One day when I was a kid, I remember Gumpy tried to talk me into listening to more country and Western music. He loved it, listening to it on the transistor radio mounted to the right rear fender of his tractor. I think I was in my hair metal phase at this point, and I certainly wasn't about to give up Whitesnake for Willie Nelson.
He told me that my Uncle Jim discovered that studying to country and Western was easier because you didn't have to think so hard through the sound. You could just focus on a few sounds and easy lyrics. At the time, I had trouble believing that. I'm pretty sure Jim did listen to the genre, I just had trouble thinking it could help anyone study.
I learned to stomach some country, mostly because my mom loved listening to her Randy Travis tape on our trips to Traverse City but I never liked enough of it to call myself a fan or even an occasional listener. Heck, I'm listening to the Digitally Imported minimal channel while I'm writing this, so it is a stretch to think I'd ever really care for the genre.
Times are changing. It turns out that while The Kid was in foster care, she learned to listen to country as a way to fall back asleep if she woke up during the night.
I'm not about to start listening to country now, especially the drivel known as young country. So I'm compromising by starting to listen to Bluegrass when I'm in the car with The Kid. It doesn't always work to calm her down, but a little Roy Acuff or Bobby Bare will always bring a smile to my face.
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