I’m pretty sure everyone makes fun of country music. The particular characteristics of individuals don’t even matter, but they share at least one common root: country music deserves to be mocked. The trendy hipsters with their tight fitting hooded sweatshirts and interesting hair enjoy poking fun at country; the jazz hepcats share a laugh at countrys’ expense, even rock and roll meatheads can spare a few moments from their present chorus of “Go Flames go” to make some joke about country. I wouldn’t be at all surprised to hear some sitar raga aficionado all of a sudden adopt a stereotypical twang and recite to the delight of everyone present, “Well my wife died, my doggy gone died and these lonely hills don’t feel like no home.”
Yes, country is the “your mom” of the music world.
What most forgot was, sure country music is funny, not to mention easy to ridicule, but some of it is actually good. Case in point: BR549’s latest release, Tangled in the Pines. It follows the same format these guys have been perfecting since 1996, that good old fashioned country sound with a healthy dose of honky-tonk thrown in for good measure. Sure there’s nothing new here and that is precisely the point. Make fun of it if you must, but Tangled in the Pines is unabashedly fun and simply worth listening to. Even if you do play the sitar.