full of enthusiasm for my new-found aural exploration, 'a' was not a difficult choice. saturday morning required some good old fashioned country music. i briefly flirted with the idea of playing anji sami's excellent el dorado e.p, but in the end decided alan was the guy for me. (i'm secretly hoping that by the time i get to 's' there might be a sami sisters album....)
i first heard of alan jackson when i saw him play live at the country stampede festival near manhattan, kansas in 2007. at the time i wasn't convinced country music was for me, but it definitely was for the 120,000 kansans cheering around me. this morning was a perfect country music morning - some good old fashioned upbeat guitar-driven tunes, complemented by that pensive 'dog died, fence is broken, woe is me' mood. perfect after a long week.
'drive' itself is an excellent song, and i also particularly enjoy the raucous 'that'd be alright' and 'work in progress'. it wasn't until i got to track six that i realised i'd completely inadvertently chosen the album containing 'where were you (when the world stopped turning)', jackson's tribute to 9/11. fitting, for today's date. the song itself is not musically my cup of tea, and while i don't seek to detract from the magnitude of 9/11 i've never been convinced by the song. in particular, the lyrics "i'm just a singer of simple songs/i'm not a real political man/i watch cnn but i'm not sure i could tell you/the difference in iraq and iran" really wind me up. controversial, in my mind. not, apparently, in the minds of those surrounding me at country stampede; that song, in that surrounding, at that time, was a total culture shock, and a memory that's stayed with me. i felt a bit bad, but this morning i skipped the track.
thought provoking song, one of my favourite go-to albums for some rough and ready country, and an excellent choice first up, even if i say so myself. and i do.
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