SUNDAY MUSIC VIDS: Old School Country

I confess that I am not really a fan of country music. However, I am an absolute sucker for old-timey, folksy country jams, from the likes of Hank Williams, Patsy Cline, The Carter Family, and pretty much the entire soundtrack of O Brother Where Art Thou. There’s just something so raw and authentic about these old tunes, like you just know they were made up on the spot on someone’s front porch on a cool moonlit evening with good friends and family picking up whatever makeshift instruments they could find and singing from the heart.

The lyrics back then were so evocative, which today’s country artists strive to carry on with their epic yarns about cheatin’ spouses and being broke 'n' drunk or whatever. As much as one might love hearing Carrie Underwood describe in detail how she mutilated her two-timing boyfriend’s car, somehow it doesn’t quite compare to, say:

“Hear that lonesome whippoorwill

He sounds too blue to fly

The midnight train is whining low

I’m so lonesome I could cry”

Lest we forget that songs are basically poetry set to music, old-school country artists were well-aware of that fact. Mingle that with simple acoustic instruments and the signature melancholy twang of a country singer’s voice, and you can be completely transported.

Thus, today’s Sunday Music Vids is more of an audial experience than a visual one. These songs don’t need music videos; just close your eyes and let the music and lyrics take you where they will!

(Photo via WENN)

- Katie Marzullo, YH Staff Editor

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