Pickin' and Frownin'

I used the extra hour this morning to tune my guitar and to reconnect with it. She now has a new set of strings and they have a process of stretching in the dawn of their life that makes frequent tuning a necessity. While making a little noise with six strings this morning, my mind took me back to a front porch in Kentucky with friends, family, a couple of guitars and a few cases of Old Milwaukee's Best Light (a.k.a. Bullwinkles).

A perfect day at Cousin Bobby's house would begin with pitching horseshoes and drinking beer under a bright, sunny sky with just the slightest breeze to keep us from getting too hot. As dusk descended onto that lonely Kentucky road, out would come the guitars. Any given night the sounds of country, gospel, southern rock and bluegrass would drift down into the hollars, keeping cadence with crickets and bullfrogs.

As much fun as it was, we always knew that things would draw to a close each evening. So there were always promises of repeating the events on the following day. These promises were some of the best kept I have ever known. But alcohol is a depressant, and the evening would always end on a sad night. This was not entirely the fault of the beer, though. You see, the music always ended with a contest to see who could play and sing the saddest country song. (Now you're laughing!) Yes, there are many contenders. But there were always standouts, both old and new:

-He Stopped Loving Her Today (George Jones)
-Farewell Party (Gene Watson)
-The Dance (Garth Brooks)
-Lady Down On Love (Alabama)
-Don't Close Your Eyes (Keith Whitley)
-I Will Always Love You (Dolly Parton)
-Someone Else's Star (Bryan White)
-Sing Me Back Home (Merle Haggard)

Judging the contest was by majority vote. The problem was that enough beer clouded judgment. So any given participant might forget a song completely that he had been telling himself all week woud be a sure winner. Other times, a song could win two nights in a row--because no one remembered that it was a winner the night before.

I am telling you all of this to tell you that there is a new song on the block. It would be a hands-down winner if this contest were still happening today. That song is "Flowers," by Chris Young. He is the very talented (and very attractive, according to the Good Nurse) winner of last season's "Nashville Star" on the USA TV.

I am already a big fan of Chris Young and I predict that he will be standing tall next to Toby Keith and Kenny Chesney in record time (or maybe even pushing them aside!). He is the genuine article, my friends. You can buy his CD digitally or in stores. Overall, I give his first major-label album an A+. There are only a couple of songs that are patronizingly formulaic, but you can always skip over those.

As a boy from the hills of Kentucky, I know of what I speak when it comes to hill-music. You won't go wrong with this bright, new singer.