Category Archives: Blog Post 1

One of the most meaningful communities that I identify with is the Christian community. Ever since I was little I have found the God’s word to be a source of refuge, support, and strength throughout my lifetime. When listening to country music, I have found that a good majority of artists have expressed similar feelings about their faith and what it stands for through one song, or many songs throughout their careers. This is one factor that made me take a liking to country music growing up. Some may say that faith in country music can be hypocritical if for example an artist releases a song that praises God, but also cites stories about partying or sinful things. However, it’s my belief that so much music today consists of songs about bad judgment or “sinful” things, and it’s refreshing to hear someone talk about their faith. Also, because Christianity is all about our acknowledgement of not being perfect and needing God, the songs with faith and sin are simply more real and genuine.

Ever since I was little, I have always felt that my faith was something that made up who I am and gave my life a purpose. Whether I was going through a breakup, struggling with family issues, or stressing about school I knew that I would always have someone to look to for help when life got crazy. I always knew that I was nowhere near perfect, and it was comforting to know that someone was always looking out for me and would forgive me no matter what.

When looking at country music from a Christian standpoint, I found myself able to relate to a lot of songs. I didn’t come from a small town, have parties out of a truck bed and sit around fires, but I did enjoy the way that so many country artists stated their faith and what it meant to them, whether it was simply one line of a song or the complete meaning of it Artists like Rascal Flatts, Brad Paisley, and Faith Hill were people that were known to express their love for God through their music. Throughout my teen years I went through many different phases of the genres of music I liked to listen to, and still change it today, but country has always been somewhat of a quiet constant for me because I always respected it due to how so many artists shared my faith. Whether the song stated things like, “God is great, beer is good, and people are crazy,” as Billy Currington does or more devotional things like, “When I get where I’m going and I see my maker’s face I’ll stand forever in the light of his amazing grace,” as Brad Paisley does, I still found myself taking a liking to the song.

One song in particular was one of my favorite ones growing up, called “Jesus Take The Wheel” by Carrie Underwood. The song describes a girl getting into a car wreck, which puts her life into perspective and makes her want to give her life up completely to God. Though this is a situation that not all people can relate to, if you take it metaphorically many Christian listeners can relate to it, as I did. There are events in my life that have caused me to want to strive to be a better person in order to glorify God.

Being a part of the Christian community has most definitely played a role in the type of music that I listen to. I certainly don’t listen to only gospel music, and even listen to what some would say is the complete opposite through rap/ hip- hop, but it is a nice refresher to hear such faith- filled songs in the country genre that I can relate to. In the end, it has made me feel as though country is a more genuine, tell- it- like- it- is genre.

My freshman year at UT felt like one long, endless, horrible day. It was my backup plan to say the least, and a place I ended up due more to my parent’s desires than my own. I actually paid for housing at A&M! (dark days for me)- Austin was not a place I wanted to be; it was a dirty hippie town with too much pop culture for me to handle. I spent my days dreaming of the east coast, of the beach, just wanting to get away. Between the “foreign car drivin’ [frat] dudes”, their “road rage attitudes”, and a pretty nasty oral infection: my freshman year went a LOT like Blake Shelton’s day in “Some Beach”.

[Editor’s note: Shelton’s YouTube account apparently does not allow this video to be embedded in posts published on sites like this one.]

Shockingly, once I left my dorm room and ventured out into the UT atmosphere- aside from just going to class and back- I realized maybe I was being a little close-minded. I joined a spirit organization on campus, the Texas Angels (also very much instigated by my mother, she’s very persuasive), and began to branch out a little more. I found my niche in an otherwise overwhelming city and I have gained several close friends over the past year, I definitely wouldn’t move to the east coast now, even if I had the opportunity.

Everyone told me how incredible Austin was and how much I was going to love UT before I left, but I was way too fixated on a some beach fantasy to even give it a shot. Every time I listen to this song I want to go back in time, grab myself by the shoulders and scream STOP AND SMELL THE ROSES! THE BEACH SUCKS IT’S JUST SAND IN ALL THE WRONG PLACES AND JELLYFISH AND THE OCCASIONAL WARDROBE MALFUNCTION! Blake Shelton was clearly having a rough day, but out of that came a really catchy song with a very happy vibe that makes me think even Shelton knows he’ll feel better tomorrow.

I’m not sure why this song still makes me think of my freshman year of college, maybe because I’d still love to live a life in constant vacation-mode, or because you can’t get take a trip down 35 without getting honked at by some road-rager at least once, but regardless, I turn the radio up every time it comes on. As I’ve grown to love and engage with the beautiful city of Austin, I’ve also grown to realize that Austin is a city where I can truly be myself, I can interact with great and interesting people, I can even drink a margarita and I don’t have to worry about when the last time I applied sunscreen was. ATX is my beach.