God, I've missed country music. Where did it go? Growing up it was mostly Garth Brooks...whose lyrics to "Friends in Low Places" went far over my ten-year-old head, and I to this day, remember what I thought he was trying to say...but hey, when the cows have been seen, they've been seen. Throw in a little Jimmy Buffet, John Michael Montgomery, and a select few others...and that was my childhood. As I grew into my teens, it wasnt so "cool" to like country anymore, which to this day, fucking blows my mind...and reminds me how much of an upper class, white bread, money laden school I went to. Nonetheless, we found eachother again...in my freshman year of college. Thus began Doug and I's yearly effort of putting together the "perfect" summer country mix.
Try and deny it if you want, but if you give it a chance, a great country mix will make ANY summer day instantly better. Hell, it makes any SUNNY day better. I will admit, while I may listen to it year round, I dont go crazy with country during the fall or winter. Those are months more suited to somewhat more somber artists.
But during the summer...who can deny the songs of drinking, friendship, youth, lost youth, family, friends, and humanity? It's the sounds of our average joe lives.
Now, I feel that I fairly openly tend to live my life through songs...or more, relate it to them. Anyone who knows me well has probably spent an uncomfortable five minutes in the car as "Texas", by the Damnwells came on, as i lapsed into silence...and if you're up on my current trends, you've experienced my channeling of girl power and headbanging to "King of Anything"...because, hell, music is what sparks my imagination, and I am more than happy living through every great song I come across.
But man...how great is Tim McGraw? When I was ten, "Indian Outlaw" got me all kinds of pumped up, and "Dont Take the Girl" inspired me to daydream of falling in love with some weekly crush and growing up into whatever type of man I thought I'd be, living the life and love I pictured I'd be living. And having written that sentence, I'm happy to say, I think I'm somewhere in the vicinity of being my boyhood hero...finally, took long enough.
Tim McGraw brought me up when it comes to my realistic versions of life and love, which is I think both unique and important...because, admittedly, many of my favorite love/lost love songs are somewhat unrealistic, or at the very least, incredibly melodramatic...and far from what the average person is going to be thinking and feeling in a love affair. The guy keeps it simple without being plain, and he is able to take small emotions and give them weight. I dont listen to Tim McGraw because I want something deep and artistic...I listen to him because I want to immediately relate.
So as I grew up, and as I said earlier, took a brief sojourn away from the land of McGraw (and listened to, admittedly, music that I am still too embarassed to admit to), he was always there in the background, just waiting for me to mature a bit...right around the time that the man would put out some of the most soul defining that I doubt many artists could ever come close to.
In college, Doug and I listened to "Set This Circus Down" on near repeat. It was more or less and unspoken rule that if you were to make a summer cd...you better goddamn well have at least five Tim McGraw songs on it. "That's Why God Made Mexico" appealed to our vagabond spirit, and we've tapped shots of whiskey making silent promises to follow the rules of that song should our lives ever take a dive for the deep end. "Cowboy in Me" took over the radio for at least a week in our cars, and to this day, I'm gonna throw that song out as a defense for any of my less desirable actions...and I'm pretty sure any man that's worth his weight would do the same.
Tim McGraw sings for the guys...and that's why chicks love him. He's been behind some of the greatest love songs, meant quite openly for wives, or at least, someone especially special...and hell, I'll openly admit to crafting a bit of what kind of love affair I want to be a part of based off of his music. What part of "I need you" can be denied...by a guy or girl? If the line..."I wanna drink that shot of whiskey, I wanna smoke that cigarette...you know, some cowboys like me go out like that...so I need you." doesnt make you immediately think (if you're a guy) YES...god, I hope I'm that tough one day, or (if your'e a girl) GOD YES...I hope my man is that tough one day...and that I'm that important to him...then, jesus, you're not human.
He brought the heavy with "Drugs or Jesus" and it worked. "Live Like You Were Dying"...well, shit, if that doesnt make you want to do something with your life, then there's no hope for you. "My Next Thirty Years" has become my unofficial anthem of the next five years of my life. I've grown up with the guy, I respect the guy, and I love the hell out of his music.
Which brings me to the all time favorite: "Teluride" There are very few favorite songs of mine which bring the heat quite so effectively as this one. It is at once a song you can sing to with the windows down, and listen to quietly alone. Once, it was the picture perfect ideal of what I wanted to do with myself. I was twenty one, about as aimless as a person could be, and the prospect of packing up my truck with a couple bags of clothes and taking off out west to find love sounded like a hell of a good idea. Not good enough, say, to actually DO it...but good enough to sit around drunk and spout off drunken fantasy ideals of how I was going to live my life...which if you ask me, is pretty awesome cowboy chitchat talk. "Teluride" did it for me...and still does. Hands down, one of my favorite songs.
So, to end this and get back to my drinking and youtube music video watching, I'm gonna go ahead and tell you: if you dont like Tim McGraw, then I dont like you (unless you're my wife, in which case, you're just dead damn wrong). And while I may think that San Deigo generally looks like a shanty town...did they film "City of God" here? I have to admit...I was driving in my new POS truck the other day, listening to some country radio with the windows down, arm hanging out, radio up, my sunglasses on...and I realized...holy shit, I'm in the land of endless summer.
So yeah, it's time to make a new country CD. And guess what...it's gonna be awesome. Stand by for the whole lineup...but I'd recommend pulling out a notebook and pen when I put this one out...cause you're gonna want to be a part of this one.
By the way...I'm more or less losing my mind over Sugarland's song and video for "Stuck like Glue." Check it out. If you're tough, that is.
"My next thirty years will be the best years of my life
Raise a little family and hang out with my wife
Spend precious moments with the ones that I hold dear
Make up for lost time here...in my next thirty years."
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