Paris Glover

   Growing up, country music was not necessarily something I was “raised on”. As a child, when driving in the car my core memories related to 80’s music. Michael Jackson, Guns and Roses, and Aerosmith were all too familiar to me. One faithful day, ’80s on 8 (through Sirus-XM) was playing a song my dad wasn’t super interested in. He started channel surfing and we came upon channel 57, Y2Country. Y2Country truly was the moment I started hearing country and enjoying it. When the Sun Goes Down, Chicken Fried, I Got The Boy, and It Won’t Be Like This For Long all became things I listened to daily. Of course, this was around 2015. While these songs weren’t old they also weren’t entirely new either. Judging by the station name Y2Country, one can assume these songs were from the early 2000’s.

      Years later, around 2018, I began learning to drive. My father is significantly taller than me (but then again, who isn’t taller than me), every time I would have to get in the car it would take me a solid 15 seconds to move the seat up closer to the steering wheel. One day I moved a little too close and my leg hit the channel adjustment button. I accidentally knocked the lever one channel down, to 56, putting me onto a station called “The Highway”. Luke Combs, Thomas Rhett and Morgan Wallen all began playing. This music seemed more exciting and gave me a real breakthrough moment for country music. It took me several days to realize I was no longer on channel 57, focusing on early 2000s music. Instead, I was listening to what Sirus-XM cited as “the next generation of country superstars”. This was my kind of music. Not too old school but also not necessarily following that pop/rap culture music that wasn’t exactly my cup of tea. Country music quickly became such an important part of my life, that I truly never listened to anything else. Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, Rhianna were all unfamiliar to me. Seeing Carrie Underwood and Luke Combs in concert were two truly unforgettable experiences.

      One thing particular about my perception of learning through this class is the fact that it gets to be hands on. To be perfectly honest, tempo, beat, chorus, melody are all foreign terms to me. I never knew how to read music. However I do truly feel that this class has helped me experience the more “hands on learning” technique High Point advertises. Listening to songs like Coat of Many Colors or Red Solo cup and hearing the change in the verses to the chorus, hearing the beats and rhythm are all very helpful. Something in particular that really gave me that “aha moment” was when we discussed bridges. Obviously I knew that songs had that one weird part near the end where it seems like they stray away from the initial lyrics a little bit, but I never knew it served a significant purpose. In class, hearing that explanation of the bridge being designed to “reel you back in” after you have heard the same part of the song a few times was a very helpful concept and really clicked in my head in the sense that “oh, now I see why they do that”.

Before entering this class, I stated I believed country music is the central “idea” of country music is southern, in the traditional days more of a honky-tonk type, a genre of music that targets several main issues. These issues are love, heartbreak, work, and alcohol. Obviously I knew there wlould be stray songs here and there that did not follow this generic statement, I believed this was a good generalized statement to stand by. 

        As silly as it sounds, upon hearing the song “Trailerhood” by Toby Keith, I felt as though my opinion on what country music was truly about began to change. When I initially heard this song in class I found the concept of it rather funny and entertaining. I thought it was hilarious someone would write a song about this and the fact that it was such a successful song was even more hilarious. Toby Keith (rest in peace…) writes such hilarious songs, but this one was just so different from the rest. This is then what made me realize that country music is so much more than I had initially stated, following the love, heartbreak, work and alcohol theme. Trailerhood is a song where the late Toby Keith pokes fun at the trailerhood lifestyle, particularly saying this was his lifestyle and he enjoyed it greatly! He talks about the trashy pools, the strange neighbors and the weird sense of community in a trailer park. Looking back at my previous belief of themes, making fun of a trailer lifestyle was most definitely not one of them. This is simply just a “why the hell not” song. I now believe a significant aspect of country music is genuinely just about whatever the artist desires it to be about. Country music artists can write about so much more than other genres do, and the fact that the fan bases will still love them no matter what is such an inspirational thing.

        Another pivotal moment in my learning through this class was hearing the song “Kisses Sweeter Than Wine” by Jimmie Rodgers. As I have said in class many times, that older country music just isn’t really my style. While it still really isnt my cup of tea, this song by Jimmie Rodgers made me realize not all old country is bad. I think more than anything, the reason I disliked old school country was its slow beat and soft sound. I love artists like Morgan Wallen and Luke Combs because they have so much going on in their songs. However, Kisses Sweeter Than Wine was a slow song, but such a good message. I loved what the song was about, it was so nice to listen to and comprehend the lyrics without a million other background noises. Taking the time to listen and understand the meaning behind this song was such a interesting moment for me.

        A final smaller yet significant moment for me was the analysis of Morgan Wallens “Whiskey Glasses”. Saying I love this song is an understatement. But until we analyzed it, I never got to see the true detail that was in it. As silly as it sounds, I remember reading the lyrics and seeing “poor me, pour me” and thinking “NO WAY. I THOUGHT IT WAS JUST POUR ME POUR ME”. Never in a million years would I have thought of it that way. Analyzing that song and seeing all the elements of it really opened by eyes to the detail these artists put in these songs that might be overlooked by the usual crowd.

        Going forward, my learning will be able to expand in relationship to country music in many ways. I feel as though I am now more able to understand the variations of themes in country music, I can appreciate old school country music more and truly see the hard work and detail these artists and songwriters use when writing these amazing songs. I definitely have a changed viewpoint on country music, and I do feel it is changed for the better now!