A Country Beginning!

My Dad is from the mid-west. A small town in North Western Nebraska called Crawford. The town has a grocery store, pharmacy, hardware store, a few churches and a bunch of bars. The most popular music out there is country and those folks love themselves a good country song. Thus I grew up listening to some of the best country singers of all time.

When we would get ready to head out to Crawford for visits there was not one time when the cassette of A Horse Called Music by Willie Nelson wasn't playing. When my Dad and I would go to the Nanuet Mall, Dunkin Doughnuts, The Wooden Indian, etc in the Miata we would listen to cassette tapes both new and old. Some favorites were Mary Chapin Carpenter, Kathy Mattea, Reba McEntire, John Denver, Roger Whittaker and Johnny Cash. Of course my favorites were John Denver's cassette Greatest Hits vol 1 and Kathy Mattea's Untasted Honey.

Of course whenever I think back to my childhood music this music is what i think to. Even though my tastes are different listening to Britney, Barbra, Cher and Josh Groban, i still cannot get over these artists and come back to them if i ever need to feel at home or just to enjoy the passing hours of a summer or winter day.

Today Aug 13 2011 I am in one of those Kathy Mattea moods. I just finished my first ever listening (all the way through) of her recent concept album Coal. The album deals with the telling of a story from the beginning of working at a Coal mine and ends with the acoustic and appropriate "Black Lung." The final song tells the story of that miner gasping for one last breath!

What all of these artists (along with another fav from my childhood Harry Chapin) tell stories in their songs. I don't know what it was about the music back in the day but I enjoy listening to a good story song with a beginning middle and end. Now I am on to Untasted Honey by Kathy Mattea and I am simply obsessed with this album i think it is just amazing. But it also reminds me of car rides with my dad when i was younger.