Blog...in an Elevator: Some Texas Country

With the rodeo coming up in about a month, I thought I'd take the time to talk a little about country music. While some people might not consider country as "Rock and Roll," I must disagree. I believe that the goal of rock music and music in general is to invoke some sort of emotion or response, which country music indeed does. I am a fan of country music, but recently I've been listening to Texas based country music, mainly two bands: the Eli Young Band and the Josh Abbott Band. Both bands...you guessed it, are out of Texas.
(Josh Abbott Band ==========>)

(Eli Young Band)

The Eli Young band has more of a rock aspect to it that is mainly evident in the heavy influence the guitar and even the drums in some cases have in many of their songs. They also tend to write and preform more somber and slower songs.

Whereas the Josh Abbott band could be considered much more "country." Their songs are much more upbeat, using the banjo along with the guitar. One thing I like about this band is that many of their songs are aimed at making fun of other country music acts. One of my favorites is "I'll sing about mine." Some of the lyrics include: "Cause tractors ain't sexy, and workin' is hard" a jab at Kenny Chesnesy's "She Thinks my Tractor's Sexy," another being "When you talk about the Dairy Queen, pickup trucks, and Springsteen make the place I love sound like a bad cartoon," taking a shot at Eric Church's Springsteen; something that many country artists don't do very often. They also have much more of a "twang" that many people of my generation (among all of the others) can't stand, but I so happen to like.