the great leslie

I just got this new Joe Nichols CD. He's a county singer, one of the new Nashville breed, but with a "classic voice." Everything in this CD has been done before, every song has been sung before (although they are original tracks), every theme explored. Country fans have heard it a hundred, even a thousand, times. And we keep coming back for more.

Tell me "Let's Get Drunk and Fight" doesn't ring a bell (don't worry, they get to the screwing after the fighting). And when Joe sings about loving "Real Things" such as "hardwood floors and stone fireplaces" and "fireflies/Rainy days, I love them, I always have," I just can't help but swoon (a little). Who wouldn't love a sweet young fella singin' about all the things we all love?

"Another Side of You" is the song all male country stars sing. It's the I-love-you-no-matter-what-and-am-eternally-grateful-for-all-you-do song. Don't you wish someone would sing that for you? Or even that you felt that way about someone?

That's the thing about country. It's universal. At least for a lot of us. Country music is all about simple days. About the good ol' days. Those days mean different things to different folks, of course. For some it's the "Whiskey Years" or the first days and weeks of a new love. For some it's an American anthem or the sound of that endless summer of our youth.

For me, it doesn't get better than when I'm driving down a country road (or riding the no. 2 train) listening to Randy Travis or John Denver singing about love being "deeper than the holler" or how "I get the feeling I shoulda been here yesterday."