No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems

Country music seems to have a better connection with being lazy hanging around on a beach somewhere than any pop music out there.  So here's Day Four of our cruise, as inspired by Kenny Chesney.

No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems
... by Kenny Chesney

Where else, besides a beach, can you go shoeless and shirtless and still get service?  Oh that's right, on a cruise ship !!!  I've always loved this song, especially the relaxed feeling like you and your friends just gathered around a campfire with a guitar and started singing about the day.  Oddly, the violins (or fiddles if you're really sticking to the "country" theme) seem completely appropriate on a beach or the deck of a cruise ship.  Ahhhhhhh ... this relaxing (in the Gulf of Mexico today) is NICE !!!  :)

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Where The Boat Leaves From

It would have been near sacrilegious

to NOT choose this song to represent

our first day on our Caribbean Cruise!  =)

Where The Boat Leaves From
... by The Zac Brown Band

That's right!  Karen and I are on our cruise and the boat leaves from Miami, Florida ... so we're loading on today and setting sail for Key West and then Cozumel, Mexico!

I love the Zac Brown Band and could have easily done a Six-Pack of favorite songs from just their first CD!  Check it out sometime, but honestly, if you listen to country music at all, you've already heard almost every song on that first CD!  Because they were all soooooo good!

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Every Now And Then

This song is both a Friday Flashback and a great Country music tune.  Of course Garth Brooks has come and gone (although I hear he has signed on to perform in Las Vegas for many years to come), but there was a time when he OWNED everything in country music AND gained quite a bit of popularity among Top 40 music fans ... in case you might have forgotten those days!

Every Now And Then ... by Garth Brooks

I could have easily done several "six-packs" of GB songs, but this song has always been one of my favorites of his many popular tunes.  I don't have any "regrets" at all about my wife or my love for her, but this song doesn't just have to be about romantic love.  When I listen to this tune I like to think about many different memories I have from times gone by.
"And when the song was over I said play it again" summarizes my measurement of GREAT music.  If it can take you back to a specific place or event to the extent that you want to hear it several times in a row to linger on those memories ... well then, that's a truly great song!

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Just A Kiss

So many great Country artists are enjoying cross-over success nowadays, which is almost always a good thing.  This is partly due to the change in country music, which now includes more electric guitar, heavier drum beats, and much less twangy fiddling, etc.

Lady Antebellum has had many successful country and cross-over songs in the past few years, but one of my favorites (from the first time I heard it) is this one:

Just A Kiss ... by Lady Antebellum

I love this song for two reasons.  First, the music is just beautiful.  The two part melody that forms a catchy harmonic sound is light and instantly likable.  Second, the message is AWESOME !!!  In a world filled with one-night-stands and climbing divorce rates, the message of this song is "let's just take it slow" because the people involved both want something that lasts!

Kudos "Lady A" for making monogomy and "waiting" cool again!

BONUS SONG:
Can't Take My Eyes Off You ... by Lady Antebellum
(sooooooo beautiful!)

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All Your Life

I enjoy country music but I have plenty of friends who have no appreciation for it whatsoever.  That's fine, but I think they are missing out on some seriously good songs with their disdain for that genre.

One of my favorite recent country songs is by The Band Perry.  No, not "If I Die Young," which was already overplayed on country radio before it became a huge crossover hit.  I actually don't like that song much at all.

But I love ... "All Your Life" ... which (at the moment) is their newest single.

Yes it is a love song.  Yes it is a little cliche in that the woman is only asking to be loved by some man that doesn't seem to even know she exists.  So what?!  The music is a simple arrangement and yet very beautiful.  And the resounding li-i-i-ife portions of the chorus are hypnotic and impossible not to sing along with.

My advice?  Don't hate on country music or you'll miss out on some of the best stuff out there!

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