Daron Henson - Freelance Writer

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

"Top 10 Country Songs ... Spiritual"

“Top 10 Country Songs … Spiritual”

Country music traverses through many themes. From honky-tonk drinking songs to heartfelt love songs, it is

often cited as the soundtrack to the lives’ of its listeners. However, from time to time, a country music act will release a song which crosses into the genre of spirituality. Not similar to gospel music or Christian music, many of these songs still reaffirm our beliefs in God.

The message in these songs is often about Jesus, sometimes about God, and sometimes about re-asserting our faith in mankind. The poignant lyrics in many of these songs coupled with the brilliance of country songwriters and singers, warm our hearts and our souls.

I hope you enjoy this compilation of country songs and I hope that they can serve as a new path to finding faith and inner-piece. Although there are many songs I have not listed, these serve as a sample of the best in the niche that can be found. I hope these songs leave you with love, warmth, and inspiration in your hearts.

Number 10: Go rest high on that mountain by Vince Gill

Vince Gill Official Fan Page Link

Go rest high on that mountain video link

This song by Vince Gill brings hope and love to its listeners. This song celebrates the journey to Heaven

after a difficult life and it won the 1995 Grammy Award for Best Male Country Vocal Performance as well as the 1995 Grammy for the Best Country Song. Vince Gill’s seamless voice and lyrical styling luminously

highlight the strong sentiment in this song. This song is spiritually focused and serves equally as a religious hymn and a country music ballad.

Number 9: Jesus take the wheel by Carry Underwood

Carry Underwood Official Fan Page Link

Jesus take the wheelvideo link

Carry Underwood arrived on the country music scene via the hit television show American Idol. She has since received many awards honoring her talent and album sales marking her as a cross-over country act of distinction. This song was a release from her first album and reached number one on the country music charts. It also won the Academy of Country Music single record of the year in 2006. The song is an especially spiritual and emotional song affirming faith in Jesus when all else is lost.

Number 8: My list by Toby Keith

Toby Keith OfficialFan Page Link

My list video link

This song which was released in the year 2002 is one of many number one songs by Toby Keith. In his career, which is still driving strong, it marks a hiatus from the many rowdy cowboy songs that have made him

a success. The song is about a father and a husband who realizes that life’s duties must be given latitude for his responsibilities to his family. The message is delivered with a slow-paced, traditional country style which demonstrates the love that can be found and conveyed in family life.

Number 7: Love without end, amen by George Strait

George Strait OfficialFan Page Link

Love without end, amen video link

This song is one of the most widely known country songs dealing with spirituality. The lyrics of the song and the strong singing voice of George Strait create images of a loving God. The song’s states that with God’s love in our hearts, we will all make it into Heaven. It was released in 1990 off of his Livin’ it Up CD and spent five weeks on top of the country music charts.

Number 6: Silver and gold by Dolly Parton

Dolly Parton OfficialFan Page Link

Silver and gold video link

Her career includes the all-time classic hit, I will always love you. In the 1970s and 1980s she was a force on country music radio as well as a pop icon. The greatest extent of her success came as a cross-over artist with hits such as 9 to 5 and Islands in the stream. In the 1990s she made her way back to more traditional, bluegrass country. The song, Silver and gold, remains true to this design. As a song of inspiration and of God’s love, it states that greater gifts remain for us in Heaven.

Number 5: Mama don’t forget to pray for me by Diamond Rio

Diamond Rio OfficialFanpage Link

Mama don’t forget topray for me video link

The group, Diamond Rio, has been on the country music scene for over two decades. Their greatest success was achieved in the early 1990s where they received five Academy of Country Music Awards for Top Vocal Group. The group holds fast to their own style of traditional country with a blue-grass edge that has brought them much popularity among its fans. This song, Mama, don’t forget to pray for me, with its stellar vocals and inspirational message of familiar love, is one of the group’s best.

Number 4: Three wooden crosses by Randy Travis

Randy TravisOfficial Fanpage Link

Three wooden crosses video link

This song, off of Randy Travis’s 2002 release Rise and Shine, reached number one on the charts and was named Song of the Year in 2003 by the Country Music Association. The unapologetic religious message in the song also won Randy Travis a Dove Award in 2004 from the Gospel Music Association. The story told by the song is one of redemption and the lyrics illuminate the love behind such redemption.

Number 3: Testify to love by Wynonna

Wynonna Official Fanpage Link

Testify to lovevideo link

This song by Wynonna Judd was featured in an episode of the television show, Touched by an Angel in which she starred. Although it was never released as a single, it represents some of her best work. The song passionately invokes feelings of love; not only for God, not only for mankind, but also a love for all things on God’s Earth. With profound lyrics, this lesson is reiterated throughout the song with an upbeat, joyous tone and the strong vocalization which is typified by this singer.

Number 2: The dance by Garth Brooks

Garth BrooksOfficial Fanpage Link

The Dance video link

Garth Brooks legendary career has marked him as one of the top selling musical artists of all-time, second only to The Beatles. This song, The dance, is one of the quintessential favorites of his most loyal fans. The song’s traditional meaning is a story of the memory of a love long lost. However, rather than following this theme, the singer chose to choose a theme of love-lost in many other contexts. The meaning that is preferred is that we might want to throw away the best moments in our lives if we had known the pain that was to follow.

Number 1: Live like you were dying by Tim McGraw

Tim McGraw Official Fanpage Link

Tim McGraw arrived strong onto the country music scene in 1994. With his second album, Not a Moment Too Soon, the song, Don’t take the girl, drove him to stardom. In his illustrious career, he has sold more than 40 million albums with his latest releases still reaching success on country music radio today.

Tim McGraw has reached number one on the country music charts with twenty-three different songs. His multitude of hit songs are far too many to mention, however, songs such as I like it, I love it, Just to make you smile, and Real good man are some of his best. To mark the on-going strength of this artist, he recently had a huge hit on the country music charts with One of those nights and the song which he duets with Taylor Swift, Highway don’t care, is currently rising the charts quickly.

The song that tops this list remains one of the most inspirational, life-affirming songs that can be found in any genre or style of music. Live like you were dying, reached number one on the country charts for seven weeks. Moreover, it won nearly every major award in the year 2004 for best country song. This song celebrates how precious life becomes with the revelation that it is transitory. The song’s lyrics represent a man who discovers the joyous journey to becoming a better man.

I hope you enjoyed this “Top 10 Country Songs … Spiritual” list. Take a look at these songs once in a while. If you are depressed, they may bring to you hope. If you would simply like to listen to something that will lift your spirits, sit down in front of your computer and let the music bring you to a better place.

You are most welcome to leave comments and to share this list with friends. Keep an eye open for new “Top 10 Country Music Songs …” in the future.

Thank you.

Friday, March 29, 2013

If I Could Take it All Back

· Inspired by the song “River of Time” by The Judds

“It’s over, he said.”

Taylor had loved him. He had been the only man that she had ever loved. If she had known, she would have taken a different path.

It seemed like an innocuous meeting at a near-empty bar. She had not planned on anything happening, yet things tossed and turned and spun in such a way that she spent the night in the apartment of a strange man.

Alfredo would not know.

“It was an accident,” she said to herself. She wasn’t going to let it happen again. Yet one harmless affair led to the next. It was not a lifestyle that she chose; it just manifested itself from events that she kept insisting were beyond her control.

She loved Alfredo, she really did. He was not just some transient affair like the rest of them. He was more important to her than she cared to imagine; the last thing that she wanted in life was to hurt him.

Yet time passed and her excuses wore thin.

“How did he find out?” was her first thought when he discovered her cheating.

She thought that she had been careful. Yet, here he stood before her as she professed her undying love. He didn’t seem to care. She thought that she had been careful. Yet, he stood before her without hesitation for the mitigating circumstances which she insisted were many. He didn’t seem to care.

“It’s over,” he said. A philanderous wife was more than he could accept. “It wasn’t one man … how many were there?” He asked.

“You’re the only one I have ever loved,” she pleaded.

However, the hurt she had caused him left no recourse.

“It’s over,” he said.

Five years is a long time, but the memories still plagued her consciousness. Funny, now that she was divorced, the endless stream of men that she had been involved with while she was married now dwindled to none. A solitary life is what she now chose.

Alone in a small diner, she lit up a cigarette to enjoy with her coffee. It was a bad habit she had begun after the divorce. Alone in the diner, she drank her coffee while she read a book. Not very many patrons were there and her solitude seemed quite natural.

Time had not buried the memories and it had taken time for her to realize that the break-up had been her fault.

“I am the only one to blame,” she said to herself.

This recognition, however, did not alleviate her pain.

Music played in the background. It was soft-rock typical for such a setting.

“Not quite sure?” she thought. “Probably REO Speed Wagon?” She knew it was an older song, but she could not place it. The poignant lyrics brought a thinly disguised tear to her eye.

Another year passed. She again sat in that same diner. She had become a regular and the workers as well as the other patrons had become accustomed to her presence, alone, smoking her cigarettes, drinking her coffee, and reading her book.

She had carefully chosen a book by Saint Francis of Assisi. She was not after a religious awakening; however, the philosophy in the book espoused personal recovery and enrichment. The years had passed, but not the pain.

In the past few months, she had begun rebuilding her life. After the recognition that she was to blame, came the realization that she could mend her life and start again. From nowhere in particular, she began to feel love in her heart. She was not in a place in her life where she was ready for a relationship, but she knew now the path to follow when she was ready.

The slight twinge of warmth that she felt in her heart manifested for an appreciation for life. The mundane and sometimes painful path of life had caused hardships. Every morning, waking before work, she dreaded the routine of office life. However, after some time, she began to enjoy the simple tasks as the path to individual freedom. Although monotonous, she arrived each morning with a smile on her face. She was learning that love encompasses all things.

She sat alone in a restaurant; not the same diner where she had sat a year before. A friend of Taylor’s from work had set her up on a blind date. It was much too soon to consider where it might lead; however, it was prominent in the occasion of resurrecting her life.

His name was Mark and her friend had assured her that they would have much in common. It was hardly a basis for a relationship, but they were both avid readers with an encyclopedia of knowledge available from both of them concerning the subject. As it turned out, this simply offered a basis for mild conversation on a somewhat awkward first date.

The conversation began tritely after Mark arrived at the restaurant. Old fashioned as he was, he insisted that he pay the bill rather than splitting it; which would have been expected from such a casual meeting.

The conversation began. They continued discussing the work of classic authors such as Shakespeare, Hemingway, and Steinbeck. Taylor was pleased that the man that represented a new prospective relationship was obviously educated. Rather than a mundane conversation about the many books by Steven King, it allowed for a much more substantive conversation.

They shared a few cigarettes and few more cups of coffee after the dinner ended. She walked out of the restaurant with no hopes for a budding relationship. Alfredo had truly been the best life had to offer; she was to blame for the relationship’s demise. Reckless and haphazard behaviors were trifles of youth. She had hurt the man she had loved and promised herself not to repeat that mistake in the future.

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Country Music Artist of the Month ... Mary Chapin-Carpenter

“Country Music Artist of the Month … Mary Chapin-Carpenter”

Mary Chapin-Carpenter’s OfficialHome Page Link

Mary Chapin-Carpenter

Mary Chapin-Carpenter was born February 21, 1958. She released her first album, Hometown Girl, in 1987. Although it wasn’t commercially successful, it was praised by critics.

In her hay-day Mary Chapin-Carpenter was a very successful country singer, both critically acclaimed and commercially successful. She received five Grammy Awards, including four straight Grammy Awards for Best Female Country Performance between 1992 and 1995.

With her country-folk style which was rarely mirrored, Mary Chapin-Carpenter has sold over twelve million albums in her career. Her 1992 album Come on, Come On was her biggest selling album going quadruple platinum.

Songs such as the Grammy Award winning “Down at the Twist and Shout” made her an icon in the country-folk genre carving a niche as a standout artist in the style. Other songs, such as “I take my chances” and “I feel lucky” fared well on the country music charts with a unique mix of humor and irreverence. Later in her career, Mary Chapin-Carpenter switched to a less popular focus that bordered on political activism.

Mary Chapin-Carpenter success followed the path of more traditional country music. Her music in the latter part of her career, although not as commercially successful, echoes the style of the music that made her a successful singer-songwriter on the country stage. Many of her contemporaries chose a route that included a more pop orientated style. However, Mary-Chapin Carpenter stayed true to her country roots. As a country music artist, she will always remain a cult favorite with her many fans.

I chose to highlight five of her songs. Take a look at these videos which epitomize the best work she has to offer. Although she has more music which may have been overlooked, these five songs are a sample of the artist’s bests.