The Essence of Country Music and some recommendations

This is not a post about how modern country music is so bad. It is about why old country music is so good.

I always had a strange affinity for country music. The strum of the guitar in the background, the gliding harmonica sweetening the melody, the fiddle raising the music to godliness and yet bringing it among the circle of common folk, all these things I have associated with country music and cherished them. But the most important part (for me) was always the lyrics—the storytelling.
Now if you know that I have been writing since I was seventeen years old after I read The Hobbit in two days or that I am currently working on my first fantasy novel (follow this blog not to miss updates about it), it would not take a genius to understand why I fell in love with country music.

How can you not? In a length of three or four minutes, they take you on a journey from the dust of the earth to the nebulas of the galaxies. And the guitar, the harmonica, and the fiddle follow like they were the instruments which sung the very foundations of the world.

And I don’t think I am alone in thinking this. Country songs are known for the tales which are woven in the fabric of, maybe more than any genre I have known. There are stories of hope and deep longings, of romance and lost love, of life and death, of victory and defeat, life and God. You will find a song for every tear and every smile, for every lament and every celebration, for every vice and for every virtue. All one has to do is search through the vast gallery of it.

And I have just started… and struck gold. Every person will have his own taste, but I will say to you, there is a song for everybody. And I found multiple songs for myself. These songs are from two artists Garth Brooks and Randy Travis, who are already household names, but there is nothing wrong with starting with the best.

1. Unanswered Prayers by Garth Brooks

Unanswered Prayers is a song about what it could be like if things had gone a different way, but in the end, believing what had happened in the end happened for the best. Here, Garth’s voice has a sharp tone to it, yet when he is singing; he makes it sweet as butter. Every time the chorus comes in, you feel the relief and thankfulness pour out of Garth, and you can’t help but feel the calm and love wash over you too.

2. Standing Outside the Fire by Garth Brooks

If in Unanswered Prayers, Garth’s voice was a flute, here it is a trumpet. The song starts with a beautiful guitar and goes for a while setting the mood. Then, Garth comes in with striking line:

We call them cool

Those hearts that have no scars to show

The ones that never do let go

And risk the tables being turned

Just after the stanza, an electric guitar comes in as if agreeing with Garth. Garth sings his soliloquy until the chorus bursts in so sudden that it throws you off for a moment like a sudden flash of lightning, a glorious, fleeting joy. The joy does not end though, a fiddle roars in like thunder carrying it around the senses of the listener.

After that… well, listen to it and find out for yourself.

3. Three Wooden Crosses by Randy Travis

If Garth Brook’s voice is like a river where the water floods or soothes, Randy’s Travis voice is like the mountains with its echoing caves and wide hillsides. There is a roughness to his voice as if he has lived a hundred years around rocky landscapes and sandy shores, but in his accent, there is a whispering hum which is like the wild, westward winds or the soft, splashing waves.

And ‘Three Wooden Crosses’ is the perfect song to show all these qualities of the great Randy Travis. And more so, he tells a beautiful story in the song with a three-act structure: a beginning, a middle, and an end. I wish I could praise this song more, but I don’t want to spoil anything.

4. Deeper than the Holler by Randy Travis

This is a song that any struggling writer (or forlorn lover) will be able to sympathize with and praise with enthusiasm. ‘Deeper than the Holler’ is a simple, love song. But it is a love song about how one can sing a love song. There are millions of love songs around the world, but one has to say his love in his own way with what he knows. Well, Deeper than the Holler is just Randy’s simple way of saying it in his own words, and by simple, I mean awesome!

5. Look Heart, No Hands by Randy Travis

'Look Heart, No Hands" is about nostalgia. It is about the time when you were free, bold, and without fear. It is about things long gone, and the memories which still come from time to time. But, the song is not a lament. The singer is not looking into the past to be lost in it; instead, the singer is using the past to praise what he has now. What does he have? Well, listen to the song to find out.

Well, these are the song I found most poignant to me. Maybe they will touch you deep within too, or it may not. But, nonetheless, you won’t be able to say, it was not good. Because when country is done right, it is sublime.

If you have a favorite country song, comment below.

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