Coffee, crosswords, and country music
Happy Weekend Readers, I hope the sun is shining where you are. Here in North Yorkshire the clouds are thick and bruised, raindrops the size of dung beetles are bouncing off the pavement and I’m in the mood for some Southern Comfort and Country Music. I’ve told y’all (see how I did that?…call me flavor queen) about my childhood education in music, where the most represented genres were rock and country. Today I want to share my love of country music with you.
My Mom was mad about country music; well….all music to be fair, but country was her loudest love. Mom was always the early bird in our house and every day she did the same things. First she put on one of the MANY pots of coffee she’d drink before lunch. Then the radio was turned on and tuned in to Kissin’ Country. She’d go to the door, get the paper, fill her cup, sit down, grab a pen, open the paper and start her day. By the time I stumbled to the kitchen, she’d usually been awake for hours. The sounds and smells of morning in my childhood home are synonymous with nurturing and maternal comfort. When I think of my mom, I think of coffee, crosswords and country music.
The morning after the night my mom passed away I woke up to the radio alarm clock in my cousin Kristen’s room. It was tuned in to a country station, and the song playing was George Canyon’s ‘I Want You to Live’…(seriously, you couldn’t make this up)…and I lay there crying, thinking about all the days I had yet to live…without her. The music felt like a vice gripping my heart. For a long time I couldn’t listen to country music without that vice squeezing tighter and tighter until it seemed my heart would bust right open. It didn’t. I’m still more emotional about Dolly, Johnny, Lyle, George and Reba than I am about Mick, Blondie, Robert, or Pat – but I can listen, and enjoy some of the greatest music ever made.
These are songs that my mom loved or songs that sort of mean ‘Mom’ to me. My dad reminded me to include ‘I’ve Come to Expect it From You’….she would love him for that, I can almost hear her laughing. My mom laughed and sang and danced and loved; all while listening to country music.
George Canyon – I Want You To Live
Neil Young – Four Strong Winds
Lyle Lovett – If I Had A Boat
Vince Gill – Go Rest High On The Mountain
Reba McEntire & Kelly Clarkson – Fancy
George Strait – I’ve Come To Expect It From You
Alan Jackson – Monday Morning Church
Brad Paisley & Alison Krauss – Whiskey Lullaby
You might have noticed there were actually 8 songs this weekend. I’ll try not to let it happen again, but no promises 
