Country Music Project

There we were – all six of us high school dudes putting our feet up in The Middle of Nowhere, East Texas, soaking in the starry night sky. Six years of outdoor adventures had forged an unbreakable bond between us fellow Eagle Scouts. We were talking about country music that night, although not favorably. Something about the country songs we heard on the radio just didn’t sit well with us. We didn’t mind the lyrics about trucks, girls, or freedom, of course, but there was still something we just couldn’t stand…and still can’t. The way we heard country stars sing about the natural world, about getting outside and being ‘outdoorsy’ and ‘remote’ is what really irked us (and still does).

Now in order to understand country music’s role in our unique group, you must realize more of what being an Eagle Scout means. When we talk about experiencing nature, we don’t mean fishing for sunfish at the local park’s pond. Experiencing nature conjures up memories of backpacking with 60-lb. packs through the mountains, stargazing from high-elevation valleys mostly untouched by the imprints of a human boot, and portaging our canoes at a rocky outcrop so we could scramble on top to enjoy the last glint of the slowly sinking sun over the pastel-painted horizon.

Me taking in the view from a remote overlook in the backcountry of the Guadalupe Mountains (the backpacking trip I just mentioned).

Here’s how these vivid details bias us against Country music. Well, for instance, let’s reflect on the song “Mud On The Tires” by Brad Paisley. When he talks about muddying up his tires driving to a place “where the dirt road runs out,” the fact that he’s even driving there already disinterests my community a bit, let alone that it’s his impression that that is the “only way to get there,” even though a good moonlit hike is far harder to beat than barreling through the night in a big old, exhaust-emitting representation of nothing but industrial America.

So now you can see how his idea that “his perfect place in mind” seems the farthest thing away from the “middle of nowhere” to a group who has hiked for three days straight and seen no more than 3 other human beings. Or even how about an old hit like Dolly Parton’s “Sweet Summer Lovin’”, with lines like, “by a stream in the country, running barefoot and feeling free.” Sounds to us like she’s a ten-minute walk from the farm-house (at the most). Even Jason Alden’s “Dirt Road Anthem” makes us feel like even though they “hit the dirt road” and “jumped the barb wire” – they still couldn’t be more than a 10-minute drive from some semblance of civilization, you know?

You’re probably thinking, “Really!? You’re basing the whole genre on a few songs!” Well, these act as a microcosm for our perception of the rest of country music (however accurate or innacurate it is). Our outdoorsy community talks about country music as pedantic tunes pandering to listeners who wish they could get a glimpse of some semblance of remote outdoors without actually taking the necessary risks and efforts to do so. I guess it’s just that we’ve heard enough country songs with buzzwords about being alone on dirt roads that just don’t seem genuine to a bunch of bros used to hiking hard-to-find footpaths, leaving even the dirt roads behind. However, songs like “Far From Any Road” from Handsome Family give us hope that others out there have experienced the thrill of the remote wilderness as we have.

It’s safe to say our community avoids country music, for, I’ll admit, an obscure and fairly arrogant reason.

I come from a Texas sized family who for over 7 generations have owned a South Texas cattle raising and farming ranch. I have grown up going down there my whole life for hunting trips, family reunions, rodeos, or just a free weekend to get away. The most obvious thing to do while your driving down a country road with nothing in sight but mesquite trees and brush piles is listen to country music. For that reason alone I clearly associate my favorite place in the world with my favorite kind of music. My dad grew up on the ranch and dreamt only of being a cowboy for the rest of his life (that didn’t stick, he’s an investment manager now…) but either way South Texas is what makes him happy. I love my dad. I love my whole family. We are all very close and we spend a lot of time together down there with country music always playing in the background of our constant conversation. Country music, you could say, bonds my number one community that is my family. From Robert Earl Keen to Jerry Jeff Walker to Big George to ole Willie, we probably know every lyric to every last ‘real’ country song. A 7 hour trip from Fort Worth, where we’re from, to Kingsville, Texas makes for a lot of hours of music and it is always country.

I am the youngest of four kids and I look up to all of them. What they think is cool, I think is cool. If my family listened to techno music, let’s be real, I probably would too. They liked Alan Jackson, so I liked Alan Jackson. They thought Brad Paisley was a tool so I thought Brad Paisley was a tool. Not to say I don’t have my own opinion about country music, I definitely do, but country music has just always been what I’ve listened to from day one. My very first concert, which I will never forget, was with my family and it was Brooks and Dunn. I was 7 years old and have had Neon Moon stuck in my head on repeat ever since. Country music brings back good memories, happy memories, and that is why it will always be my favorite. Country songs never get old. I have listened to My Maria no less than 400 times and it still is the best. What better thing to do with your favorite people than listen to the best kind of music.

By Katerina Biancardi, March 1/27/15

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Come_On_Over_(Shania_Twain_album)

The first CD I have memory of listening to was Shania Twain’s “Come on Over” album at age four. I sang my heart out and danced around to “Man! I feel like a Woman!” and “Honey I’m Home” in my red cowgirl boots. I made the living room my stage, and all my stuff animals, Barbie dolls, and parents were my audience. In my little girl mind I was a country star performer just like Shania Twain.

That Shania Twain CD I was so convinced was “mine” was actually my mother’s. 

My mother is from Gause, Texas. A small town a little over 35 miles northwest outside of College Station, and a population of about 400 people.

Growing up in small Texas town, my mother always told me listening to country music was a normal part of their lives. Eventually, my mother got out of Texas, but carried her deep Texas country roots wherever she went. She found herself with a job as the head women’s soccer coach Boston College. There, she met the assistant men’s basketball coach, Paul Biancardi, a city boy, born and raised (not exactly a country music kind of guy). One can finish the rest of the story; they fell in love and got married, and had me.

Although my dad was not a country music lover, he admired my mother’s deep Texas roots, and once he saw me as a little girl singing to Shania Twain he began to appreciate it. I remember in 2003 when the halftime of Super Bowl XXXVII was about to come on, he called all of us frantically to make sure we saw Shania Twain perform.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b42DlHF2MLM

My immediate family, a community I have belonged to since birth, has influenced and shaped my love for country music. While Shania Twain, The Dixie Chicks, Faith Hill, and the other country music women of the 90s played in my immediate’s family home more often than not, what really helped increase my love for country music was going to my mother’s home town Gause, Texas to visit my extended family.

During this time in Gause, Texas, we would go to rodeos and attend little country music concerts. Additionally, as my cousins became older and chose music as their career path, we’d have our own country jamboree right at my grandfather’s ranch. We would build a small dance floor, string lights around the trees, barbecue and make a bonfire. We’d invite nearby friends, but with at least 25 family members present it was already a party. My cousins played listening to George Straight and Johnny Cash, and we all sung and danced in our cowboy boots. My extended family is a second community that reinforced a positive feeling of country music. The two communities, my immediate family and my extended family, go hand in hand to shaping my love for country music.

If it were not for my mother’s strong Texas roots, I would never have developed a love for country music. As I grew older my immediate family and I moved all around the country. Therefore, I was able to see how various geographical areas have different music tastes. Nevertheless, my mother’s consistent love for country music, and the memories of spending time listening to country music with my extended family made country music always an easy choice to listen to.

Side note: There’s one more person I have to highlight once more. While country music was not my father’s particularly favorite genre, when Shania Twain came back on tour this past year, he purchased tickets for me before I had to ask. As my father does also remember when I was a little girl dancing to Shania Twain in the living room. Attending Twain’s concert certainly made me feel like that little girl again, and reminded me why I first loved country music.