My Ode To Country Music

My love letter to country music.

Image: Yuping Zhu

I found myself when I found country music. I felt heard when I heard it. During my freshman year of high school, needless to say, I felt small in class. But when I woke up in the morning and turned the dial on my victrola to Country 102.5, my heart grew so big that I felt larger too. The women in country music that I looked up to, Kacey Musgraves and Miranda Lambert, sang about things I couldn’t exactly relate to– like Texas and divorce. But every single time I heard their voices, I was right there with them– I became them.

That exact feeling of being transported and transformed into a song is exactly what made me fall in love with country music. I am a sucker for a good story, and well, no one tells a good story like a country musician does. When I need consolation, reassurance, inspiration, I turn to the artists and songwriters that have been through it all, yet pushed through the dust of ashes to conquer their world.

Country music led me to Nashville, which led me to the music industry, which led me to a whole new world of experiences. I was like Alice in Wonderland in the city, walking on Broadway and Music Row. And because of country music, I became exposed to so many subdivisions of the business, like law and entrepreneurship and marketing. I was so brilliantly challenged and intrigued by the intense web of interactions and connections that held the music industry up for us all to see.

I need to thank country music for helping me discover myself. For letting me be bold and unapologetically me. My songs aren’t about driving a tractor through corn fields in Georgia. They aren’t about driving a red truck down a dirt road or boot scootin boogie-ing in a bar downtown. They are about Massachusetts suburbia, teenage dreams and drama, insecurities and finding confidence. And that is what country music is about– telling MY story. Telling a story that is authentically mine, being proud of my roots and the ground that I was raised on. So I thank country music for helping me discover the value of my experiences towards my character, and helping develop my identity song by song.

#countrymusic