Category Archives: Blog Post 1

I grew up listening to alternative rock music; I received my first iPod when I was eight, fully loaded with my dad’s favorite tunes. While my friends were listening to Britney Spears and the Backstreet Boys, I was listening to Greenday and the Killers. I’m not going to lie, it made me feel like a badass (hence the pretentiousness I held myself with regarding music).

It is interesting that this is the way my family ended up because my mother’s parents are from rural Mississippi and my dad is from Kilgore in east Texas, a.k.a two breeding grounds for country-lovers. Don’t ask me how it came about that both my parents despise country music because I don’t know and I don’t think I ever will. What did they like? It’s very difficult to pin down one genre, but if I had to guess, it would be alternative rock, or what my dad would call “the antithesis of country music.” Yep, you guessed it; among the rather long list of genres my family hates is country.

Reads: “Unless you’re God or George Strait, take off your boots!”

I was introduced to country music in the ninth grade by two of my first high school friends, twins, Mason and Shelby. Their momma and daddy (their words not mine) were born ‘n’ raised country and it apparently trickled down to them. The first song was hard to swallow… I’m fairly certain it was George Strait. I wasn’t allowed to say anything negative about the King in front of Mr. and Mrs. Conine, so for four years I sucked it up whenever I was with them and listened to all kinds of country music. And… I began to like it, much to my surprise (/dismay).

You know who else was surprised? My parents. Actually, horrified is a better word. They could not believe that I had used their money to buy “that crap.” I distinctly remember my dad singing his best idea of what a country song’s lyrics sound like, something along the lines of “I married my cousin, we honeymooned in mah pickup truck…” It goes without saying that I never mentioned it again.

Since then, they’ve warmed up a little more to the idea of me listening to country, but every now and again I will play something slightly more hardcore and they will lose their crap; it’s become somewhat of a game for me. They’ll never understand how much it has helped me fit into other communities, like the summer camp at which I’ve grown up in East Texas, or my friends who go to A&M and two-step every weekend.

I remember I was working up at a camp in Colorado (based in Texas) a few summers ago, right at the peak of my interest in country music. Apparently, I had a lot to learn. Every Tuesday and Thursday nights, we would throw a barn dance for the families and kids at camp that week. We would two-step the night away, meanwhile I was taking mental notes from the dope playlist of songs to buy on iTunes.

Me before my affair with country music

By the end of the summer, I had an arsenal of songs that I could whip out in the car back home when someone handed me the aux cord, because maybe, just maybe, with this new repertoire of mine, my friends might actually take a chance on handing me the aux cord (I was previously banned from it due to my tendency to play “depressing” songs). So, even though I have “betrayed” my own flesh and blood, I have no regrets. Rock on, country-lovers. And Yee-haw.

I grew up hating country, until I met her. Well, I had danced on a country-western dance team in high school (all the cool kids did it, I promise), but never became vested in country music. I got to college, went to tailgates, and heard that nasal twang that is ubiquitously known as country. When I started dating her, she slowly eased me into the phenomenon, by starting with Zac Brown Band’s newest album “Jekyll and Hyde” (which I fell in love with). Throughout the relationship I was introduced to the likes of Glen Campbell, Alan Jackson, Luke Bryan, and mostly all other artists that are well known from Kenny Chesney to Sam Hunt.

As a musician myself, I listen to the lyrics attentively, and figured out that lot of the songs were about heartbreak. Well, that is the community that I have implemented country music into. Being broken up with, that’s a community right? No matter how long ago it may have been, almost everyone has been through a break up, unless you’re still in that relationship with your high school sweetheart. Breaking up with someone is different than being broken up with, and I know I couldn’t have done it unless there was some huge fight. Mostly, I don’t think I could ever gather enough testosterone to break it off with the person whose hand I will never hold again. Luckily (well not really), she broke up with me, and even luckier, I had learned about country music and knew that most of those songs could make the pain a bit easier.

People get broken up with, and one person is always left needing answers. I gained most if not all of my answers from country music, and I imagine that others do too. Artists don’t write songs about getting over a loved one or seeing the brighter side of life just to make money. They do it to gain a following of people who go through what they’ve been through. Whether it’s T-Swift singing about never getting back together with that boy, or Alan Jackson singing about the day the “world stopped turning” in September, people clutch onto country music for guidance. I’d think that most people who go through break ups like to listen to sad songs like Whisky Lullaby or Colder Weather, or redemption songs like Save It For a Rainy Day or Never Alone. A break up takes a toll on you, and the navigation granted by country music has a myriad of songs physically and literally meant for the listeners to relate and find serenity through. Country music can lift you up if you’re feeling down, and get you into a mood where you realize to get over someone, or it can help comfort you with the lyrical arrangement meant to let you know that other people have been in your shoes, and are either better because of it, or dug themselves out of that whole. Of course other genres of music are meant to do the same, but if you have ever liked country music, no other genre stands a chance at the perfect remedy for a break up.

Born in Orange County and raised in Temecula, California, my perspective of country music is different from many of those in Texas. For about 18 years of life, I’ve lived on a family vineyard in Southern California Wine Country. Even though we live on dirt in the middle of horse country, my parents mostly listened to the calm melodies of Jazz music while my younger sister and I listened to whatever was on the Top 100. Country music was never a go to choice for music in our household. That quickly changed at the age of 14 when I entered high school and discovered Kenny Chesney’s “Shiftwork” and Gretchen Wilson’s “Redneck Woman.” After that I never turned back and became an avid country music fan in all areas of my life.

My family and I have attended well over 50 country concerts all over Southern California including many front row experiences in the pit for Luke Bryan, Florida Georgia Line, Jason Aldean, Chase Rice and Dierks Bentley. This is where my community in Southern California differs from that in Texas. Before moving to Austin in January of 2015 I had never heard of Turnpike Troubadours, Randy Rogers, or Pat Green. Now, a year later, I am beginning to listen to Texas Country almost the same amount of time as “Mainstream Country”. I find myself sometimes changing the station from Sirius XM’s “The Highway” to “Country Y2K” or “Prime Country” to get my fix of old school country.

Don’t get me wrong, Luke Bryan is still a favorite of mine as well as that entire style of country music. When I go visit home my friends and I spend our weekends line dancing at The Temecula Stampede. Yes, I said line dancing not two stepping. I once went to Dance Across Texas, formerly known as Midnight Rodeo, here in Austin and was stunned by the difference in dancing style compared to back home. At Dance Across Texas, it was mainly two stepping and when it came to the few line dancing songs the steps were completely different from those that I am used to. It is pretty much the complete opposite at the Stampede in Temecula. We line dance a majority of the time to songs such as “Crank it Up” by Colt Ford or even “God Blessed Texas” by Little Texas with a couple intermissions for two stepping to songs like “House Party” by Sam Hunt or “She’s Like Texas” by Josh Abbot Band.

Simple differences like these above have influenced my view on country music based on growing up in my community in Southern California. Unlike many that hate on the new songs by artists such as Sam Hunt and Florida Georgia Line, I really enjoy their music and watching them perform at concerts. At the same time I also have a love for artists including Garth Brooks, George Strait and Josh Abbott. My interests for all types of country music has lead me to have a very diverse collection of playlists and songs for every geographic community I am apart of.