{"id":7107,"date":"2016-02-20T07:00:36","date_gmt":"2016-02-20T13:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/countrymusic\/?p=7107"},"modified":"2016-02-15T13:22:59","modified_gmt":"2016-02-15T19:22:59","slug":"wasnt-raised-with-it-but-wish-i-had-been","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/countrymusic\/2016\/02\/20\/wasnt-raised-with-it-but-wish-i-had-been\/","title":{"rendered":"Wasn’t Raised With It, but Wish I Had Been"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"1401x788-GettyImages-476930506\"<\/a><\/span>\u201cIt\u2019s only $25, and I guess I don\u2019t have anything else planned that weekend\u201d, I thought to my fifteen year old self when a friend of mine insisted that I go to a concert with her. I had never listened to much country music, but it was the middle of July and I figured it could be a fun way to spend my night.<\/span><\/p>\n

I went online and bought the ticket, and a few weeks later we were on our way to the Sleep Country Amphitheater<\/a> in Ridgefield, Washington, listening to\u00a0“Country Girl” by Luke Bryan<\/a> on repeat. I had no idea who Luke Bryan was, and the name Tim McGraw was only vaguely familiar. Little did I know, I was on my way to see two of the biggest names in country music. We walked into the amphitheater in our jean shorts and flannels, trying to fit in with the \u2018country\u2019 crowd, found a spot on the lawn to lay down our blankets and took our seats. Soon enough, everyone was on their feet singing and dancing along to each and every song throughout the night.<\/span><\/p>\n

This was my first real exposure to the world of country music, and I never looked back. I started listening to Luke Bryan religiously, and found myself switching to the country radio stations in the car on my way to school. I had a couple of friends who would listen along with me, but more often than not, I was quickly shut down and someone else would switch back to the Top 40 or plug in their aux cord \u2013 anything to get away from the country they so clearly couldn\u2019t stand to listen to. It wasn\u2019t until my freshman year of college that I really learned what country music was.<\/span><\/p>\n

I had spent the past few years listening to whatever I found on the radio, but I had never heard of Pat Green<\/a> or Bart Crow Band. I remember it perfectly, standing in a crowd surrounded by my new college friends, wondering why I was waiting around on this hot day for someone I\u2019d never heard of to come out and play (Pat Green). Even when he did come on stage and start playing, I thought he was great but didn\u2019t know a single word to a single song. I had no idea how all of my friends from Texas knew every word and got more excited with every song he played.<\/span><\/p>\n

The first true country song that I really loved was “Wear My Ring” by Bart Crow Band<\/a>, but even then I wasn\u2019t fully aware that I was listening to Texas country. Wear My Ring was just the song I\u2019d learned from listening to it over and over again during football season on game days, and had eventually learned the words and started to sing along. Now, I go back home to Portland, Oregon over breaks and play\u00a0<\/span>real<\/span><\/em>\u00a0<\/span>country for my family and for those friends who originally showed me the genre.<\/span><\/p>\n

My mom is from Sweden originally and doesn\u2019t have much interest in country music, but my dad was raised in Lubbock<\/a>, and is unbelievably proud of being a Texan. He went to UT for undergrad and for law school, and couldn\u2019t contain himself when I made the decision to come here myself. He can\u2019t stop smiling when he comes to visit, and even in my third year here he still loves to take me around campus and around town to show me his favorite college hang outs \u2013 sometimes he\u2019ll even bring his boots and take me two stepping. Although I didn\u2019t grow up around country music and the idea of boys wearing cowboy boots and white wash jeans every day seemed like something from another universe, UT has absolutely shown me a new culture and what real country is, and I\u2019ve learned to love it all.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cIt\u2019s only $25, and I guess I don\u2019t have anything else planned that weekend\u201d, I thought to my fifteen year old self when a friend of mine insisted that I go to a concert with her. I had never listened … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":120,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[97,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7107","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog-post-2","category-texas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/countrymusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7107","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/countrymusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/countrymusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/countrymusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/120"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/countrymusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7107"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/countrymusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7107\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7160,"href":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/countrymusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7107\/revisions\/7160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/countrymusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/countrymusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/countrymusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}