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country is good, maybe not all good, but more good than bad. We do not truly live in the country, even though we have no houses across the street or on either side of us, unless you count bird nests and animal holes houses. We do live near the real country, but we have the advantage of, only being 20 minutes from medical facilities, shopping and decent dining. What more could you really want? And yes, we have wild life, fresh air and nice people. Our granddaughters first husband was what country is all about. They did live in the middle of nowhere and yet, like us, close to city conveniences. They were farmers, not terrible educated but hard working and not dumb either. They lived the true country life as most of us imagine it.
An example of what it is life, living in a somewhat rural area: twice a year, our neighborhood bank has a cookout for everyone who wants to come whether they bank there or not and I can assure you, when you stand in line to get that burger, dog or whatever you will meet someone you know, see the cops in town and visit with the firemen. If you don't know anyone when you arrive, you will when you leave. We just got back from the bank about 10 minutes ago.
I've always known how country feels. My grandparents farmed tobacco and other crops in the bluegrass region of Kentucky. They raised 6 kids, including my Dad, on that farm. It was "40 acres, a mule, and freedom" if you know what I mean. Every summer the family would descend on that farm from all different parts of the country for the tobacco harvest. Stripping tobacco is hard work and still all has to be done by hand. While the men were out in the fields, the girls and women would be up at the farmhouse kitchen putting up batches of string beans, tomatoes, blackberries - you name it, we canned it.
Sometimes I'd sneak off to the loft in the big old tobacco barn to visit a litter of kittens up there. Huge sheaves of tobacco leaves were hanging from the roof to dry. I would make myself and the cats a fortress of straw hay bales up there in the loft, and then just lay back and smell the wonderful scent given off by drying tobacco leaves. Good memories...
As an adult I found myself stuck in Colorado Springs. With each day that passed, I hated the city a little more. Whenever I had the chance, I'd climb into my old 4wd Toyota truck and make a run for it through the mountains to Colorado's rural Western Slope where I'd explore and camp until it was time to head back to that damn city.
One day when I was on one of my mountain excursions, I got to talking to a guy at a filling station as we were both filling up our tanks. "You should go up to the Uncompaghre Plateau," he told me. "Real pretty country and only us locals go up there - you'll have it all to yourself." The thought of having 1.5 million acres of Colorado Highlands all to myself was more than I could resist, so I took the stranger at his word. I checked on my Colorado Atlas and Gazetteer and found a route up to the top of the Plateau that looked interesting and I hit the highway, but not for long. I wanted to go up the Escalante Trail, named for a Spanish explorer who led an expedition up the Uncompaghre in a quest for gold sometime in the 1700's.
I turned off the pavement onto dirt (always a happy moment) and drove down a rutted track over hung with huge, extremely aromatic sage bushes. Shortly I arrived at the Gunnison River and contemplated it for a while. It didn't look to deep, and the current didn't look bad either, so I went round my truck locking in the hubs. I jumped back in and shifter her into compound low and into the river we went - and came out on the opposite bank just fine. Whoo Hoo! My first solo river crossing! The "road" began to climb almost at once, and the truck and I negotiated a series of switch backs and hair pin curves which left my heart in my mouth but which sure had some nice views.
When we finally reached the top of the Plateau, I played around with my radio dial, trying to see if there was any reception at all, up here in the middle of nowhere. There was. Mustang Country! Your radio station for Southwest Colorado and beyond! At the the time I wasn't a CW fan, but I was charmed when the voice of Toby Keith came over the air waves:
Should have been a cowboy
Should have learned how to rope and ride
Wearing my six shooter,
Riding my pony on a cattle drive...
Singing those campfire songs
Oh, I should have been a cowGIRL
I might have had a sidekick with a funny name
Running wild through the hills
Chasing Jessie James
Ending up on the brink of danger
Riding shotgun for the Texas Rangers...
Sleeping out all night beneath the desert stars
With a dream in my eye and a prayer in my heart
Yeah, I should Have been a cowGIRL
I sang along, changing cowboy to cowGirl, as I watched one of the most spectacular sunsets I've ever seen. I made camp that evening in an aspen grove and the coyotes sang me to sleep beneath the desert stars. Escalante never found his gold, but I think I found something better - the back country of Colorado. That's how country feels to ME!
I just fully read this thread, and just wanted to say, love it. I grew up part in the city and part in the country, and have always disliked the city. I just don't feel myself unless I'm in the middle of nature. I guess growing up chasing squirrels and "talking" to mountains and trees will do that to you.
When I visited the grand canyon I actually walked on the dirt road because I just couldn't enjoy myself walking on that man-made concrete "sightseeing road". I had to be out there... me, the trees, the rocks, and the abyss. It was truly wonderful. Whenever I go to the national park close to where I live (5000+ square miles, gigantic for our area), I rediscover the love I have for running... an activity I can't enjoy unless I'm surrounded by trees, grass, birds, and fresh air.
I'm stuck in a cubicle for now but working on my "escape route". Just as soon as my online business can sustain our little family, we're outta the city and into the mountains. I'm still in my 20s, but I just can't come to terms with spending 40 precious hours every week in a place I hate doing work I don't like, living only for the weekend and holidays. I don't want to spend life looking forward to escaping my current life. I want to enjoy the life I live, and that includes doing what I love and living where I want to be.
I was thinking about this thread yesterday as I used a 5' Howse rotary mower behind a Ford 8n tractor to mow my front yard. Yes, I know how "country" feels.
I also know how "country" sounds and some of the new country music sounds are not so bad as everyone makes them out to be. I'm more of a Wynn Stewart-Patsy Cline-George Jones-Ernest Tubb fellow myself but what I do like about the new stuff is that most of the new tunes include more than two or three guitar chords. Anyway, unless I'm trying to learn to play a tune, I tend to listen to the music more than the lyrics.
BTW, I don't normally mow my lawn around my house with a field tractor. The PTO clutch burned out on my Craftsman garden tractor and I just haven't gotten the new one installed yet.
The lyrics the OP posted are quite good. Yet, (sigh) a lot of "new country" music is missing something. That something is intangible. Very difficult to verbalize. An older song, "Country State of Mind", comes close, but, a person has to really LIVE it, to get it.
It's a myriad combination of things, that coalesce in a person. Smells, sights, touch, sounds and a bit of that elusive sixth sense. A feeling that comes when I dance with my precious lady to a tune played by the wind and the birds. No plug in or stereo required. That moment, when we let the tune fade, and see that the dogs, the barn cat, and such, are watching us like we are plumb bug s***. Lmao! Priceless!! Silly humans, wasting perfectly good nap time spinning around like drunken monkeys. That is, if they knew what a monkey is. Humans are as close as it gets. Haha.
That feeling that comes, having that first cup of coffee, bout an hour before dawn breaks, where everything is just...right. Quiet, peaceful, maybe I can watch my gallons snooze, her hair flipped over her face. Everything just still. Shhhh! Don't make a sound! Just enjoy it, as the smell of hayfields and horses drifts in the open windows.
Alas, my neighbor down the way has friggin' chickens. First hint of grey in the east, and the damn rooster ends Magic Hour, gonna make a stew out of him one of these days! His caterwallin' stirs up every critter on the place, so, may as well go throw an arm over my sweety and see what she wants for breakfast. See if I can help her through the grumps that damn rooster tosses on her.
Yea....I know how "country" feels. And, it's just that...a feeling. Trendy words like "lifestyle" and such just don't describe it. No words can. I just try to hold on to a little of that pre dawn magic as the day drifts on. Come what may, I know I will see it again tomorrow.
A snippett of lyrics that touch on it all for me...
Got Nashville friends
That think I'm strange
To make my home out on the range
They think it's nothing..
But a Godforsaken land
Just bring your guitar and family
Move in down to Tennesee
I just smile...cuz they don't understand
But if you've ever held yer woman
On a Summers evening
While the prairie moon was blazing in her eyes
You'll know why
I live
Beneath these Western skies.
Last edited by NVplumber; 08-09-2013 at 08:24 AM..
One of my favorites, NV.
I saw that song performed three different times over about 10 years...As a college kid, as a newlywed and as a new mom. It speaks to me every time I hear it.
I was thinking about this thread yesterday as I used a 5' Howse rotary mower behind a Ford 8n tractor to mow my front yard. Yes, I know how "country" feels.
I also know how "country" sounds and some of the new country music sounds are not so bad as everyone makes them out to be. I'm more of a Wynn Stewart-Patsy Cline-George Jones-Ernest Tubb fellow myself but what I do like about the new stuff is that most of the new tunes include more than two or three guitar chords. Anyway, unless I'm trying to learn to play a tune, I tend to listen to the music more than the lyrics.
BTW, I don't normally mow my lawn around my house with a field tractor. The PTO clutch burned out on my Craftsman garden tractor and I just haven't gotten the new one installed yet.
My moms yard got high when she was in the nursing home so I cut her yard with my brushhog. LOL
One of my favorites, NV.
I saw that song performed three different times over about 10 years...As a college kid, as a newlywed and as a new mom. It speaks to me every time I hear it.
Lol. Ol' Chris could always come through, couldn't he? I guess, if we wanna get sticky, there is actually a line twixt "country"and "western". There are, distinct, traits,unique to both lifestyles. "Farm" and "ranch". Different, but highly symbiotic as well. One can't live without the other, and the cities can't live without either. (Sigh) but neither can we get things done without things from the cities. Parts and supplies.
It's an interesting triangle.
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