In Defense of Country Music

I'm the first one to admit that my taste in music wouldn't be what the majority of people would call "cool".

My iPod is littered with the full soundtracks of Phantom of the Opera, Rent, and Wicked, the occasional Backstreet Boys song, more Indigo Girls and chick rock than any straight girl should have, a surprising amount of Prodigy (Voodoo People=amazing) and a Disney playlist that would make a 5-year-old reconsider being my friend. My musical taste is most often defined by the attachment to a memory or a place in time in my life, rather than the musical experience. Ok, and there are a few songs that are there just for the pure hilarity. But that's neither here nor there.

I'm not embarrassed to admit any of that, as much as I probably should be. But what has bothered me for a period of years is the amount that I get shit on for my love for country music.

Shame me for my Andrew Lloyd Weber. Shame me for my N'Sync and Britney Spears. But thou shalt not shame me for my country music.

Herein lies the issue: When most people think of country, they think of the bullshit that gets played on your local country station. No. No no no. In a twist that might catch me some flack, country has indie music snobs, country hipsters if you will. And those country hipsters play some of the best f-ing music I have ever heard in my life.

It's music with soul. With stories and honesty and rolling riffs that pull me through long days of data entry and the mind-numbing monotony of work. It's intelligent and captivating and expertly crafted. To say that Billy Ray Cyrus's "Achy Breaky Heart" is in the same category as this music is a blatant travesty, a complete disregard for the talents that lay hidden beneath the pop country music stations desecration of the art.

So for those of you high on your musical holier-than-thou horses, I have crafted a playlist for the even the most haughty of you. Seek, and destroy. Your prejudices. Because this shit is good.

Robert Earl Keen-"Feelin' good again"
Pat Green "Cannonball"
Reckless Kelly "Mirage"
Randy Rogers Band "In my arms instead"
Reckless Kelly "Wicked Twisted Road"
Robert Earl Keen "Corpus Christi Bay"
Pat Green "I'm trying to find it"
Robert Earl Keen "Gringo Honeymoon"

And if that seems like a tall order and you were thinking, you know, I'll listen to one of these songs, go for "Gringo Honeymoon".

If you listen and dont like it, I'll respect your opinion. But if your hatred comes from a place of KYGO and Carrie Underwood, I would say that you are mis-informed.

And with that, a good night to us all.