This Is Country Music

It ain't hip to sing about tractors, trucks, little towns,
And mama, yeah that might be true.
But this is country music...And we do.
--Brad Paisely

Thirty years ago, I got tired of listening to pop radio. The songs were tired and trite and boring. I started turning the radio dial and I hit on a country radio station and stopped long enough to listen. I don't even remember what the song was but I do remember two things as I listened to the next song and the next and the next... You could sing along to these songs. And they were real.

It wasn't just one longing-for-love song after another (though heaven knows country music has enough of those). They were also songs about family and life and children and fun and hard work and values and patriotism and God and beauty and grit and everyday America. It was real.

So turn it on, turn it up, and sing a long.
This is real; this is your life in a song.
Yeah this is country music.

And I've never left. Some country performers inspire me more than others. Several I've seen in concert...John Denver, Reba McIntire, Highway 101, George Strait, Patty Loveless, Kathy Mattea, Dwight Yokum, Kenny Chesney, Billy Dean, Randy Travis, Luke Bryan, Billy Currington, Tim McGraw, Sugarland. But I love the real things they sing about. So what is "real"?

If you ask people what the "American Dream" is, you'll get a wide variety of answers depending on who you ask. I know people who strive for large homes, lots of belongings, and annual vacations to resort destinations each year. They want to drive nice cars, send their kids to the best colleges, and buy whatever suits their fancy. The problem is...too often, they almost always want whatever is next on the horizon and are never quite satisfied.

If you talk to someone who is new to this country, the American Dream is having the freedom to walk down the street and speak their mind without fear of arrest. Having a place to live, a job, and hope of a public education for their children is the American Dream.

And you get everything in between.

Country Music folks will tell you the American Dream is about the family farm, patriotism, mamas and babies, and a whole host of other things that come with the price of hard work and no guarantee. That, and a little bit of whiskey and horses and Jesus.

At work, someone saw all the NFL memorabilia I have on the back of my office door and they asked if I was a season ticket holder. I told her no, that if I had that kind of money, I would be donating it to charity, not spending it on things like NFL tickets. That took her off-guard. Not that you can't reward yourself once in a while, but an extravagant lifestyle shouldn't be an end, in and of itself. If it is, it's time to come down to earth and get real. It's important to define your values and keep them forefront. Then life doesn't just happen to you, you live it intentionally.

That's what Country Music speaks to: values and the realities of the day to day. And it's why it sparks so many memories, thoughts, and ideas every time I listen to it. How could it not inspire me to write?

So turn it on, turn it up, and sing a long.
This is real; this is your life in a song.
Just like a road that takes you home.
Yeah this is right where you belong.
This is country music.