I was watching an episode of Oprah I DVR'd (procrastinating yet again...this semester is killing me ya'll) and the whole episode was dedicated to some of country music's hottest stars. The guests were Carrie Underwood (love her), Kenny Chesney (ehh), Sugarland (yeah!), and Darius Rucker (if you were a Hootie and the Blowfish fan you know who he is).

Oprah said something to him like "Wouldn't you agree that country is the real soul music" or something like that. She brought up how he's only the third African American to top the country charts behind Ray Charles and Charlie Pride. Cool. I thought about it and how country music is seen as such a "white" thing typically. But if you look at country's roots you see it has a complex history:

Country music was a federation of styles, rather than a monolithic style. Its origins were lost in the early decades of colonization, when the folk dances (Scottish reels, Irish jigs, and square dances, the poor man's version of the French "cotillion" and "quadrille") and the British ballad got transplanted into the new world and got contaminated by the religious hymns of church and camp meetings. The musical styles were reminiscent of their British ancestors. The lyrics, on the other hand, were completely different. The Americans disliked the subject of love, to which they preferred pratical issues such as real-world experiences (ranching, logging, mining, railroads) and real-world tragedies (bank robberies, natural disasters, murders, train accidents).

The instrumentation included the banjo, introduced by the African slaves via the minstrel shows, the Scottish "fiddle" (the poor man's violin, simplified so that the fiddler could also sing) and the Spanish guitar (an instrument that became popular in the South only around 1910). Ironically, as more and more blacks abandoned the banjo and adopted the guitar, the banjo ended up being identified with white music, while the guitar ended up being identified as black music. For example, Hobart Smith learned to play from black bluesman Blind Lemon Jefferson, but went on to play the banjo while Jefferson played the guitar.

Growing up I always felt conflicted about the type of music I 'should' like versus the music I did like. Sometimes what I liked was different that what I thought I 'should" like and sometimes it was the same. Being from Nashville, TN, I always heard "Oh you're from Nashville so I know you like country!" Back in the 90's I really didn't. But now, since country is slightly more pop Ifind myself liking it more and more. I love Carrie Underwood and Sugarland. And before Darius went country (although he always sounded a little country to me), I liked Hootie and the Blowfish.

So each act performed on the show. When it was Darius's turn, he chose a beautiful slow song written about his daugter. Pictures and videos of his wife and kids splashed across the screen behind the band as they played. It is such a tender song about a dad watching his babies grow, knowing that one day they will be all grown up. I liked it so much I thought I'd share. Country might not be your thing but this song is lovely. I'm thinking I'll go check out his cd this weekend...



Oh...and if you haven't heard this one by Sugarland, Miss Jennifer Nettles will make a believer out of you. (BTW the other half of Sugarland is Mr. Kristian Bush of Bush's baked beans, lol!!!)Brings me to tears to watch her. Click here to see the actual video, for some reason I can't embed it.