Sorry, but I can't purposely listen to country music. A little here and there is ok, but too much just damages the brain too much.

I don't understand the love of Springsteen's music. To me he sounds like he is muttering while trying not to puke or belch. He is about as unappealing as a singer that I can imagine.

But... it doesn't rock.

Dudes, the only Springsteen I like is the Born to Run album, circa 1973.

And if you don't wanna support the guy, there's always used CDs or MP3 rips.

Music is a more rewarding experience if you are willing to listen to music and people that you don't like in addition to those you do.

For example, I enjoy listening to choral, classical, and gospel music that is often entirely devoted to the subject of Jesus.

While some might be concerned that I would blow up in a cloud of sulfurous smoke upon hearing the first chord, that hasn't happened yet. I suppose I just like to live dangerously.

And best of all, unlike in country music, no one has to go through the pain of their wife or husband leaving them, their truck breaking down, and their dog dying.

While having an open mind is disdained upon and even considered treasonous by some nowadays, it does have it's benefits. Namely the discovery and enjoyment of beautiful things.

And it speaks to a larger issue. More and more, people only listen to others that think the same things they do. Perhaps its a way of enforcing to ourselves that what we think is correct. But if our ideas are too fragile to stand up to outside scrutiny then what good can they truly be in the first place?

So if I don't want to listen to Springsteen because I don't like his music or his politics, it's really because my ideas on ...something... "are too fragile to stand up to outside scrutiny?"

Uh, sure.

Back to the actual topic:
Toby Keith's Honkytonk University is pretty darn rockin'. And George Strait's new CD which comes out on Tuesday has been getting excellent reviews.

I have very mixed emotions about country music. Some of it is great - Dwight Yoakam, Buck Owens, and Johnny Cash for example. Most, however, is second-class pop - painful to listen to... I find myself hitting the scan button too frequently when on a country station.

Also, although some country music embodies more conservative themes, most is still about sex, drinking, and generally bad behavior. Plus, the modern politcal stuff is has the depth of a bumper sticker.

Dierks freakin' Bentley?! Toby frickin' Keith? I wanna barf. What a bunch of talentless, a** of the Nashvegas-assembly line kissing poseurs. Do you people know that these Nashville wh*res go behind closed doors--where their accents magically disappear--and attempt to come up with something that will appeal to the stupidest Walmart loyalists imaginable? And the college-educated supposed philosophers on this blog actually swallow it? What about George Jones? What about Merle Haggard? What about "Waylon God**n Jennings (as he referred to himself)? What about Gram Parsons? If you want sincerity, get the real stoned-and-drunk-off-its-a** thing, not some frickin' Milli Vanilli-slash-David Cassidy with biceps-for-rednecks affected horse manure. And Springsteen can write and sing circles around these clowns. Get ahold of a copy of Emmylou Harris covering "My Father's House" or "The Promised Land." They leave no doubt as to Springsteen's writing talents. As for Dwight, he's brilliant, but his current band sucks, all the more since his original band was the best darn one around after the Desert Rose Band broke up. I mean, Pete Anderson was half of Dwight's appeal. And BTW, as for Dwight not hating what ya'll stand fer', his best friend according to Entertainment Weekly is Billy Bob Thornton--not exactly a Christian conservative. Who in the h*ll made this Mr. Doubtless an expert on music, much less country music? I suppose he thinks Nashvegas Star and American Idol are more than bad karaoke with judges! Jesùs Chrìsto!

Ah, JB. We meet again.

The notion that art is just supposed to "entertain" is perfectly fine - and makes me feel perfectly claustrophobic. And you sniff at people who say a song "saved their life" - and it is an adolescent, hyperbolic thing to say - but what IS wrong with art that affects you deeply?

And I like rock and roll (and a lot of country, although very little of what I like comes from Nashville). And if I want to listen to rock done by Republicans, what are my options? The dull Ted Nugent, the dead Johnny Ramone, and the obscure (and magnificent) Franky Perez...and that's about it.

I'm as conservative as the day is long - certainly more conservative than JB Doubtless, politically speaking - and yet I'm a huge fan of lefty rockers like Springsteen, the Clash, Little Steven, the Iron City Houserockers, and on and on. On the one hand, I don't care what their politics are - and most of their music isn't political, while a song like "The Promised Land" or "Atlantic City" or "Men Without Women" or "Blood On The Bricks" or "Death Or Glory" has a deep, long-lasting affect on my outlook (and is apolitical anyway).

And if they get political - so what? The Clash's "Sandinista" came out my senior year of high school - and listening to it and dissecting the politics *made me a better Conservative*. NO question.

This desire - it almost seems like *eagerness* - to shun challenge and be merely entertained - seems to be the antithesis of what it takes to be a good, engaged conservative activist. Challenge is good.

I've enjoyed lots of country stars' music when they've expressed political views I abhor. When I go to the movies, it makes no difference to me what an actor's ideology is. I have no doubt that I've invited some really right-wing kooks to dinner parties, sometimes because they are friends, other times friends of friends.

Well, let me go through the hymnal and make sure I'm not singing anything written by a Calvinist, or worse, a Baptist.

used to like Springsteen, long time ago. used to think it was cool how he kept the "boys" together. Then he got the big head and screwed "the boys" dumped his wife...

When you go back and listen to his stuff, it was just about getting laid and being pissed off that others aren't as cool as him. I used to like "Born" and "Darkness" when I was a jerk like him.

He is just living out what he thinks. When his solo career goes down the toilet, he brings the boys back.

We met Dierks at a Welcome Home BBQ for Marines rotating back from Iraq, at 29 Palms. His music rocks! It is not old school country, it is tight.

He is also a great young man. He loves what he is doing, what he sings about. He came out while others were setting up and mike checking and just mixed with all the boys and the little kids around. This is a keeper. Good music and good world view.

Now, real rock music... check out some of the Christian rock like MxPx and Slick Shoes. These are also people we know, personally. Nice guys!!

Also the Supertones play ska, they are real good. Real Biblical lyrics.

Music is best when it is an expression of the best in human experience, not the worst.

Y'all could avoid this whole debate if you joined me by listening to jazz and classical. ;)

OK Ed, I'll go with you on Springsteen's writing skills, but he sounds like a bass/tenor version of Dylan most of the time... I mean he is no crooner.

What about Pat Gree, Robert Earl Keen or Lyle Lovett? There are many Texas artists worth listening to. Looking for a great songwriter you need look no further than Guy Clark or John Prine.

I agree with Matt too about jazz, but I also add the blues. Diana Krall is a favorite there.

Russell:

I happen to like Springsteen's singing. He sounds mournful as hell on the ballads on Darkness ("Racing in the Streets," yet another that Emmylou covered) and the River ("Stolen Car," "The Promised Land"). But then again, I like Steve Earle's singing (his accent just oozes "F you," and some of his stuff might not work if he didn't have that built-in vocal swagger). I mean, they can't all be "the second greatest singer in the world" (as Sinatra jokingly referred to George Jones).

I like Lyle. Haven't heard his whole catalog, but I have and love most of the Joshua Judges Ruth album ("We got some beans and some good cornbread, now listen to what the preacher said!").

I find Pat Green to be one of many Steve Earle wannabes. If Joe Ely is Steve Earle-light, then Pat Green is Steve Earle-ultra light; low-carb and non-alcoholic. I've only ever heard Prine's and Keen's names, never their stuff. Will have to get around to them one day.

I never got the appeal of Guy Clark. Emmylou, Steve, Townes Van Zandt, Rodney Crowell--they all praised him and hung around him, but I have yet to hear the song of his that makes me go, "Ah, so that's what all the hype is about." Whatever that song he does at the beginning of "Heartworn Highways" is the best of his I've heard. ("If I can ever get off of this LA freeway without gettin' killed or caught...")

I still say "Late for the Sky" is the greatest album ever. Just thought I'd toss that in there. Isn't it odd that the great majority of the people who make life beautiful and interesting are...not Christian conservatives?

My favorite jazz record is probably Ella Fitzgerald's Duke Ellington Songbook, vol. 2. You ever hear Shaver's Live at Smith's Olde Bar record? It's an awesome country/blues/rock record. (That happens to have been produced by a guy who has produced both Springsteen and the Offspring) It's an unbelievable record of Eddie's talents. It is that show that I think inspired the reporter to ponder, "If Hendrix had lived...would he have become as good as Eddie Shaver?"

BTW, Russell,

Do we agree that Dierks Bentley is a grade-A piece of crap musically? And that Dwight's sound is alien without Pete Anderson?

Ed, we agree that Dirks is not a musical genius.

Guy Clark has written many songs that others recorded, Ricky Skaggs "Heartbroke" was one. I like ot listen to him for the story he tells. Check out "The Cape" or "Dublin Blues" sometime. "Out in the Parking Lot" is a fun one and brings back some memories of youth.

Ella, Duke Ellington, Shaw, Sinatra.. didn' think I needed to say anything there. Love the classics.

www.davidwilcox.com - this guy is awesome, quite the storyteller, writes and performs all his own stuff! On his "Live Songs and Stories", the songs "Moe" and "Waffle House" are just too funny! We got to catch him in concert in Houston, TX several summers ago. Just him, his guitar, a mic, in a church parking lot! If you ever get a chance to catch his concert - GO! If not, just get a cd or two!