If I were a song writer...

I definitely wouldn't win a Grammy... but maybe a CMA?
Here's evidence for why this is not a viable career option for me in these disembodied lyrics that pop into my head while on the tredmill:

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that guy at the gym, in the Yankee shirt, looked just like you/ he reminded me how long it took to get over all we'd been through/ damn those biceps because they just won't let me forget the way I loved you

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Maybe we could leave tonight, my bags are already packed. It's a round trip ticket with a return date in the corner. But I know I wouldn't mind if we decided to stay a lifetime.

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I said I wanted fame and red hot corvette/ some Gucci sandals and a house on the beach/ I said I wanted Oprah eating out the palm of my hand and Letterman lined up for a one night stand/ but I forgot how I said I'd get there/ the doors are closed and I just don't have the key/ just an old guitar and some broken down dreams

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he wears his polo shirt second hand and a size too big/ but can you blame him when his favorite designer is the Good Will?/ he ain't got game or a swagger to kill/ but behind those spectacles he's got the kind of hazel eyes that just won't let me say good-bye

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I need a Whole Foods Bag full of money aight?

Ladies Love Country Boys: The Truth About Country

Country is an under-appreciated over mocked genre.

Okay, sure there are a lot of songs with super corny moralizing stories about the wrongs of drinking and driving or about God's mysterious ways. But if there's two things Country know how to do it's make fun of itself and how to lay one mean guitar riff.

Country believes in paying homage to its legends. Everyone that won an award at the CMAs this year thanked the musicians who came before and inspired them. There's something nice about a genre of music that openly acknowledges that it has a past that has shaped its present. I also love the way sooo many country songs today reference the Greats in their lyrics. Here's a handful:
Kid Rock -- All Summer long
Jason Alden -- Johnny Cash
Trace Adkins -- Ladies Love Country Boys
Taylor Swift -- Tim McGraw

Country is a genre that limits the amount of ass-wiggling in its videos. Take Lady Antebellum's "Lookin' for a Good Time." It's a song about a one-night stand but the video is a 1960s, American Bandstand type concert. It's so nice to see people singing in music videos for a change. And then there's Trace Adkins' "Honky Tonk Badonkadonk" -- a song about ass wiggling, but one that effectively makes fun of all those rap videos with under-clad gyrating females. It's my favorite answer to Sir Mix Alot's I like Big Butts.

Country is a music of images and of serious guitar. Listen to the lyrics (in songs other than the one's i've linked to): they do more than tell stories, they actually create vivid photograph snapshot scenes.It's actually hard for me to understand Tom Petty and Jimi Hendrix fans who say they hate country. Or old school rock n' roll fans for that matter. As far as I can tell, it's the only popular genre left today that still emphasizes the singer-musician and multilayer instrumentals. Timberland wouldn't survive a minute in Nashville... and I think that's a wondrous thing.