Enjoy the music!

Well, might I start by saying this is strictly for my own expression.  But I've heard enough the last few days, so much that I feel I must share my opinion. Even if no one reads it.

For the last few months, but moreso the last few days for some reason, I continue to hear about how much Country music has changed.  I hear that it sounds like old Rock, or that it sucks, or that it's like watered down Pop. Well I have something to say about that.

Music is how you perceive it to be.  Music is one of the most powerful things we have the privilege of being exposed to.  It has the power to start a movement, stop a war, ease a troubled mind, mend a broken heart, and say about anything you can't find the words to say yourself.  Music can band a people together, unite a crowd the way nothing else can.

It. Is. Amazing.

The truth is, music is just like everything else around us -- people, technology, etc, -- it evolves. Nothing ever stays the same, everything is constantly changing.  There are exceptions to this rule, for example, Jamey Johnson. We all thought we'd heard the last of the Outlaw movement until he arrived, but here he is.  He is awesome, but if you'll notice, he doesn't have the following that others have.  It's because he doesn't roll with the tide, he does his own thing.  I'm not saying that Taylor Swift is Country, I don't think she is. I don't particularly care for her music, I tolerate it. Just the way I tolerate most of everything by that Minaj chick, Selena Gomez, and let us not forget Justin Beaver.  But like I said earlier, it's how you perceive it.

Country is full of watered down Pop, I agree.  And Country may not be Country 'no more' as Travis Tritt proclaimed some years back.  What I love about Country, is that no matter how it changes, no matter how many goofy songs like "Red Solo Cup" or "Ticks" come out, most of the time, the message is still the same: we are who we are, and we don't like to change.  There are those songs that come out that we can still relate to the message in it.  Most recently, "Made in America" by Toby Keith.

"He's got the Red, White and Blue flying high on the farm
Semper Fi tattoo on his left arm
spends a little more in the store for a tag 
in the back that says "U.S.A."

Won't buy nothing that he can't fix
with WD 40 and a Craftsman wrench.
He ain't prejudice, he's just,
made in America."

I know people just like that.  I know older folks like that who are in the minority, and who is their voice? Toby Keith, Brad Paisley, Eric Church, etc.  Brad Paisley had another great song called "This is Country Music" that describes just what Country music is about for those who don't understand or sometimes forget:

"You're not supposed to say the word 'cancer'
in a song.
And tellin' folks that Jesus is the answer
can rub 'em wrong.

It ain't hip to sing about tractors, trucks, little towns, and mama,
yeah that might be true.
But this is country music
and we do."

Who writes lyrics like that?  Not Jay-Z and Beyonce. Not Kesha. Not Justin Beaver, or Kanye West.  They don't know jack.  I could sit here and talk about this subject all day.  I majored in it.  I studied it. I love it.

Unfortunately, I don't have all day, and neither do you.  My message is this: you don't have to love it to understand it.  Music may have changed to some degree.  We still have the Bob Seger's and the Eagles in the world who make good music and entertain us.  We have newcomers everyday.  You have the power to make music, choose music, or turn off music.  I couldn't make it without it.  I have a song for every mood. I love it, I live with a song in my head.  I am guilty of complaining myself but honestly, I shouldn't.  I am grateful we have music.  I can't imagine my life without it.

The Bible says that if you can't sing you should make a joyful noise. That's enough for me.