Not too long ago we made a decision to consolidate some of our bills by getting a special trio package from Videotron, a local provider. Now instead of a ridiculous charge for our phone, plus a bill for satellite and another one for Internet access, we get our phone (VOIP), high speed, and digital cable on one bill for just over 80 bucks a month. This is a good deal since Bell Canada was charging us almost that much just for our damn phone.

Anyway, the cable is okay but the downside is that we have less choice in our package. The upside though, is that we get CMT – Country Music Television. It’s not a big secret that I LOVE country music, especially the newer stuff, and it’s not much of a surprise either if you know that I grew up with parents who listened to country and 60’s rock and roll more than anything else.

In the afternoon, I tend to put CMT on and listen to country for a couple of hours and I’m ecstatic. A lot of people don’t really understand my love of country music, because they think it’s all the same and that it’s all “wah, she left me, she took the kids, she ran off with my best friend, she burned my house down, and my dog died too, pass the whiskey”. Some of it is, but like any genre, there are sad country songs and happy country songs.

But in country music you can get away with things that just wouldn’t fly in, say pop or alternative music. For one thing, you can sing religious stuff and people will like it and sing along even if they’re spiritually confused or ambivalent like me. Every time Carrie Underwood’s “Jesus Take the Wheel” comes on (only about 500 times a day), Hayley sings along loudly and enthusiastically and she doesn’t even know who or what Jesus is (other than an occasional expletive). A pop song about Jesus would be weird. Country? It works.

But you can get away with weird stuff too, and that’s what makes country music fun. Only in country can you get away with lines like:

“Way down yonder on the Chattahoochie, it gets hotter than hoochie-coochie”

“Her cloest’s missing half the things she’s bought, yeah Tequila makes her clothes fall off”

“Oh won’t you be the queen of my double-wide trailer with the polyester curtains and the redwood deck”*

Seriously. That’s the secret – country music is fun. Y’all don’t know what you’re missing.

(*Kary, I always think of you when I hear that because I remember how hilarious you thought it was.)