I tend to be pretty open about myself. I don’t really keep secrets or try to hide aspects of who I am. But there’s something about me that most people in my life probably don’t know. I have a secret place in my heart that loves country music.
I think that the reason that I adore this genre of music so much is because I look at it through a writer’s eyes. Some of the reasons that I end up loving country songs include:
- So many of the lines are so simple. With every other type of music that I listen to, there is a lot of nuanced language and metaphors. That’s great. But I think there’s value in being able to just say what you want to say in a straightforward way. That’s what you get with country music.
- The surprises make me smile. I love writing that catches me off guard. Occasionally, you do get a complex metaphor thrown into these lyrics and it’s shocking and usually amusing.
- The topics are so basic. Country music songs are only really about a handful of different things. And yet they find new ways to say the same things over and over. Maybe this is true of other genres too but I think it’s truer of country music.
- It rhymes. What can I say? I love that I can easily learn the words to a song the first time that it’s played because it rhymes so obviously. It’s basic poetry at its best.
- Personality shines through. The character that is singing really pours out his heart to you. A good writer does the same thing. I love it.
Incidentally, I don’t actively try to keep this a secret. I just don’t ever end up really playing my own music around other people so it’s not something that ever comes up. Truth is, most people who know me probably wouldn’t be at all surprised by it even though they didn’t know.
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