People get really passionate about music. They form emotional connections to lyrics and instruments, to the point where it feels like the music is a part of you. It’s personal. And like all things that we hold near and dear to our hearts, we will defend it like hell if someone so much as hints toward not liking it. We see music as an extension of ourselves: the lyrics to our favorite songs usually echo the thoughts we have that we’re too afraid to reveal. So it’s really no wonder why people feel so strongly about it.
But when music is broken down into different genres, it’s hard to find something that we all agree on. Everyone has a favorite, one they’d listen to a million times and not get sick of. On the flip side, there are some styles that people wouldn’t listen to, even if they had no other choice. And then there are some that you spend your entire life listening to, and one day you see it in a completely new light. Nothing is ever the same after that.
For me, that happened with country music.
I grew up listening to it all the time. It was the music that my mom and dad would play whenever we got in the car to drive somewhere. Sunday mornings were spent sitting in the living room with my family, watching the country music video countdown. And even though my singing voice was never the best, I would always sing along with a smile on my face.
Those days became rarer as I got older. Eventually, the only time I would hear country music was in the presence of my dad. Once in a while, I would sit by myself and listen to Carrie Underwood or Rascal Flatts on my iPod. Any other artists, though, I was indifferent toward. I hadn’t heard anything that blew my mind and really made me fall in love with country music. And I didn’t think I would.
Of course, when you’re least expecting something to happen, it pops up out of nowhere and turns your life upside down.
After a friend had played some country music one night when we were hanging out, it was like a switch had flipped. The notes and lyrics that I didn’t care for too much suddenly became the best thing I ever heard. For months, I would barely listen to anything else. I’ve slowly started branching back out into other genres of music, but I’m still convinced that country is the best of them all.
There’s something poetic about country music that’s hard to find in other genres. Everything’s disguised as a metaphor. Instead of coming right out and saying something, everything is hidden between beautifully written phrases. It’s like a riddle that needs to be solved: the lyrics don’t always make sense at first, but when you get the meaning behind it, it feels like something special every time you listen to it.
Country music tells a story. Yes, stories can be found in every single genre of music, but never is it more prominent than in the lyrics of a country song. Country singers tell a wide variety of stories in their songs. From the story of a love that’s been over but doesn’t feel over to a woman conspiring with her husband’s mistress to kill him, the stories are simple, complex, wild, sweet, sad, joyful- human. And the emotions cut right through to the listener because country music is so pure.
Not pure in content. It can be just as seductive as other genres. It’s pure because it’s just the singer and the background instruments. There’s nothing fancy that’s competing for your attention. You can just focus on the blend of the voice and the instruments and the story they’re choosing to tell in that moment. It’s like magic.
And that is why no other style of music can claim my heart the way country has.
