Country's More Than Country-Wide

It’s about 6am, and I can’t sleep. It’s not from my usual case of insomnia- I’m not lying awake tossing and turning over the craziness of the day and hopes for tomorrow. Nope, instead I’m just caught up in the music. I should probably be writing this after the first day of spring, when I’ve spent the afternoon driving around St. Louis with the windows rolled down and the radio turned up. Rather, in its place, I’m in my bed with my iTunes playing on shuffle. There’s just something about country music that makes reality better than any dream-state I could fall into.

If you’ve never been in the car with me or have never caught a glimpse of me on the highway, I am that embarrassment. I don’t really care who is watching or how big of a fool I am making of myself, I will be singing to the top of my lungs to every country song I know. I usually limit my performances to the shower or the car, but something about tonight and the music that has me jumping on my bed, singing with an amplifying hairbrush in hand.

Tim McGraw, Garth Brooks, Brad Paisely, Blake Shelton, Jason Aldean, Alan Jackson, Toby Keith, Rascal Flatts, Sugarland, Lady A… to name a few… and new up-and-comers like Brantley Gilbert, The Band Perry, Chris Young, and Justin Moore, Kip Moore- and I will mention David Nail, of course, because of his notable connection to my St. Louis Cardinals- all of these musicians and more change my life. Their music speaks to every experience I have ever had or hope to have. No matter what is going on, whether I am dealing with love or loss or if I am enjoying a summer day or a cold winter’s night, every song completely envelops me and forces me to sing a long.

I don’t care who you are or what kind of music you appreciate, I think you would have a hard time arguing the fact that country music is just all-encompassing. Whether you can handle a little twang or not, every song is relatable; white-collars, blue-collars, rednecks, it doesn’t really matter. Country music is about life. People say that it is just about pick-up trucks and hunting dogs- which are two of my favorite things so hell ya!- but it’s so much more than that. It keeps me up at night.