I love country music more than anything else. [Long journal is long.]

I don't really hear anyone talk about it here; I mean, it's obvious that there are a lot of people out there who like pop and punk and rock and metalcore and hardcore gangster rap and dubstep, and I like some of that stuff too, but I'm from West Virginia, and around here people like music with twangYou see, the main difference between country music and other types is that it's....well, it's real. It's not all about about clubbing and sex and getting drunk and whatever else, it's life. It's love and death and growing up and moving on, it's thanking your parents for being there and having pride in your country; it's so much more than Saturday night, it's Sunday morning and the working week, too. And women are respected in country music; if you want to tell a woman how beautiful she is, you don't tell her she's "a dime plus ninety-nine" or that she's "so fly, it's like a blessing," you straight up say that she's beautiful.
I'll start off talking about love songs, because let's face it, there isn't a genre that hasn't adressed the subject. I'm sure that half of you are expecting me to talk about Taylor Swift, but honestly, she can't even begin to touch the love I have for Brad Paisley. He is, quite honestly, the master of the love song. Whether it's falling in love or breaking up, he knows just what to turn me insides to mush and make my heart flutter around like a butterfly in my chest. He just knows what to say to a girl to make her understand how much he loves her, which isn't something many artists can do. He makes you believe that you're beautiful, he tells you that you "look good in cheap sunglasses, you look great in anything" and you want to believe him. Or at least, I do. I'll share a song that some of you may have heard, a duet with Carrie Underwood called "Remind Me":And plus, he's easy on the eyes.Next is death. For a lot of artists, for a lot of people in general, it's hard to admit that you miss someone; it's easier to just be angry, isn't it? Sure, artists like Avenged Sevenfold and Breaking Benjamin tried their best to make albums about people passing on, but I honestly didn't even cry. There was no substance, no story, nothing that made me feel bad about what had happened. I still remember the first time I heard Tim McGraw perform "If You're Reading This" on the ACM Awards, and you know, I'm not going to lie, I cried right then and there. I'm sharing that very version of the song with you.So, I was going to try to steer clear of repeating artists, but honestly, the story line of this song is absolutely beautiful:As far as growing up goes, so many people are forced to grow up too fast nowadays. There are so many teenage moms and dads forced to accept responsibility before they're really ready to, and sometimes things just don't really work out that well, but I don't think that changes the fact that they love their child. I wanted to pick a song that addressed that, because honestly, I don't think any other genre of music has taken on this topic. Kenny Chesney was brave enough to, and maybe somone out there can relate.Moving on can mean different things to different people. It can mean death, break-ups, or leaving home, but either way, it's sad. No one know's moving on better than Gary Allan, whose wife committed suicide in 2004. For him, it's not just one thing, it's everything. He wrote a song called "Best I Ever Had" about his wife's passing, but I've chosen not to share that. Instead, I picked something more relatable: a song about the one who got away. The live version, because you can hear the hurt in his voice.You know, I could go on and on about this; I love it enough to talk about it for hours, days, weeks even. But chances are no one will read this. I doubt anyone here likes it even half as much as I do. So, I'm stopping and leaving you with a gorgeous man who has a gorgeous voice.