COUNTRY WASN'T COOL

I would like to take this opportunity to divulge a BIG secret that I have been hiding for all these years. I LOVE COUNTRY MUSIC.

I’m not referring to the new wave cross-over country/rock n’ roll music. I’m talkin’ about the uncool old-time, backwoods, honky-tonk country.

Songs featurin’ the good ol’ boys (Waylon Jennings, Hank Williams, George Jones, Kenny Rogers and Johnny Cash) and the famous female crooners (Dolly Parton, Patsy Cline, Barbara Mandrell, Loretta Lynn, and Tammy Wynette).

How is this possible? An urban fashionista, such as myself, swayin’ to music from the Deep South?

I wasn’t always an urbanite. When my parents immigrated to Canada, the government assigned the majority of Vietnamese refugees to Alberta, the Nashville of the North.

From the age of five, I grew up watching Hee Haw, Barbara Mandrell and the Mandrell Sisters, and The Dukes of Hazzard. Even Sesame Street was a little bit country with a Muppet called Polly Darton;

the show also included a slew of notable guest appearances by Crystal Gayle, Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson.

I was young and impressionable.

At age nine, moving to Toronto, I quickly discovered “Country Music” was a pejorative term with the city slickers. I was country when country wasn’t cool. So, I relegated myself to being a closet country fan. The best thing about lovin’ old country songs is that you can put it away for years and comeback to it without ever having to update your collection.

I have a kooky knack for turning ANY song (including hip-hop songs) into a country song. I particularly like doing this when driving in the car with David, because it amuses him. Yes, we have established the fact that I am a BIG NERD; I’m just giving you more ammunition to justify calling me one to my face.

So why am I admitting this now? I don’t really know. Maybe because I vehemently denied it to a coworker who loves country (although, she likes new country), maybe because it’s safer to do it in a blog than to personally affirm my penchant for Country. It’s like a confessional, only to a lot of people (all 9 of my readers) all at once.

So now that it’s all out in the open, I’d like to acquaint you to my country and share with y’all a track list of my homemade mix tape for your researching pleasure.

Good Old Boys (Dukes of Hazzard Theme) – Waylon Jennings
I Was Country When Country Wasn't Cool – Barbara Mandrell
Sweet home Alabama – Lynard Skynard
I Never Promised You A Rose Garden – Loretta Lynn
Coward of the County – Kenny Rogers
Ghost Riders in the Sky – Johnny Cash & Willie Nelson
There’s a Tear in my Beer – Hank Williams Sr.
Jolene – Dolly Parton
Gambler – Kenny Rogers
Mamas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Cowboys – Waylon Jennings
The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia - Vicki Lawrence
You are my Sunshine – Hank Williams Sr.
Jackson – Johnny Cash & June Carter Cash
Crazy- Patsy Cline
A Boy Named Sue – Johnny Cash
White Lighting – George Jones
Island in the Stream – Kenny Rogers & Dolly Parton

Find the songs, listen to the songs, give it a chance. Live a little! Do it, everyone else is! It's harmless, I promise.