Tuesday, October 30, 2012

I'm a Little Bit Country

In this post I asked, "If you were about to walk through a magic doorway that exaggerated all of your latent and secret personality traits and the qualities that you intentionally suppress to make your public image more appealing would you emerge on the other side of the doorway as a cowboy or more like a Goth?"

It's not an easy question to answer. I think most people suppress depressive qualities which, if manifested and exaggerated, seems goth.

I'm more of a cowboy and I don't really see a need to suppress it for any reason other than that cowboy stuff isn't in style, Pioneer Woman excepted. Hopefully ABC's new show Nashville will change the face of Pinterest the same way Mad Men made us want hard modular furniture. It probably won't, which is why my desire for overstuffed plaid arm chairs will remain suppressed.

I love this new show with Connie Britton. I rewind parts. I love every second of it, except for scenes with her dad because he's a little too diabolical. I love to hate Hayden Panettiere. (Oh my gosh. I spelled that right first try. I don't, necessarily, feel good about that.) I love this guy because he looks like Bruce Springsteen and sings like Dwight Yoakam (That one I had to look up. Sad):

I think about this show when it's not on. And I had to do the same thing I've done with other things, (Harry Potter movies) which is to Google the characters and look at pictures of them in their real life to drive home the point that they are not really the characters so I can stop thinking about them. Yes. I do that. It's a way of coping.

But of course the best part of this show is the music. I LOVE the music on this show. I'm a huge fan of Alt Country or Country Nouveau. But I just call it that because plain old Country music (which I also love) is not, per say, in style. What I mean when I say "alt country" is simply, "good music." An example of this genre is The Civil Wars, who I love. Unsurprisingly, (but really very surprising considering the quality of the music in much of today's television) John Paul White of The Civil Wars writes some of the music on Nashville. Guess who else does? Elvis Costello.

Is it any wonder I love this show?

Each show features several songs. It seems like so much work. I love that they write and record real songs for it. Plus, they reference old country standards which I also love. It is so cool to me. And here's why: T-Bone Burnett is the music producer on Nashville. Why? Because he's married to the main producer, Calli Khouri. Way to write a honey-do list like a boss, Callie!

You may recall T-Bone Burnett produced Robert Plant and Allison Krauss's album which I am intermittently obsessed with. He played guitar for Bob Dylan and produced the music for O Brother, Where Art Thou and Walk the Line. T-Bone represents my aesthetic exactly. It's no wonder I'm super into this show.

I'm also impressed that the actors are actually singing. Good for them. I love Connie Britton (coach's wife from FNL) as much as I love T-Bone.

In summary, I love Nashville. And because of it I have been inspired to learn to play the guitar so I can strum T-Bone Burnett-type songs and feel happy. I'm sick of trying to get my kids to play guitar. They won't. But if Connie Britton can become a country singer at age 45 I can learn to play the guitar at age 40. So I want a guitar for Christmas and I want Jenny Eckton to teach me. She's in Africa now, which is almost as inspiring to me as the TV show, Nashville--which is a lot.

Here are Rayna's (Connie Britton's) kids singing her rival's (Hayden Panettiere's) really commercial song in a talent show at school. This is as wonderful as anything else on the show.



15 comments:

  1. There was a time when I would have looked at those boots and said, "SICK." Alas, no longer. Cool or not, I have become a cowboy boot wearer. They're turrible practical.

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  2. I love this show too.
    I wish Deacon were more likeable.
    I'm glad "alt country" is cool now.
    I want to learn the banjo.
    I miss Tennessee.
    The end.

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  3. I for real love this show. I, too, think about it. And I have been singing this song since it closed out the second (?) episode:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=RC3MREEZX_Q

    it is so so so so good. I can't hardly stand it.

    In conclusion, I agree with everything you said about Nashville. Can't wait for a new episode. Can't. Wait.

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  4. Love it Love it Love it. Its beautiful to watch, and the characters get more layered with every episode. "no one will ever love you... Liiiike, IIIIIIII, doooooo."

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  5. Country music hurts my feelings.

    That said, I'd be more than pleased to teach you what I know, and even learn some country songs to help you with. But only alt country (idea for a party at the summit! TM!).

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  6. I love this show too. I WAS kind of embarrassed about it (my husband makes fun of me for watching it), but the music is just too good to deny, so I am going to fully embrace it like you do! And I'm Lissa, by the way. I've been reading your blog for awhile, but I don't think I've ever commented before.

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  7. This is the first show I can think of in awhile that I anticipated before it premiered and watched it from the beginning. At the end of the pilot episode, I was unimpressed by the plot but in love with the music. By the end of the second episode (more of Deacon and Rayna's history revealed) I was hooked. By the end of the third episode--Rayna's love for her daughters, and Juliette shoplifting nail polish--I was committed. I seriously love this show and hope it stays great!

    By the way I like almost all country--bluegrass to Taylor Swift-- and listen to country radio just about every day! When the political ads come on during commercial breaks, I switch to NPR. ;) I scoffed at country until I was about 14 & never turned back once I saw the light! I kinda think I might have more of a goth suppressed personality though.

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  8. This sounds like my kind of show, I hope it comes over here soon. (Funnily enough, I'm seeing The Civil Wars the week after next!)

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  9. I'm totally hooked.

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  10. This show is so great! You know what I love about Connie Britton? She is gorgeous AND she can actually make real expressions because she hasn't botoxed out all her wrinkles.

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  11. I love this show. And I hear it isn't doing well in the ratings. So tell your kids, tell your wife, tell your friends - we need to save this show.

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  12. I wasn't going to watch this show because I didn't think it looked like something I'd like. Then I read your post. And now my life has been put on hold as I've watched the first four episodes and let my kids run wild. Man, you have good taste.

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  13. i am in love with this show, too. it's like a little piece of sugary goodness waiting in my dvr each week...

    the music is killer. i LOVE the cute blonde songwriter's storyline. and yes... the dwight yoakam-ish guy is my favorite. well, and deacon. AND i LOVE eric close! he is a young robert redford.

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  14. Just started watching this show this week and love it too! I could NOT figure out what I recognized Deacon from and had to look up that he was on "Who's Line is it Anyway!" That cracks me up.

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  15. I too am very in love with the show and the music. I have watched each episode 3x!!

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