Monthly Archives: February 2016

by | February 14, 2016 · 7:00 am

Country Couple who’s “Livin’ on Love”

Everyone wants a love “like Johnny and June,” but I want a marriage like Alan and Denise. I’m not downing the wedding of Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash, but I have always admired the nuptials of Alan Jackson and his wife, Denise. Most girls fantasize about this idea of a grand wedding and then living happily ever after with the man of their dreams, but I’m not most girls. I like to consider myself a realist! Now don’t get me wrong, I can’t wait to marry my husband, but I also know that it isn’t going to be a bed of roses everyday after that, but that doesn’t mean, despite the ups and downs, that a marriage can’t end up being all one had hoped for. The Jackson’s embody that perfectly.

Once Upon a Time…

The local Dairy Queen, where all small town love stories start! It’s true in this case anyway. Their relationship began in 1976 when Alan threw a penny at his future wife during a group hangout one night, which ultimately led to him following her home. (Kind of creepy if you asked me, but if she liked it, I love it!)

After finally working up the nerve to ask her to marry him, the high school sweethearts were wed on December 15, 1979. Three daughters and a country music career followed shortly after. It’s true, the saying, “Behind every successful man is a woman.” It was Denise who jump started Alan’s profession by approaching country star Glen Campbell while working as a flight attendant and told him about her husband, who was looking to become a country singer. Campbell eventually helped Alan get a record deal with Arista Records.

For the love of Fame!

As Jackson began to rise in the country music realm as a crowd favorite, his home life popularity was plummeting to dangerous altitudes. The couple eventually split in February 1998, upon Denise learning of an affair that Alan engaged in during their marriage. The 49-year-old Grammy Winner was quoted saying, “We were just kids when we started out. We didn’t ever have the chance to fall in love as adults and to learn who you are before making a commitment. I think we lost some of that original feeling. I did anyway.” Even though stepping out on your wife isn’t commendable, I do admire his transparency and honesty with his fans. It just goes to show that no one is perfect, not even the celebrities we hold to high esteem. And in true Alan Jackson form, he recorded a song named “I wish I could back up,” that showed his regret and remorse for his actions.

BUT GOD…

After just four months of separation the two decided to work through their issues and rekindle their romance. Denise credits a lot of their success to her deep-rooted faith, as she worked through the forgiveness process with her husband, stating, “God took our mess and made something wonderful out of it. It took us going through that to finally have the kind of relationship we both always wanted.” The couple renewed their vows on their 20th wedding anniversary, and continues to keep one another at the top of their priority list. This year they will be celebrating 37 years of marriage.

#MarriageGoals

I admire this couple so much, because they just show that one truly can have it all: fame, faith, and family. It may not always be honeymoons and sunny days, but marriage is a wonderful experience that requires work and time. Despite the ups and downs of life if two people truly love one another and are committed to the vows you take, you can actually have the love and marriage that so many country songs portray. So, yes even though there were trying times, please give me a marriage like Alan and Denise.

“Remember When” is, in my opinion, Alan’s ultimate love song to his wife as he looks back on his life with her. He describes their love from their first time together, through raising their children, and describes how they will “remember when” as they continue to grow old together. My heart literally melts when they slow dance in the video and he sings directly to her in that moment. You’ve can’t help but to fall in love with them as a couple!

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by | February 13, 2016 · 7:52 pm

My First Rodeo

998x484-crop-singapore5 years ago, I would have never ever thought about going to Auburn, Alabama for a rodeo. I’m from a small city in SouthEast Asia called Singapore. Singapore is the most expensive city to live in followed by Paris, according to BBC News. We have a population upwards of 5 million, and it takes about 20-25 minutes (without traffic) to drive from one side of the island to the other. As you can see, Singapore is one of the most densely populated countries in the world.

17290545Singapore has a very diverse culture. It holds the one of, if not, the biggest beach party in the world called “Zouk Out“. Every year, famous artists such as Afrojack, Alesso, and Avicii etc. will come and perform, along with others. It’s kinda like ACL except it focuses more on house and EDM, whereas ACL hosts a larger variety of artists.

As you can already tell, I haven’t mentioned the words “country music” a single time. Well, if you’ve jumped to the conclusion that country music and Joseph Schooling can never be found in the same sentence, you’re right! I used to despise country music. I always thought it sounded awkward, and it seemed like every country song I heard either told a tale about God or stereotyped cowboys.

22612__mg_4644fHaving said that, I moved to the U.S. in the summer of 2009 and slowly started to hear a hint of country creep into my life. Fast forward to the Spring of 2015… right after NCAA’s, a group of guys (Kip Darmody, Will Glass, and John Murray) and myself decided to drive 13 hours to Auburn, Alabama to the Alpha Psi Rodeo, where the guest singer was none other than Brad Paisley. I was kinda reluctant to drive all that way to a rodeo, but I thought, “hey 4 close friends on a long ass road trip to the deep south. this could be a story to tell in the future!”

So we journeyed 13 hours on Friday after class, drove 10 hours to Mobile, AL and crashed in Will’s place for the night, and continued on to Auburn the following day. We got to the venue at around 9am, set up a tailgate, and started pounding beers. To be honest, I didn’t get my hopes up too much before the trip. I didn’t think a city boy like myself could handle being at a rodeo with people roaming around in cut out shirts, boots, and jorts. To my surprise, I had a blast! I mean, I’m sure all the beers and bloody marys definitely helped get through the day, but seeing a live Brad Paisley concert wasn’t all that bad. We got to meet a ton of new people, and I started to appreciate country music in a way I’d never thought could be done for myself. I’m almost glad Kip convinced me to go on that trip with them. It gave me a broader outlook on life, and it taught me not to be so naive. So for that, thank you, Kip!

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Filed under Blog Post 2, Concert, Live Music, Rodeo

by | · 7:00 am

A Day at the Fair

One summer day back in 2005, my family and I decided to go to the Alameda County Fair in Alameda, California. I knew that it would be a day filled with lots of fun, sun, rides, and memories. Little did I know, my memories and music taste were about to change for the better.

After around 6 hours of walking around the fair, my 10 year old self could no longer keep up. The day had been spent making the most of the unlimited ride wristband, going to the petting zoo, and eating the different fair snacks. Since both my 5 year old brother and I were exhausted, we decided to sit down at the bleachers in front of a small stage, to recharge before making the most of our last few hours at the fair. My parents, brother, and I were the only ones at the bleachers, accidentally making us the audience for the performer that was soon about to come out.

miko2The lights started to shine towards the middle of the stage. I heard the guitar strumming and all of a sudden a girl with dark skin and dark curly locks came out with a bright smile. “Hello, my name is Miko Marks, I hope you guys are ready for some country music!”

Miko Marks explained that she was originally from Mississippi (later moved to San Francisco) and that she would be playing the music off of her first album  “Freeway Bound” that had been recently released.

At first, to be completely honest, I was bored because I wasn’t used to hearing ballads and country music. I listened respectfully, and although I didn’t know the music, somehow I had been captivated. After performing a few songs off her album, she proceeded to sing a song called “Mama”, which was the song that changed everything for me. I had never heard of her or her music, but she had an inviting aura around her and her chorus was catchy.

For the rest of the show, I had a smile on my face and nodded my head to the music. I questioned why other people weren’t stopping to listen to her music, she was so good! Some people would stop and listen for a song, and then proceed to enjoy the fair. All I knew was that I was glad my brother and I had been really tired because it led us to enjoy her music.

After the show, she came up to us. I felt like the star, but it should have been the other way around! She told us we were the cutest little things. We took a picture with her and she gave me her guitar pick. She had albums and merchandise for sale, and since she had been so kind to us, I think we might have felt obligated to pick up her cd, but at the same time we had enjoyed her music, so we ended up buying one.

From that moment on, I would carry my Miko Marks cd everywhere I went and soon started to venture out to other country music. My mom started sharing her love of Kenny Rogers and my dad his love of Johnny Cash, and I started finding other artists that I liked. If it wasn’t for the warm Miko Marks’ encounter and her song “Mama”, I would not have found my appreciation for country music.

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by | February 12, 2016 · 7:00 am

The Texas Groover

Doug Sahm

“You just can’t live in Texas if you don’t have a lot of soul.”-Doug Sahm

The first time I ever heard the music of Doug Sahm it was on a box set of one hit wonders of 60’s garage rock. It featured a hit from his band, The Sir Douglas Quintet. I would only find out years later that the genre busting career of Sir Doug could not be described in the allotted 2:25 seconds given to him on that box set.

Doug Sahm meeting Hank Williams at age 11

Doug Sahm (1941-1999) was a multi-instrumentalist/recording artist from San Antonio. He was drawn to music at a young age and quickly became a steel guitar prodigy.

On December 19, 1952, at eleven years old, he played on stage with Hank Williams Sr. at the Skyline Club in Austin in what would be Hank’s last show before his death two weeks later.

Next, the Grand Ole Opry offered Doug Sahm a spot, but his mother refused to let him go, wanting him to finish school instead. Doug continued to play clubs in Texas and in 1965, started his first successful band, The Sir Douglas Quintet. This mostly rock band came up with their name in an attempt to capitalize on the British Invasion despite their thick Texan accents and the fact that two of them were Hispanic. Their top hit, “She’s About a Mover” reached the U.S. Top 20.

Doug Sahm went solo in 1972 and released his first album Doug Sahm & Band in 1973, featuring many members of the Sir Douglas Quintet along with Bob Dylan, Dr. John, and the accordion playing Flaco Jimenez, “the father of Conjunto music”. In the 70’s and 80’s, Sahm went on several tours of the U.S. and Europe, gaining a significant following in Scandinavia.

He started the Tex-Mex super group, The Texas Tornados in 1989 with Augie Meyers, Freddy Fender, and Flaco Jimenez. Their music mostly featured the country music of Texas and Northern Mexico. They won a Grammy for their first album Texas Tornados which hit #25 on the U.S. Country album charts.

Throughout his career, Doug Sahm also played on other people’s work, most notably appearing on Grateful Dead, Willie Nelson, and Townes Van Zandt albums.

On November 18, 1999, Doug Sahm died of a heart attack in New Mexico. Although this was a heavy loss, his band mates eventually reformed the Texas Tornados adding Doug’s son, Shawn as a member.

sahm-big-red-lonestar1The thing that draws me to Doug Sahm is his ability to create music that is in my point of view authentic while still being able to cross over genres consistently. He started out playing country as a kid and later adopted rhythm & blues, rock, and Tex-Mex eventually blending them all in his work. He said himself, “I’m a part of Willie Nelson’s world and at the same time I’m a part of the Grateful Dead’s.”

I personally discovered each of these phases separately. I heard the tejano rock of “She’s About a Mover” in middle school when I still mostly listened to rock music. I remember starting to listen to his more country oriented solo work when my friends and I were moving into our apartments in college. After a long day of moving in the August heat, we all collapsed on a couch and listened to Doug Sahm & Band. The next summer, at the end of a road trip to North Carolina one of my friends blasted a Texas Tornados album from the car outside of a run down carwash in Durham. We were exhausted from days of driving but as the last notes of “Una Mas Cerveza” wafted through the air we were reminded that it was time to head back home to Texas.

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Filed under Country Rock, Texas

by | February 11, 2016 · 7:00 am

Texas Longhorn- Django Walker

The song Texas Longhorn by Django Walker was a song that really hit home with me during my junior year of high school. Django is an Austin, TX native and grew up a Longhorn fan his whole life. His inspiration to do this song came from his friend Patrick Davis, who is a South Carolina Gamecocks fan and made a song about his South Carolina Gamecocks. The success of the Texas football team around the time that he made the song really helped as this is some of the best football Texas had had in years. A lot of people are going to remember Vince Young and Colt McCoy as they both were able to lead Texas to National Championship appearances. It also doesn’t hurt that not too long before that in 1998 Ricky Williams, who Django mentioned was one of his favorite players, had won the Heisman Memorial Trophy.

At this point of my high school career when I heard the song for the first time, I didn’t think the University of Texas would be an option academically for me. Even with the burnt orange but I was born with, this song was really the point when I decided that I wanted to go to University of Texas. After listening to the song is when I finally realized how much I truly loved UT and wanted to go there. There are many points in the song that resonated with me that happened in my family regarding the Longhorns. It starts off by talking about how the Longhorns archer the only team that you before the fall. Growing up, my mom’s entire side of the family was longhorns and I really never knew of another team to root for. He then continues to go on about the traditions of Texas football, Bevo and Smokey the Cannon. One of the main parts that really stuck with me was when he talked about being chosen to be born a Texas Longhorn. The song also does a great job of recounting events that happened during my generation’s youth as Texas Football fans. This is definitely a song that any Texas fan should listen to and this is a song I always listening to whenever I need me a little pick me up to remind me where I’m going to school at and why.

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