Bluegrass and Whatnot

Minor programming note: I am drugged up to the gills and feeling fine, although I can't entirely be sure that my head is still connected to my shoulders, so out of it I am. Therefore I take no responsibility for anything I say or do all day long.

-------------------------

Okay, first off, I must admit that on occasion I do listen to country music. This in and of itself is not shocking, I live in Texas, but I have no love for the genre, and say so at every available opportunity. I enjoy Garth Brooks and can, either through osmosis or genetic alteration, sing practically every song he has ever sung without owning a single album. But that is my only concession - I write the rest off as it just jumps up and down on my last nerve.

However, my one and only pure vice in the country-western musical area is Nickel Creek, a bluegrass trio that has some sort of inexplicable hold over me. The music is all folksy and southern and occasionally very Deliverance and there's a whole lot of banjo going on. I can't explain my love for them with any sort of rationality.

I actually own their last two CDs, which is something of a feat itself, since I can't usually even bring myself to be seen in public with country music, let alone Best Buy. So when Jim informed me that their new album came out last week, I did a little *ahem* online research to check out the new stuff before my eventual surreptitious trip over to Best Buy wearing a hat and really large sunglasses for the purchase.

And the new CD is. . . well the only word that comes to mind is awesome, but in a totally unexpected way. Because suddenly they're like some alternative emo band that just happens to feature a banjo and violin combo. I mean it starts out all unassuming and just a little, I don't know - edgy? for a bluegrass band that usually sings about lighthouses and whatnot, but still normal. And then they have the deliciously titled 'Scotch & Chocolate' instrumental track and you're in this little bubble of the status quo country world.

And then before you know it, there's this hard driving track about a crazy high school crush-cum-obsession and suddenly we're not in Kansas anymore, Toto. The last track busts out into complete mainstream territory with an ending full of heavy drums and processed music that fills me with undeniable glee and sounds like an underfed U2 or Coldplay and it's just really, really satisfying to me. For, again, entirely irrational reasons. Just makes me smile.

So yeah, going to Best Buy later, here's hoping I can get out of there without spending more than $100.00. I haven't been in so long, the attraction is going to be deadly. Especially when I'm this hopped up on pills.