36. Country Western Music

Wow, it seems so long since I wrote my last post about Beyonce and Jay-Z. Well, I'm now going to write about a different favorite genre of music: country western.

(Haters, please be quiet. Just give it a chance!)

With the exception of my obsession with the Dixie Chicks that began when I was probably about 11 years old, I was never big into this type of music. When this precisely changed, I can't be sure, but I do remember thinking that Carrie Underwood's 'Before He Cheats' was pretty awesome when it first came out. Who knew that there was a whole world of country music waiting for me to listen to it??

And I also have to thank my friends Lauren and Molly, for making me listen to country music on the ride up to Gulf Shores later that summer. Seriously, if you want to become acclimated to it, try being stuck in a car and listening to 'Billy's Got His Beer Goggles On'. You'll come around, all right.

Soon WNOE became a preset in my car. I was watching CMT as much as possible and loving it.* I was hooked.

Why do I love country? Good question!

- It sounds good. Duh.

- It's somewhat wholesome! (I find). Not that I'm super into wholesome stuff or anything, but it's nice to know I'm listening to music about the little things in life and just having a good time. (Although when I mention this somewhat always brings up Carrie Underwood and I'm like yeah yeah but it's one song!)

- Ok, so maybe not so much anymore what with the mainstream of Taylor Swift and all that (not that I mind in the least!), but I feel like country used to be somewhat of an underground thing. Or just a southern thing I'm not really sure. But basically, yes, Britney Spears' and Mariah Carey's antics were all over the place but I feel like not everyone knew what Keith Urban was up to (OK maybe that's not a good example since he's married to Nicole Kidman and all, but you know what I mean). It was kind of cool liking a type of music where the music came first before the celebrity. **

Anyway, whenever anyone asks me who my favorite country artists are, I'm always kind of stumped though. Besides Sugarland (ahhh best ever) and Taylor Swift (who I'm not sure really counts since who doesn't love her??) I can't really think of who I love. I guess because I only know two or three songs by each one. I do rather like what I've heard from Dierks Bentley, and I'm kind of obsessed with Justin Moore's 'Small Town USA', despite the fact that I think I would hate living in a small town. But I digress.

And it's so true: Ladies love country boys.


*Can we please discuss how I return home from London (like the antithesis of country music) and the local cable provider got rid of CMT?? FML.
**I know this paragraph makes little to no sense. Stream of conciousness? Yes!