14 July 2007

Country Music

I've always said that I didn't care for it very much. ALL my family listens to it ALL the time. (I mean my brothers and sister). Well, this morning I listened to country music all the way down to Granite City and back. And, yes, I liked it.

I heard about a father loving his daughter, about a daughter who never heard from her father, about a homeless man who was person - dang it all - and had a life and treasured memories, about how women rule the world (hey, I understand that one. There's a wedding going down in this family!). And I heard about how in the worst times you keep on going, and that the Lord's set angels around you to help you out in ways you can't even guess. In short, the words were a lot more than just a man losing his dog, his wife and his best friend as the old joke runs. I confess, I liked it.

Our former choir director from long ago, Andy Mueller, always said: "It's amazing to me you don't like country music, because that's how you sing." Maybe it is, and maybe that's not all that bad. I LIKE to slide. ;)

15 comments:

WM Cwirla said...

Be careful. Soon you'll be watching NASCAR.

Dixie said...

...and taking vacations in Destin, FL (lovingly referred to as the Redneck Riviera in my neck of the woods)!

I dabbled with listening to country when the Outlaws reigned (Waylon, Willie and the boys)...but it never really was my cup of tea.

Erich Heidenreich said...

Hey, Preacher Man, what are you talkin' about? You don't like this???

Michigan Lutherans singin' country blue grass - and theologically correct! Who'd a thunk it?

For those of you who don't know about them yet, Eric and Polly Rapp are a Lutheran couple in Hazel Park, Michigan. Check out the lyrics to "More Than Enough," a song about the doctrine of vocation.

I have both their CDs, and my family loves all the music. I never liked country that much either, but this is GOOOOOD stuff!!!

Anonymous said...

...you're becoming one of us now...I was a hold out for so many years, but God got me by giving me children who enjoy Country music, so there was nothing else to do except admit defeat! It was that or cause a major accident while fighting over the tuning buttons on the car radio.

So welcome and YeeHaw! I'm off to listen to Big Dog Daddy!

No poison ivy yet?

William Weedon said...

Bill,

Nascar? I don't think so.

Dixie,

I am widening my horizons. ;)

Erich,

I love Eric and Polly! What can I say? I'm a preacherman.

Jo,

YOU TOO? Lord have mercy! No, no poison ivy yet. Cindi tells me it can crop up tomorrow though. I sure as shootin' hope not. See you tomorrow.

Anonymous said...

Hmmm... I thought there was a liturgy for excorcism? That's one cure for country music BS, Kung Fu Master Weedon.

Also, I really never did get a satisfactory answer from Kung Fu Master Art Just from a Lutheran Student Fellowship conference years ago... "Is there a direct relationship between country music and the Occult?"

You really ought to try some metal and/or rap.

Kung Fu Masters Weedon and Cwirla: Nothin's wrong with NASCAR, especially now that Toyota is in the running. How can a man not appreciate horsepower, speed and competition? Try it... You might like it.

WM Cwirla said...

I love NASCAR (forget Toyota, though I drive one). And country music. Bluegrass, actually. The MI couple rocks! Great song! Are they on iTunes by any chance?

Anonymous said...

I'm Australian, but Country is just as popular in my neck of the woods as it appears to be in the US. Since I moved to this area, I've come to appreciate it as the unpretentious music of the working man. It's also about the only form of popular music where theology is expressed, as far as I am aware.
I must confess, though, I prefer Country-Rock - check out The Byrds' "Sweetheart of the Rodeo" - if sing Country in heaven, that's what it sounds like. Also Gram Parson's two solo albums for some saint-sinner dialectics (in one song he cries plaintively "God please take this heart of mine, cause if you don't, the devil will..." ), and some truly sublime harmonies with Emmylou Harris.

Boy, posting on the Philokalia and Country Music on the same day -this is too bizarre!

Past Elder said...

Country? And a few posts back you said you didn't like Jazz?

Whatever happened to Country and Western? The Western got lost in the conversion to a multi-million dollar industry just like Rock and Pop. For that matter, so did the Country.

As to racing, try Grand Prix. Racing is a whole different deal when you don't just turn left.

The boys are in bed and after laundry is done I'll have to play some of the other Luther in my life, Allison, real loud on the headphones!

Anonymous said...

Pr. Cwirla,

Eric and Polly are not currently on iTunes, but you can put them on your iTunes by buying their CD here and downloading it to your iTunes! I can guarantee you'll love every song on that CD!

Erich

William Weedon said...

M.,

Can't you see St. Mark the Ascetic enjoying a plaintive David Ball tune on his iPod? Well, maybe not. ;)

Anonymous said...

Mmm. Probably not. But I can imagine the stern Ascetic giving the Louvin Brothers famous 1960 LP, "Satan is Real", a spin on the ol' gramophone.
A picture of the cover can be found here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louvin_Brothers

It cracks me up, but I *do* believe Satan is real!

Anonymous said...

Oops.
The "Anonymous" comment was from me, "M."
Not that that helps much, but that's all I'm prepared to reveal right now :0)

William Weedon said...

M,

Checked out that cover! Whew! Yes, Satan is real, but a lot more evil than even that cover can suggest. Most deadly, of course, when he appears in the other guise - the angel of light.

Pax!

WM Cwirla said...

"Eric and Polly are not currently on iTunes, but you can put them on your iTunes by buying their CD here and downloading it to your iTunes! I can guarantee you'll love every song on that CD!"

Just received my copy from CDBaby. Nice stuff! Lutheran bluegrass. I'm all over that.