There remain some things irreconcilable between me and a large swath of society. Country music makes that list. I get it. I really do. It has a fun beat and the lyrics are easy to digest for most people. That’s not enough for me. I need variation and some complexity.
Humans have an inherent tendency to want to belong to something. We often like things clean and simple for us to understand. And if we can dance to it then we have ourselves a profitable industry! As I have tried (and I have more than once) to listen to modern country music, I get frustrated. It is like listening to the intellectual version of a highway. It is just noise that is reconfirming our beliefs. That isn’t entertainment (alone), it is personal propaganda.
I enjoy bluegrass. I have not heard a Johnny Cash song I did not enjoy. Most Willie Nelson music works well for me. Sweethearts of the Rodeo and Patsy Cline also work just fine for me. It isn’t that I dislike all country. I just can’t stand the beer drink party boots truck basic-bish-broken-heart fluff they call lyrics. The intentional twang drives me a bit nuts also. Lady Antebellum is one I like but the Nashville folks seem to be the cream at the top. I like the Dixie Chicks’ politics but their music doesn’t always grab me.
I guess my point here is this: I don’t care for what most people call “Country Music” and I’m probably not going to. It is okay if you listen to it. I won’t think less of you. But I DON’T want to listen to it. I won’t “like it if I just give it a try.” So please, in the nicest way possible, I beg of you-stop asking me to.
Once I heard “Honky Tonk Badonk a Donk,” the fate of modern Country was sealed for me.
Beta Testing Adulthood 