Why is country music becoming a genre of music to hate? I mean almost everyone I talk to seems to just hate country music. In fact, hate it even more than they hate pop music. First of all, I realize that I am talking about a small population here, but again, this is a population of college students from Central Illinois, where there is a very diverse population.
I personally have nothing against Country music. I love Willie Nelson, and when I am driving around on long trips, I admit that I switch on the country radio station. I think the reason why there is such a dislike towards country music, is because a lot of people dont know a lot about it. The first thing they think about when someone mentions country music is a singer in tall boots with shiny spurs and a big hat with a background of an old man, sitting on his porch, chewing on a straw, while swaying back and forth on a rocking chair with an old, lazy dog beside him. I mean if you step out of the United States, names like Kenny Chesney, Tim McGraw and Dolly Parton are strange. In fact, last year, when I was at the London airport, waiting for another flight, I found only 4-5 country music albums at the music store. And two of them were from the 60s.
Now, as some of the visitors to this site might know, I grew up in another country, and moved to the U.S around 3-4 years ago. Now before then, the only country singer I knew of was Celine Dion, and that was because she was on the Titanic soundtrack (ok, this is a joke, Celine Dion is not a country singer). So when I moved here, I met this one friend, who was just crazy about country music, and to help me with my disability towards country music, she, along with some friends, decided to play some country music for me.
So there we were, lunch time in high school, six of us crammed into a friends car, she popped in a mix cd of country music, and the first song that played was “She thinks my tractors sexy” by Kenny Chesney. Now, I dont know about you, but when the first real country song you hear has the words “sexy” and “tractor” in the same sentence, that surprises you. But eventually I did learn to listen to others like Tim McGraw, Dolly Parton, Reba McIntyre, Alan Jackson and so on.
Also, just browsing through the names of country music singles, brings a smile to my face. For example, “I Play Chicken With The Train” by Cowboy Troy. Makes you curious doenst it? Or how about “My Give A Damn’‘s Busted” by Jo Dee Messina?
Both of those songs are pretty good by the way. And “I Play Chicken With The Train” actually has a rapper on it. That’‘s another topic. Nelly recently made a single called “Over and Over” with Tim McGraw thats a sensational hit. So there is this movement where country singers and rappers are collaborating. Country Rap, interesting.
I think country music is highly entertaining. Nothing else can make you jump up and clap your feet to the floor, as much as country music can. Anyway, if you are running out of music to listen to, pop in a country album. Its not that bad, I promise.