This Is Country Music

So let's talk about Brad Paisley and his new song, "This Is Country Music".  This song is everything I tried to explain in my first post about all the reasons why I love country music. The lyrics explain almost exactly what country music is. It's real life that everyone can relate to, with no fear of not being "cool" to others.

I haven't spoken about Brad Paisley in this blog, but I love him. His lyrics are always so funny, or sweet, or just easy to relate to. His songs are catchy and he's a great performer. I hope that at some point I get lucky enough to see him in concert, because he's amazing.

After performing this song at the  2010 CMA's (Country Music Awards) and winning the award for Entertainer of the Year, Brad Paisley wrote on his website:  
"As I stood on the stage at the CMA's last week clutching a glass trophy and fighting back tears, it occurred to me why I am so proud to do this for a living. See, country music is unique. It is brave. It is not afraid to deal head on with subjects like disease, death, religion, drinking, family, or anything else that qualifies as life. It isn't above its fans. It is about them. It is the soundtrack to my life, and probably yours. As its recording artists, we are given the dog-tags from family members of fans who die in battle for our country. We are there in song at the most impactful moments of our fans' lives. We are loved unconditionally, and we are given loyalty beyond what we deserve. This is country music. - Brad" 

I think that Brad Paisley did a better job than I could ever imagine doing myself at summing up why country music is so special and why I love it so much. It's amazing, and this song is one of the examples of how amazing it is.

Hello World

I know I've been gone for a while. It's been a hectic few weeks with the semester coming to an end and working almost every day. But I'm back and there's a song out on the radio right now that I've been meaning to talk about. "Hello World" is the newest single out by Lady Antebellum at the moment and I love it. My friend is absolutely in love with it and she says she'll never get over how good it is.

First of all, check out the music video Here

(Warning: You're probably going to cry) 

You know when you hear a song and it just sticks out and gives you goosebumps like a lot of other songs just can't do? That's what this song is like. There's not a single time I hear it that I don't get chills. Something about it... the music in the background, Charles and Hilary's voices, the meaning behind it, everything just makes this song amazing.

It's about when you're lost in life and realizing that life is worth living...and I love it.

Well that's pretty much it for this post. Kind of short but I just wanted to feature thing song and video so that everyone who doesn't know about it can listen for themselves.

By the way,  
Happy Thanksgiving!!! (tomorrow)

Speak Now

The new Taylor Swift CD, Speak Now, is out and I finally got my hands on a copy! I haven't talked about Taylor Swift much in my blog, I've noticed, but can I just say that I love her music? See, I know that Taylor Swift may not have the most amazing voice out there, but I don't believe that's the reason why she's so famous. She's a great role model for kids, she's an exceptional song writer, a great performer, and I mean, her voice isn't bad either. The main reason why I love her though is her lyrics. Every song she sings is about something that everyone in the world can relate to at some point in their lives. And! Every song is based on her life experiences. I've read multiple times that her songs are basically her diary entries. This fact alone makes her songs so much more enjoyable for me because it makes each song so much more personal. She really truly believes and has experienced everything she is singing about. Which, I guess, causes her fans to be mostly girls instead of boys. Another reason why I like her though is because she's not afraid to be herself. She's not afraid to sing a song about a guy who broke her heart, even if that could cause other guys to be intimidated by her. I love it.


Now, I would gladly go through my favorite songs on this album, but I honestly don't think I can pick them. I love every song for a different reason and that's a lot of songs... Basically, I think everyone should just go out and get their hands on their own copy and pick their own favorites, cause I can guarantee everyone will find one they like.

Well, that's it for this post. Just wanted to explain my love for this album a little bit and encourage everyone else to listen to it a THOUSAND times like I plan on doing :)

The Incredible Machine

It's arrived! 

The new Sugarland CD came out last week and I had some mixed feelings about it. After listening to it for a week, however, I've come to love it. Let me explain a little more...

I got the CD in the mail and immediately listened to it. Maybe it was the radio I was using, but it didn't sound too great. The speakers were so off and Jennifer Nettles' voice was a whisper compared to the band and the background singers. This was disappointing, especially because I thought I had to have gotten a messed up CD or something. Let's just say, I wasn't happy. I decided to try it again in my laptop and the difference was incredible. It definitely was the radio I was using before, because this time her voice was completely normal and I could actually understand the lyrics. However, I still wasn't all that impressed with their new album, which was extremely disappointing for me. After all,  I had been looking forward to this for months! I chalked it up to the fact that I was listening to it late at night when all I really wanted to do was go to bed. I'd try again the next day.

Listening to it in my car on the way to school the next day made the difference. Now, this was the third time listening to the album, but it was the first time I really got to pay attention to what I was listening to. The thing with Sugarland is this... They are one of my favorite artists -- probably number 2 on my list. Actually, maybe they're tied with Rascal Flatts if you'd believe that. However, most of their songs have never really jumped out at me from the moment I heard them. You know how some songs just catch your attention and become your favorites? Well, Sugarland is the opposite for me. I didn't really start out loving their songs as much as I do now. I learned to love them and appreciate them more with each time I listened. Every time I listen to a Sugarland song I get more out of it than the last time. It's kind of like dating someone you've been friends with for years, ya know? You don't immediately realize the potential of the relationship until it grows into something more after time. Maybe this is an odd way at looking at music, but it's true nonetheless. Don't get me wrong, I've always liked Sugarland's music, I just never really knew how much until I started listening more. The same went for this CD.

The first thing I noticed was that the style of the songs didn't really sound like the Sugarland I know and love. They weren't bad...just different. I must say, it took some getting used to. The usual funny, upbeat songs I'd expect to hear from a Sugarland CD were not what I was listening to. I didn't give up hope though, because the songs were still good, just different. Once I got past the differences it was easier to enjoy the CD and I've probably listened to it over twenty times since last week. It has yet to get old for me.

After all of this, I'd confidently say that the CD is worth buying. My initial disappointment quickly faded and I now love the CD just as much as the others. Some of my top favorite songs on the CD (without saying ALL of them) are:

Every Girl Like Me -- This is by far my favorite song on the album. This is the Sugarland I know and love, with the funny and unique lyrics and catchy beat. I find this song stuck in my head all the time until I get the chance to listen to it again.
Stuck Like Glue -- Of course I have to mention this song. If you've read my blog then you know why and if not, I have a post dedicated to this song and its music video. Check it out if you'd like.
Incredible Machine -- The title of the album and an awesome song. I had heard this song before the album came out so I've loved it for a while.
Wide Open -- Another song I knew beforehand and definitely worth checking out.
Find the Beat Again -- I love that it's so upbeat and it just makes me smile.

These five songs are my favorite, but not necessarily the best. So check out the CD for yourself and find some favorites of your own :)

P.S. It's Keith Urban's 43rd Birthday!!

Love Like Crazy

I know the song isn't even close to being a new release but I feel like I have to talk about it anyway. Love Like Crazy is a song by Lee Brice and was pretty much my favorite song this summer. It played every single day whenever I was in the car and I fell in love with it. My friends and I decided that it was our summer song due to the fact that it played every time we were on the way to the beach, and on the way back.

The song starts with talking about a man who fell in love at seventeen despite what people said about it not working out. He made it fifty-eight years with the same woman and when he gives advice about how it happened, the chorus of the song, he says, "Be a best friend, tell the truth, and overuse 'I love you'. Go to work, do your best, don't outsmart your common sense. Never let your prayin' knees get lazy... and love like crazy." The song goes on to speak about a man who created computers despite what people said about them never taking off. He goes on to sell his "one man shop to Microsoft, and they paid like crazy." Asking how he did it, he breaks into the chorus of the song again.

The point of the song is doing what you're passionate about and not listening when people tell you that you can't do it. It's about the little things such as praying, being a good friend, telling the truth, and loving like crazy that can get you so far in life. With these things, you can't go wrong.

The music video for the song is great in its simplicity. Lee Brice singing, with clips of a couple throughout the years shown every so often. It isn't overdone and yet it's not boring either. It's a good video and I enjoy watching it.

This is really the only song I know by Lee Brice at the moment but for others who enjoy it as much as I do, he has a CD out since June 8th that you can check out titled "Love Like Crazy" after this single. Check it out if you haven't already,  and if you have, let me know how it is cause I'm probably gonna check it out soon too :)

Are You Gonna Kiss Me Or Not?

Keifer and Shawna Thompson -- Thompson Square

I know I haven't written in a while. I've been caught up with school, work, and internet problems but I'm back. I'm going to focus today on Thompson Square's new song titled, "Are You Gonna Kiss Me Or Not?"  It's a fairly new song considering I only heard it for the first time maybe a month ago, which is surprising for someone who listens to the radio as much as I do. At first I didn't really think much of the song. Not that I didn't like it, but I didn't really give it a shot. I barely listened to the lyrics before changing to a song I actually knew...Yes, sometimes I do this when I just feel like singing lyrics I know. But see, I gave it a shot and now it's one of my favorite new songs on the radio.

Are You Gonna Kiss Me Or Not? Music video

The song starts out talking about a girl and guy's first kiss, how nervous the guy is and the girl asking him, "Are you gonna kiss me or not?" quite unexpectedly. As the song progresses, so does their relationship. He asks her to marry him and she replies with...you guessed it, "Are you gonna kiss me or not?" Then at the wedding, their first kiss as husband and wife it was the guy's turn to say, "Are you gonna kiss me or not?" Not gonna lie, I think I'm just a sucker for songs like this.

Thompson Square is a fairly new duo to the country music scene made up of Keifer and Shawna Thompson, husband and wife. They both moved to Nashville at around the same time and met at a singing competition a few days later. They immediately hit it off and are now currently happily married and creating songs that we can all enjoy. They both arrived in Nashville looking to pursue their own solo careers and for a few years they did just that, establishing their own styles, never once thinking that they should get together and form a duet. However, they realized their mistake and soon rectified the situation by forming Thompson Square. When asked about the near-constant togetherness that they would have to experience, Keifer pointed out, "A lot of couples can't be together 24 hours a day -- but for us it doesn't work unless it's like that. So it's perfect. Singing together just completed the puzzle. To be able to share this with the person you'll spend the rest of your life with is a great thing." 


Reading their biography on their website was actually really interesting to me. It's where I got the information for this blog post to be honest. I like reading the background stories of new artists, getting a feel for who they are. So far with everything I've read about Keifer and Shawna Thompson and hearing the songs they sing, I think it will be easy to get into their music.

Another good song by them is, "Let's Fight". I was surprised to find that I know this song. I'm not sure if it is on the radio, though it probably is, but I definitely know it from somewhere. It's pretty good, all about not fighting in a relationship but actually wanting to so that they can make up after.

So check out their biography, check out their songs...who knows, maybe you'll end up liking them if you don't already. I'm definitely looking forward to hearing more from them soon.

Hip to My Heart

The Band Perry - Neil, Kimberly, and Reid

So thinking about a new post for my blog I thought, why not inform others of a new up-and-coming band? A band whose music I'm personally starting to really enjoy. The band is called The Band Perry I'm not joking when I say that their music is quite enjoyable. Right now they have two songs out on the radio that aren't too shabby: "Hip To My Heart" and "If I Die Young" . 

What originally brought my attention to them was the uniqueness of their lyrics. In "Hip To My Heart" the lyrics are upbeat and fun, speaking about the way someone makes you feel when you're falling for them, or already have fallen. Just the overall attitude of the song is lighthearted and enjoyable to listen to, and who really says "brother man" when speaking to someone who is "hip" to their heart? If you don't know what I mean, click on the link and listen to it for yourself.

Their other song "If I Die Young" is on the complete opposite side of the spectrum. Not so fun to listen to, but a beautiful song nonetheless. The first time I heard this song on the radio my friend exclaimed, "It's my song!" Now, if you listen to the lyrics you can imagine that I was more than a little disturbed to hear one of my best friends stating that a song about dying at an early age is "her song." Yet, the song isn't depressing. Maybe it's a morbid fascination but I love it. Kimberly Perry's voice in the song is beautiful and although the song is morbid to the extreme, you can't really help but like it. Or at least, I can't. Not to mention the video is beautifully shot. 

With these two songs on the radio right now, I'm pretty positive that I'm going to be ordering their Debut CD when it comes out on October 12th.

Now for some background information... 

The Band Perry is made up of three siblings: Kimberly, Neil, and Reid. They were born and raised in a small town in Alabama, involved in music from a very early age. During the summer of 2008 after a few years of spending time on the road, working on their sound, The Band Perry met the longtime manager of Garth Brooks, Bob Doyle. After meeting him and partnering up with him and Josh Pegram, The Band Perry spent most of the fall and winter during 2008 writing in Nashville and coming up with songs for their first country recording session. 

"The three of us bring different strengths into the writing room," Neil points out. "Kimberly carries in a bag of melodies and lyrics, Reid always has some really great musical ideas in his back pocket, and I bring in a sense of humor and some thread that ties it all together."

The songs they recorded during their first session caught the ears of Scott Borchetta and Jimmy Harnen, the CEO and President of Republic Nashville. Shortly after they decided to sign The Band Perry to a new label in the summer of 2009. (Information found on The Band Perry website) 

As you can see, The Band Perry seems  to be on the right track for success. I hope this post might get some others to be interested in them like I am cause I'm sure they're going to be great once they're more widely known. 

Well, that's it for tonight. Until next time!

Stuck Like Glue

Sugarland -- Kristian Bush and Jennifer Nettles

So I came across the new Sugarland music video for their single "Stuck Like Glue". I absolutely am in love with it. My sister and I were watching music videos the other day and we could not stop laughing when this one was shown. I mean, maybe it's just us seeing as how my brother didn't find it funny at all...but hey, to each his own right? I've been meaning to talk about it ever since I saw it. So first of all,

Take A Look!

So, I absolutely love Sugarland. Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush are just awesome together. Seeing them in concert was my second favorite concert of the summer. They're so full of energy and they just like having a good time. Interacting with each other on stage, or say, in this video just makes you wonder how much fun they have together on tours. They seem like really funny and upbeat people who would probably be fun to hang out with.

I love this song and the video just made it that much better for me. You begin watching the video thinking that it's going to be about a couple who are say, "stuck like glue" to each other? But no, of course Sugarland mixes it up a bit. Turning a cute song into a hilarious video where a woman stalks and kidnaps the guy she's "stuck like glue" to with the help of her trusty sidekick Kristian Bush. The funny thing is Jennifer Nettles pulls it off in a way that's just so funny and she seems so innocent and happy the whole time that it makes it that much funnier. When she finds his phone lighting up with a girl Kim's face, I actually felt a bit sorry for her at the end...that is, until she punches him in the face for "cheating" on her. The fact that it bothers her that he talks to other girls is hilarious because he seems so scared of her the entire time. Basically, she's delusional, and  I love it.

This video has actually climbed to the list of my top music videos. I'll keep posting more interesting ones as I come across them. In the meantime, does anyone have any music videos I should check out? I'd love to watch some.

By the way! 

For those who like Sugarland or are interested in hearing more music by them then look for their new album coming out October 19th  

called

"The Incredible Machine" 

I've heard a few songs from  it already when I went to the concert and let me tell you, they don't disappoint. I've already preordered my copy :)

American Ride

So Saturday was the Toby Keith and Trace Adkins concert with special guest....Jaron and the Long Road to Love!! Let me tell you, the concert was amazing of course. I'll start from the beginning.

We got there and only missed one song by Jaron and the Long Road to Love because of the lines to get in. The place was packed. It was unbelievable actually. Now, for those of you who don't know Jaron and the Long Road to Love, he has a single out called "Pray For You" and it's kind of brilliant. It's a song all about the bad things he wishes upon his ex but he sings it in such a playful way that you can't really be offended by it or judge him too harshly. I personally love it. Does that make me a bad person? Well, I hope not. Jaron performed with a keyboard alone on stage for the first twenty minutes of the concert. He sang a song that I happen to love called "That's Beautiful to Me". He described it as being a song about the little things in a relationship that sometimes may be annoying but that he finds make it even more beautiful. It's cute.

After Jaron came on, they set the stage for Trace Adkins. Now, I love a lot of Trace Adkins's songs but I can't say I'm one of his biggest fans. I'll listen to them on the radio and I have them on my mp3 player, but he's not one of those artists I'd immediately turn on when I pick up my mp3 player like, say, Rascal Flatts. However, he was awesome. There's something to be said about a 48 year old guy with an extremely long ponytail walking around on stage with his cowboy hat and partly unbuttoned black shirt opening with a song called  "Whoop a Man's Ass" and going on to sing a song called "Honky Tonk Badonkadonk." He's just a badass. It's the only way I can describe him and I never use that word. And his voice!! When he first started speaking to the audience my friend and I looked at each other and just had to laugh. He has an awesome speaking voice. Picture his singing voice...except talking. It was just the kind of voice I wouldn't mind listening to for a while, deep and classic country. He was a lot better than I expected and if it hadn't been for two older women dancing in front of me and blocking my view, I probably would have enjoyed it a lot more. As it is, he got the crowd more than enough excited to see Toby Keith. Some of the songs on Trace Adkins's set list were: "Marry For Money", "Brown Chicken, Brown Cow" (which he described as a love song), "This Ain't No Love Song" (which actually is a love song and it's amazing), "Hillbilly Bone", "Hot Mama", and more. The whole performance was great and I think I'm going to have to start listening to him a lot more now.

Then there was Toby Keith... ah, Toby Keith. What to say about Toby Keith? ... He's amazing. He knows how to get a crowd pumped up and he did. The man is awesome. From the moment he appeared on stage riding in a pickup truck that was raised on a platform high above the stage, he caught and held the audience's attention for the rest of the show. Out of the insane amount of songs he has, I think he picked a lot of the best ones to sing for his set list. Including: "As Good As I Once Was", "Who's Your Daddy?", "How Do You Like Me Now?", "Trailerhood", "Whiskey Girl", "American Ride" (of course. It's the name of the tour), "God Love Her", "I Wanna Talk About Me",  and more. Along with these he sang "Weed With Willie" which was good except for the fact that in my opinion it was a little inappropriate given the two very young boys sitting behind me wondering what he was referring to when he exclaimed that he "could smell it now". But hey, it's a concert and it's to be expected I suppose. Speaking of Willie! Toby Keith sang the song "Beer For My Horses" that he originally sang with Willie Nelson and didn't disappoint when he played clips from the music video of Willie Nelson singing his parts. I was quite excited about this seeing as how it's one of my favorite songs and it just wouldn't be the same with out Willie. Along with the songs I listed, he sang "I Love This Bar" after introducing his bar that is soon to be opening in Foxborough, Massachusetts at Patriot Place called  "Toby Keith's I Love This Bar and Grill". He mentioned that some of the New England Patriots players promised him that they will be stopping by every now and then to have a few drinks. Did the crowd go crazy? Absolutely. He ended the concert with his encore singing "American Soldier" and finally, the song I had been dying to hear, "Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue (The Angry American)".
Toby Keith is known for his patriotism and his performances for the men and women stationed overseas. Trace Adkins came and joined him for this song and the crowd went wild. The reason I was so excited wasn't just because I love the song so much (though I do). It was because I could *not* wait to be there to feel the energy that goes along with hearing that song performed live. I watch the music video and I always imagine being there to hear him sing it, but it was different when actually being there. I know I use this word a lot...but it was amazing.

So that was the last concert of Toby Keith's tour and it happened to be the last on my list of summer concerts. It would have been nice if I had started this blog before most of the other concerts so I could have talked about them, but what can ya do?

See ya!

Rascal Flattin' All Night

Joe Don, Gary, Jay

So I went to the Rascal Flatts concert on Sunday at the Comcast Center in Mansfield, Massachusetts and let me start out by saying that it was AMAZING. I was actually blown away by the end of the concert and if I could love them anymore than I did before, then I absolutely do. See, Rascal Flatts is probably one of my favorite groups. I know every word to every song they sing and their concert was the concert that I was looking forward to more than any of the others I have been to.

The concert was opened by Chris Young, whose performance I actually missed. He played for twenty minutes and I actually spent that time in line waiting to buy a Rascal Flatts t-shirt. *Yes, it's worth every penny of the thirty dollars I paid for it* I wasn't too upset by missing Chris Young's performance though. While I enjoy his music, I'm not caught up with his recent stuff and besides, I was FAR to excited to see Rascal Flatts anyway.

By the time I got to my seat Kellie Pickler was about to perform. I love Kellie Pickler and she didn't disappoint, even despite the fact that she kept telling us she was under the weather. She opened with "Best Days of Your Life" and played six other songs including: "Rocks Instead of Rice" (a song dedicated to her ex, "wherever he may be"), "Things that Never Cross A Man's Mind", "Making me Fall in Love Again", "I Wonder", "Don't You Know You're Beautiful", and ending with "Red High Heels". She also sang "Jolene" and "Two Doors Down" by Dolly Parton, which were just amazing. It was actually incredible to hear her sing them if only for the reason that she sounded SO much like Dolly Parton. The selection of songs she chose for the concert was great and had Rascal Flatts not been up next, I actually probably would have wanted to hear more. However, Rascal Flatts WERE performing next so therefore, I could hardly wait any longer.

Rascal Flatts were introduced and I was in my glory. They opened with "Bob That Head" (from where the title of this post came) and went on to sing twenty-four other songs. Yes, I said twenty-four. Seeing as how this is their ten year anniversary they sang a few songs from every album they've ever come out with. They said they would fit as many songs as possible in the time they had, and they didn't disappoint. I don't even know how to explain this concert other than amazing. The backdrops on the stage would change depending on the song and were so vivid in detail that when I wasn't watching the Gary, Jay and Joe Don, my eyes were glued to the backgrounds. They varied depending on the song, sometimes showing rain pouring down, sun shining brightly, nature scenes from the country, or words that had to do with the songs they were singing.

In the middle of the concert it was just Gary, Joe Don, and Jay on stage, with Jay on the keyboard. They played songs such as "Take It To The Limit" by the Eagles, "God Bless The Broken Road", a bit of "Old Time Rock and Roll" by Bob Seger, and a little bit of gospel music that they sang when they first started off singing in the choir at church. Their voices, just the three of them and the piano, were absolutely incredible together. The range of Gary's voice blew me away and they never once went out of tune throughout the entire concert. Mostly during this part they joked around with the audience and each other.

Oh, and can I just say that they are three hilarious guys? When they got together on stage and cracked jokes and stuff they had all of us cracking up in our seats. Not that we were in our seats for long... There was no way you could sit down through that whole concert. There was way too much energy during the performances to even get the chance to relax.

I wish I could just talk about every single detail of the entire concert but it would take WAY too long. So I'll quickly talk about some of my favorite moments.

1. The part when just the three of them were on stage with the keyboard. They would keep repeating "Take it to the limit, take it to the limit, take it to the limit one more time..." over and over and had us all laughing hysterically when Gary would say "let's do it again!" and the audience would break out into the line once more.
2. During "Fast Cars and Freedom" Gary lifted a little girl onto the stage and walked her up and down a few times as she gave the audience high fives like a little rock star. After twirling her around a few times, she gave him the biggest hug and he helped her back down to her parents. Maybe I'm a sucker for this kind of thing, but it was SO cute and it helped that "Fast Cars and Freedom" happens to be one of my favorite songs by them.
3. During "These Days" and a few other songs they had the pouring rain in the background and every time it added something to the song that made it amazing.
4. Towards the end they began playing cover songs such as "Long Time" by Boston, "Carry On My Wayward Son" by Kansas, and "Free Ride" by Jefferson Airplane. At this point they had the audience going crazy and a little boy was taken on stage, probably no older than six, and he did the robot dance as Rascal Flatts performed. I'm actually pretty sure his t-shirt said "I am robot kid" on it, or so my friend said.
5. The entire concert.... Yes I know this isn't a highlight but I still can't get over how amazing the whole concert was. The only thing that would have made it better is if I had a closer seat to the stage.

I would have loved to have given a link for every song they sang but quite frankly, there were SO many.

Well, that's it for this post. Saturday night is the Toby Keith and Trace Adkins concert. While I'm extremely excited for this, I'm afraid there's no way it's ever going to live up to the Rascal Flatts concert, but I'll certainly still post about it after I go.

Well, until next time.

Feels Like Today

For my first post I suppose I'll tell you something about myself. I'm a twenty year old college student with an intense love of country music. In fact, Cat Country 98.1 is basically the only station allowed on in my car. Other than 102.5 WKLB that is. I first became interested in country when I was fifteen and took a trip to Dallas, Texas with my school. During an opening ceremony Emerson Drive performed a concert for us. At first I was far too excited about the trip to even care about who was playing, especially a group I had never heard of. However, I was hooked by the end of the performance. I went home and downloaded their CD's. That didn't mean I liked country music as a whole, of course. That is, until I heard one of their songs on the radio and I discovered the country music station.  I was completely hooked and the rest is history. Nowadays, I rarely find a country song that I don't like. And that's all you really need to know about me. :)

This blog is going to consist of a few things. Mainly my thoughts and opinions on country music today. Music videos I like or dislike, favorite songs, favorite artists, and a few reviews on a couple of performances I see. I know country music is a broad topic but I'm going to try  to narrow it down the best I can. Now, there may be thoughts or opinions that others don't agree with. Actually, I'm sure of it. But hey, we're all different. I hope at least that I'll be able to keep your interest.

Now I think I'm going to have to express a few reasons why I love country music so much.

1. I can actually understand the words the artists are singing. I feel like a lot of music these days I have to struggle to understand what the person is saying, without really understanding until I look up lyrics.
2. Most country songs aren't offensive. Maybe they're out there, but I've yet to hear a country song that swears. That's saying something I think.
3. They sing songs I can relate to. Songs about love, loss, and life in general. A lot of people may think that country western music is all about beer, tractors, and dogs but it's a lot more than that. Or well, maybe a lot of people don't think that but it's what my sister said to me when I first became interested in country a few years ago. I like that I can find a country song that relates to whatever it is I'm feeling on any given day. I can guarantee that. Oh, and p.s. my sister actually likes a few country songs now too. :)
4. The talent. Most country singers don't need computer editing to make their voices sound good. They genuinely sound good! All of the concerts I've been to (Keith Urban, Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood, Sugarland, Lady Antebellum, Tim McGraw, Craig Morgan, etc.) have been amazing. They all sound even better than they do on their cd's, and that's saying something.
5. I just genuinely enjoy the music. A lot of it is catchy and fun. I'm not saying that other music isn't catchy, cause trust me, it is, but I find that whenever I'm having a bad day I can always be cheered up by a little country music.

That's really all I have to say today. In an hour I'm going to a Rascal Flatts/Kellie Pickler/Chris Young concert. Yes, I'm extremely excited. I'm sure I'll post about it sometime this week.

Until then!