I said it before and I'm sayin' it again...

I spent half of my life telling anyone who'd listen that country music was the worst form of musical expression known to man. Today, I stand not only corrected but converted.

Recently, I've been sitting cross-legged on the floor of my favorite record shop sifting through shelves of old, forgotten LP's. Yesterday, I had an epic day of foraging. I couldn't afford them all, but I did go home with several classics.

I should clarify by saying that I don't look for or listen to anything called country that came out after the early 80s. In other words, if it's about chicken, pick-up trucks, tractors or the flag you can bet I won't have it!

There is this ambiguous genre called country-rock that has dozens of great artists spanning the past four and a half decades. This stuff, Honky-Tonk, the Outlaws and 50s Nashville and Bakersfield are my latest musical interests.

So, digging through the gold mine of LP's in my favorite cluttered shop the other day, I found Willie Nelson's classic 1973 Atlantic Records release Shotgun Willie, JD Souther's 1972 eponymous debut and Kris Kristofferson's second and third albums. None were over $4!

The time before that I found Gram Parsons' two country-rock classics (G.P. and Grievous Angel), John Prine's 1971 eponymous debut and Waylon's 1975 release Dreaming My Dreams. Again, none were over $4! I also found a Hank Williams collection for $2!

Sitting up in my music room (that's the picture on the blog) in the wee hours of the night listening to sad, introspective country-ish music is fast becoming my favorite pastime!