit. This in itself was not grounds for instilling a music quota: I discovered the underlying problem when I noticed how terribly homesick country makes me. So in an effort to wrench my heart away from St. Augustine and Swainsboro and all of the amazing people back home, I have been trying to listen to other music. Reggae was a fairly successful substitute last semester. However, after seeing lyrics from some new country song today, I broke down and busted out the country station…and just remembered why I love it so much!

                Everyone complains that country is too “twangy”, and that it’s just a bunch of old guys whining about their dog, momma, or broken truck/heart. But there is so much more to it than that. I feel that I’ve pretty much lived about 80% of all country songs at one time or another, between driving the barbed wire truck around a field when I was seven and drinking sweet tea on the farmhouse porch. It never ceases to amaze me that people continue to capture the essence of my family and home in song, as well as just about every important life lesson. I love having something that can keep me grounded and get me through any day at the same time. Thanks to country music, I am continuously reminded of who I am and where I’m from. I am reminded that there will always be people who love and care about me waiting back home. I am reminded of the happiness that is found is things as simple as fried chicken and blue jeans. And I am reminded that, no matter what life throws at me, I will never lose any of that.

Step back, smell the rose

Feel the sand between your toes

Unplug, unwind

Step out in the sunshine

I need to live a little, have some fun

Take some time and waste it on number one

Find someone that brings my whole world to a stop

Live a little, love a lot

-Kenny Chesney

And my personal favorite music video of all time:

http://www.cmt.com/videos/thompson-square/557313/are-you-gonna-kiss-me-or-not.jhtml