\It seems that the older I get the longer it takes to explain what kind of music I like. I blame this on the marketing boys and their endless need to come up with new names for the same old thing. Like when I first got interested in Punk, you would find all the punk records in the "Punk" section. Over time this changed in the order of New Wave, Hardcore, College, Indy or Import and then Alternative. Now in these bends there would be a mixture of just about everything that wouldn't fit elsewhere.

Out of all the music styles that I've had a passion for Country has to be the most abused. It has been a marketing term from everything from the soul touching ballads of Hank Williams to the current modern pop country singers and everything in between. Usually the person on the other side of this conversation has a vision of what the word country means and unless you go through a long dialog they usually seem to worst example that has been sold under the country brand.

So, I find myself going into this long winded explanation of just what I like. The word "Traditional" usually sends their mind a spinning through a list of Alt. Country bands that I've never heard of or  Kenny Rodgers. The easiest answer is to just say like Johnny Cash. Then they raise an eyebrow and spill out a "Ohhhh." and then the conversation moves on. See cause to explain it would mean a long history lesson that would bore your average music tourist.

You see country is at the roots of most of my music tastes. It's smelted deep within my Irish, Scot and Welsh bones. It calls to something deep within. It's been called the people's music and more often then not, it's the roots and it has been mixed with just about everything. On this list you can hear folk, blue glass, jazz, blues and even punk and it's all country to me.

Spotify Links:

• We got both kinds. We got Country and Western.
• We got both kinds. We got Country *and* Western.