Country Music Fan

For years I’ve said I am not a country music fan, but lately, I’ve had to reframe my view of country music. I’ve been a rabid fan of Brandi Carlile who won her first Grammy in Americana which I believed was just another name for countryish music. It’s not. Although, there are definitely a few of her songs that cannot be described as anything but country. However, there is a difference between Americana and Country. Americana has more external influences from folk music, rock, country, blues, and R&B. Whew, so I can stick to my original stance that I don’t care for country music. Wait…not so fast. When I sing and dance to Friends in Low Places, or admit to liking Little Big Town, especially the adorable Karen Fairchild, who I saw at the last Lillith Fair at the Gorge. The group was hard not to like. I also discovered I enjoyed the Dixie Chicks, now called The Chicks, especially after they publicly criticized George W and refused to back down after. The final nail in the coffin was when I went to the Girls Just Wanna weekend in Cancun and featured singers were Wynona Judd along with Maren Morris, Brandy Clark, Natalie Hemby, and Brittney Spencer of the Highwomen. I admit to enjoying all of those women and even got a picture with Wynona. She was so gracious and a sheer delight, especially with her reaction to all the women tossing bras on stage for her! I have proof (of both the bras-not mine and a picture of me and Wynona).

My wife not only has Brandi on her Deezer account but also the Highwomen and plays them all the time while we’re driving. So, when Brandi announced she was playing three nights at the Gorge, the first night solo, the second night with Joni Mitchell, and the third night with the Highwomen, we attempted to get tickets to all three shows. We weren’t able to get tickets with Joni, which I secretly don’t care much about, but I was surprised to realize that I really wanted to see the Highwomen. Again, I need to re-evaluate my views on country music.

The final nail in the coffin was when I got a sneak peek at Ali Spooner’s recent release, Out and Loud. Not only was I rooting for this contemporary country music band, but I could almost hear the music in my head, and some of the cover songs, I actually recognized as songs that also weren’t hard no’s for me. The book is an absolute delight. I’ve been following the series and this is by far my favorite. The bit of action, in the end, had me flipping pages so fast to find out what would happen, that I had to go back through because I was supposed to be highlighting typos for my pal. I sure hope y’all will give her book a try. Don’t forget about the book launch tomorrow, here is the link for that Zoom meeting March 5th at 3:00p EST, 12:00p PST: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83219968679?pwd=eVBSZHBOSTJnM3ltVzAvRUNiYk93Zz09 I know you won’t be disappointed. You know the drill…just click one of the links below! Look for the audio version soon!

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