The Country Music Theory

So you treat your love like a firefly, like it only gets to shine for a little while.
Catch it in a mason jar with holes in the top and run like hell to show it off...

Apparently I'm a words person. You can play a song with the most distinctive drum beat or melody line and until they start singing, I will likely not know what the name of the song is. Every now and again I can catch a certain artist's musical style, but mostly, without the lyrics, I'm lost.

I think this is why country music still captivates me--an especially poignant song will send me back. I caught fireflies in a mason jar, had watermelon seed spitting contests, sat in the tailgate of a boy's truck down by the river and went to every high school football game. Country music is like sweet tea or biscuits and gravy...it brings you home.

There's an especially kitchy song that came out a couple of years ago by Trace Adkins called "Songs About Me." As music goes, it's fairly standard, and since it had little to do with love, requited or otherwise, I always fell for me into the category of "change the radio station." Then a few weeks ago, while driving home one night, pondering the particulars of my music interest, the chorus unwittingly came to mind (here typed, for those of you not interested in braving the YouTube video linked above):

Cause it's songs about me
and who I am
songs about loving and living
and good hearted women and family and God
yeah they're all just
songs about me

Which really sums it up. Country music is songs about everyday America. For your home-grown types, the message rings much clearer than aspirations of "bling" or being "bootylicious" and fears of people "tryin to catch me ridin dirty." So even if I were to submit that Country tends to hit slightly below par when it comes to musicality, I'll remain a die hard fan because the songs tell the stories of my youth.

So, given the roots of my roots, it's no wonder I branched into musical softies like Joshua Radin or Damien Rice, why I'm fascinated with the lyrical wiles of Sara Bareilles or Jason Mraz (whose new cd is, by the way, amazing). It's the words they say, set to sound, that capture my attention. I cannot recall how many times a particular line or phrase in a song put a whole wealth of my feelings into words. It's the poetry I wish I could write, sung as I wish I could sing. Into certain cd's of mine are burned different eras of my life, and though the music may not relate to where I am now, I can listen, remember, and smile.