Country

As everyone who knows me will attest, I adore country music. I think living in New York has made me an even bigger fan, with songs romanticizing small town life, riding tractors, sitting on porches, and enjoying each stage of life. The songs are simple, loving and generally very uplifting. Most glorify marriage and encourage you to savor life.

But country also has a political dimension that I very much appreciate. This city is as blue as it comes, and the longer I'm here, the more I assume everyone feels the same way we do. I mean, doesn't everyone support gay marriage and ending the war in Iraq? No, actually, they don't. And listening to country keeps you grounded in the outlook many Americans living outside of this blue city share.

During the 2004 Presidential election, I prayed for Kerry to listen to country. Toby Keith and other artists wrote songs about soldiers sacrificing their lives in war, about the anger they felt after September 11th and the depths to which people were willing to "fight" back. It just never felt like Kerry understood the country music mindset. And then, praise God, Obama played LOTS of country at his rallies. And country music stars let him.

All this to say that when I heard Brad Paisley's new song, "Welcome to the Future," with a whole verse about race relations in a post-Obama America, I got excited. The whole CD is fantastic, but this is my favorite verse:

I had a friend in school,
Running-back on a football team,
They burned a cross in his front yard
For asking out the home-coming queen.

I thought about him today,
Everybody who's seen what he's seen,
From a woman on a bus
To a man with a dream.

He-e-ey...
Wake up Martin Luther.
Welcome to the future.
He-e-ey...
Glory glory hallelujah.
Welcome to the future.

Here's the original song:


And here is an awesome reprise: