There is something about music that reaches down into our souls and has a seemingly permeant impact on our lives. Some songs bring happiness, some remind us of those we have lost, while others encourage us to grab life by the horns and live life to the fullest degree possible. The most beautiful and incredibly profound thing about music that blows my mind is that you and I can listen to the same song and it means 2 vastly different things to us, yet it still has the same drastic impact on our lives.
Whatever the case maybe, the music found on the Texas Country/Red Dirt music scene seems to have some of the biggest impacts on people’s lives that I have seen with my own eyes from the innocent joy I see in my daughter’s eyes when listening to Mike Ryan’s amazing cover of the Conway Twitty golden ballad ‘Slow Hand’ while riding in the car, to songs that make you stop and think, like Barbed Wire Halo by Aaron Watson. Music is what I like to call the soul’s canvas to paint vivid stores of adventure, sadness, and joy. We allow ourselves to get lost in the stories told by these amazing story-telling songwriters. Songs that share stories of respect, like Kyle Park and his ode ‘Fit for a King’ to honor George Strait, songs that make you look at things from a different perspective, like Pat Green and his canned truth about being a parent in ‘Footsteps of our Fathers’, and songs of human perseverance,like Wade Bowen’s ‘Lost Hotel’, are just a few examples of the spectrum of colors painted with music.
Every song has a birthplace. A random strum of a Fender, a story in the news, or a life lesson learned the hard way all must start somewhere. So, this is my promise to you the reader to learn the stories behind the songs we love so dearly, we need to understand what the songs mean to the artist that wrote them, how they have morphed into what they are now, and what drives them to continue to shed light on stories to come. I will often ask for your feedback on not only what has been written, but who you would like to hear from or about and do my very best to make it happen. Honesty and integrity are morals that are at the top of my list, even more so when it comes to the content I intend to provide. And with that said, in the words of my good friend Brandon Rhyder… Let the good times roll!
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