He's Gone Country

Lately I’ve been listening to country music. I’ve never liked country music before. Growing up I listened to mainly classic rock. I still love the “classics” to this day. I’m talking about bands like Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, and so on. I used to really HATE country music. I could stand to listen to Johnny Cash but that was about it. However over the last few months my taste has changed a bit.

It all started one Friday night in Auburn. I was at one of my favorite places: Plainsman Park, watching the mighty Auburn Tigers baseball team. The local country station (97.7) carries the games. On my way home I listened to the post game analysis… eventually that ended, and they started playing the country music. The first song that came on was “Til Summer Comes Around” by Keith Urban. I ignored my initial instinct to immediately change the station to the local classic rock station. As I listened to the song I realized just how good it was. I can honestly say that I got chills after the second chorus when Keith launched into the guitar solo. It was one of those rare moments that happen when you hear a song for the first time. Not to be overly sensitive, but it was moving. The song tells a story that has been told a million times before in a million other songs… basically his woman leaves him and promises to come back one day. He is singing about waiting for that moment of reunion with her. Even though I have heard that story over and over again, this time I was moved by it.

I think I was initially drawn to this particular song because of its style. I don’t pretend to be an expert on country artists, but Keith Urban seems like he is a mixture of country and rock… a perfect transition for me, a rock lover. That particular song has a real slow blues/rock style with a country twist. Keith Urban is an excellent guitarist as well. I always tend to like bands/music with good guitar work since I am a guitarist myself.

So as the story unfolds, I basically kept my dial tuned to 97.7 for the next few weeks. I had decided to “give country another chance.” What I found was that there are a lot of good songs out there that I have been missing out on. Sure, there are some songs that have that “rednecky” country sound. I still don’t really enjoy those. However, there are a lot of great songs as well. The band I was/am in plays a song called “Chicken Fried” by the Zac Brown Band. Let me just say that I HATE that song. It IS totally redneck. Nevertheless, the song was a huge hit, and we always had good success when we played it. Over time, people kept telling me that the Zac Brown Band was amazing. I often scoffed at the notion… that is until recently. I downloaded the entire album last week to check it out. Let me just say that there isn’t a bad song on the album (except “Chicken Fried”). Zac’s music makes me feel a wide array of emotions. Songs like “Toes” and “Different Kind of Fine” are fun and happy. He also has songs like “Jolene” and “Highway 20 Ride” that bring out emotions of self-reflection and loss.

That is what I like about music in the first place. Emotion. As a man, I don’t show emotion very often… I would argue that I am worse at showing emotion than even most men. Nevertheless, believe it or not, I FEEL emotions. I have always loved the songs that make me feel something. It can be happy feelings or sad feelings. Either way, I just appreciate a song that is good enough to make me feel SOMETHING. I think this is what has led me to listen to more country music. I feel like a lot of the songs are more “honest” somehow. It makes me feel alive and like myself. It makes me feel southern. It makes me proud to be me somehow. My buddy Wil commented that country music is “like the Bible with pedal steel.” There is a ring of truth to that. Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of country songs that have the opposite message of the Bible, but a lot of the songs have an almost gospel feel. I enjoy the honesty and the musicianship of it all. It is refreshing to hear some of the different sounds and instruments that are unique to country music. The pedal steel and Fiddle are prominent in a lot of songs. I still love a great electric guitar solo more than anything, but sometimes a Fiddle solo can be just as skilled and moving.

Maybe this is just a passing phase for me, I don’t know. Like I said, I still LOVE the classics, but right now I am enjoying something new and fresh.

The Rat

There once was a rat named Felix. Felix was like any other rat really. He was naturally a rotten nasty creature. He dwelled amongst other rats. They scavenged for food, eating anything they could find. Felix particularly liked to hang out around the garbage bins in an alley. He would gorge himself daily on whatever garbage he could find. He was dirty, rotten, nasty, and quite ill tempered honestly. Felix and his cohorts went on living this life for quite some time.

One day, while Felix was doing his usual, he happened across the most beautiful mouse he had ever seen. This mouse didn’t look quite like the others. He was enormous and powerful. “Who are you?” Felix asked. “I am Theos” replied the mouse. “I see that your are living amongst all of this garbage. How would you like to come to my home and have some cheese?” “You have a home?” asked Felix. Theo replied, “My house is the most beautiful place you have ever seen. I have mountains of cheese and any other food you can think of! All you have to do is come with me and you can have all the riches you could ever want!” So Felix followed Theos to His home and his life was forever changed. Even though Felix felt like he didn’t deserve the riches that Theos gave him, he was forever grateful to Theos for His gift.


Ephesians 2: 1-10
As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.