#5 The Cosmic Curator: š¤ šŖ Country music for cosmic people
It all started with a dirt road in October 2015...
This upcoming Tuesday will be my husband and Iās 2nd wedding anniversary, but it hasnāt always been blissful marital relations.
It all started when I fell in love with a man named Jeffrey at Georgia Tech in 2015.
This guy was simultaneously excited and nervous to take me to meet his family in a small town he grew up in that sat in between the rolling mountains of North Georgia, close to the start of the Appalachian Trail head.
A town called Blairsville, Georgia.
For context, I had grown up in the suburbs of Atlanta, with Asian parents, and so rural American life was a foreign one, and dare I say, one to be ridiculed. I hated country music, never understood it, and hated the way they twanged and twunged as they belted, āCountry girl, shake it for me.ā
Shiver.
But before I knew it, it was October 2015, and I was sitting in a truck, on a dirt road, with hazel eyes glimmering from the fading October sun peering over at me from the driverās side. The cows in the background were mooāing.
I was definitely falling in loveā¦ not just with the driver, but with the magic of the dirt road.
Sometimes, you canāt predict life. If someone had told me at age 15 that I would be married to a country boy, Iād have spit out my bubble tea. But, we are all in a current, and this current has been one of the greatest blessings of my life and my family. The trick is to be grateful to the current, and swim downstream, rather than resisting it.
As such, when I began searching for new music in college, I revisited country as a genre. Despite hating it throughout my entire life, I began to sincerely enjoy it.
I finally understood it, probably because I had finally begun to live it. Themes of nostalgia for a tiny place that few people know about, landscapes that humble you, and relationships between people that are complicated and varied pepper the often- misunderstood genre of country music.
You just have to know where to find the good stuff.
As such, here is my list of country songs that may take you to a place youāve never been (and even, I hope, take you back to a place youāve always known was home).
Link to the full playlist on Spotify here.
Miranda Lambert
I had heard of Miranda in high school from people at church, but I began to fall in love with her music when she released her muddy, retrospective post-breakup album āThe Weight of These Wings.ā Miranda is feisty, furious, a puddle-on-the-ground, and sharp-as-a-knife, all at the same time.
Miranda has also been one of the only mainstream country artists, in my opinion, who has never lost her rock nā roll essence. Artists like Kacey Musgraves have changed their whole sound to appeal to the masses, but Mirandaās career is a masterclass in authenticity.
Corb Lund
If you have a dad who loves fixinā things, loves his tools, and starts 100 projects but has never quite finished any of them, youāll want to send him this song.
Corb Lund writes comedic country songs, and is one of the most underrated indie country artists currently. Heās also great live.
The Chicks (Formerly The Dixie Chicks)
I admire The Chicks for their strength in belief, as their career went downhill after their famous incident in London when they spoke out against George W. Bush.
Their music is also amazing, and has always been a testament to skill and variance in country music.
Patty Griffin
Pattyās song āHeavenly Dayā was the song I walked down the aisle to. Everytime I hear it, I tear up, because our wedding was indeed a heavenly, heavenly day.
Other Greats
One thing Iāve always loved about country music is its plethora of dark nā stormy songs. Themes about murder, greed, depression, anxiety, fear, and expansion into light, saviorism, and jilted lovers abound. Here are a few songs that explain what I mean.
Tyler sings about an artifact commonly lusted after in the Appalachian Coal Belt known as a ābanded clovis,ā i.e., arrowheads that can be sold for up to a few thousand dollars. Listen to the full song to hear how two broke junkies that find one clovis decide who gets to keep it.
This song has been one of the darker songs from Parker, but Iāve loved it since Iāve heard it, as it reveals accepting the part of you that wishes to self-destruct.
This song needs no introduction, but I talked about this in a past edition of The Cosmic Curator as a song that diminishes no part of our disturbing souls. Our loneliness, fear, and ensuing violence towards self and others is perhaps one of the most common threads across humanity.
Fun, jaunty tune that leans into the ācosmic countryā subgenre. Just listen to it!
I got to see Emily live in Roswell, Georgia this past summer. She is super fun, and this is one of her original songs that I fell in love with. She has an awesome Western, honky-tonk style twang to her music, and she has cute themes about staying strong, drivinā and cryinā, and beinā on the ranch.
How do you feel about country? Love it or hate it? Have any other songs to add to this playlist?
šš½ Let me know in the comments and we can add them to the Cosmic Country Playlist!
See you all on Tuesday. ā¤ļø
Much love,
RenƩe