Often, it’s the music of our youth that elicits a strong reaction. For sure, hearing the music I listened to when I was 17 can make me stop washing the dishes in the here and now and transport me years back to making out in the front seat of my boyfriend’s car on a dead end road. (Front seat only. Please, I’m a Catholic girl).
But the music I discovered a little later in life also holds a special place in my heart. Like country music. Especially if it has a banjo in it.
When I was growing up in Alabama, country music had no place in my repetoire. I thought I was too cool for that. As I eased in to my twenties, I appreciated the unique story telling nature of country music. Now in my thirties, I like that my kids and I can listen to country music without me having to censor it for them, and I also like that I can hear the words and sing a long. Oh, and at country music concerts, there are sometimes (but sadly, not as often these days) men in jeans and plaid shirts. And they aren’t the hipster kind of plaid shirts – they are real plaid shirts.
I first started listening to Rascal Flatts about seven years ago, and over the years my favorites have been “God Bless the Broken Road” and “Life is a Highway.” One of my older favorites now is “Mayberry” since my neighbors and I often joke that we live in a Mayberry in Prince George’s County ! I was excited to hear that they released a new album with a song titled Banjo this past year. I love the music of a banjo. It’s so honest and so, true sounding.
It’s been a long, long time since I’ve been to a concert and I’m excited to go and see Rascal Flatts in September at Merriweather Post Pavilion. Not sure if I’ll take my husband or a girlfriend or my sister, but we’ll surely go to dinner first at one of the many restaurants nearby and then have a great time !
I’ve got two tickets that I would love to share with a reader. Please leave a comment, any comment (although I’d love to know your favorite Rascal Flatts song) and I’ll randomly pick one winner and gift them two tickets. Deadline to enter: 12:01 AM Aug. 29
When Ellen isn’t rocking out on her air banjo, she blogs semi-anonymously about life in Gorgeous Prince George’s County at Thrift Store Mama.
