Welcome to my new blog

Hello everyone and welcome to my new blog. It has been my longtime dream to be a country music journalist or to be involved in the wonderful world of country music in some way. I’ll admit I grew up hating country music, but in 1990, when I was a 15-year-old freshman in high school and had my first boyfriend, I began to gradually like it a little bit because he loved it. He introduced me to the infamous “Class of ’89,” and I soon became hooked on that incredible group of newcomers, which included Alan Jackson, Travis Tritt, Clint Black, Lorrie Morgan, oh and some guy named Garth Brooks (maybe you’ve heard of him?).

When my boyfriend was killed by a drunk driver three days before my birthday the next year , music became my lifeline and I continued to gravitate toward the healing lyrics of country music. I soon began discovering other great artists like Randy Travis, George Strait, Alabama, and my two favorites at the time, Reba McEntire and the Judds.

New favorites artists came along in the early ‘90’s, cementing my love of country music. In the fall of 1991, a tall, blonde Georgia girl named Trisha Yearwood came out with her first hit single, “She’s In Love with the Boy.” Being 16 at the time, of course the lyrics struck a chord with me. I soon became an avid fan of hers and have been ever since. It was also about this time that Wynonna went solo after the Judds farewell tour. I became a huge fan of hers as well. “Wy and Ty” became my country music “sheroes” and remain so to this day. I don’t know what it was that drew me to them and their music, but the combination of their songs and their powerful and amazing vocal abilities, not to mention their wonderful, kind and witty personalities, made me a fan of theirs for life.

Music has always been a passion of mine, from the time I was about seven or eight years old listening to my mom’s Pat Benatar, Heart and Fleetwood Mac albums. I have just always loved listening to music because no matter what kind of day you are having, hearing a favorite song by a favorite singer can pull you right out of the dumps and get you smiling again. As a child, I didn’t really plan on doing anything related to music, but as I got older and became more interested in the behind the scenes aspects of the entire country music industry, I began realizing that is where my true passion was.

That passion was strongly reinforced after I read the book “Get Hot or Go Home,” which followed the beginning of Trisha’s career and all the “behind the scenes” action that occurs in the early stages of a new artist’s career. It was then that I became really interested in learning everything I could about the rich and storied history of country music and its artists and movers and shakers. I have since read countless artist biographies and industry books on the subject, which only fueled my desire even further.

However, since I cannot sing a lick, I knew I would have to find some other avenue to be a part of the music and industry I love so much, whether that meant working as a dj for a local radio station, public relations or marketing for a record label, fan club president for an artist or even selling merchandise on the road for an artist. To that end, I referred back to Trisha’s book and decided to look into attending Belmont University in Nashville for its wonderful music business program, just as she did. I also love to write, so I had planned to minor in journalism. I mean, how much fun would it be to interview your favorite artists for a living?

A few years later in 1996, I met and became friends with a program director/dj at a local country station. We began talking about my country music goals and she was very encouraging and supportive. In fact, when I attended Fan Fair in 1997, I did a remote call in to the morning show she hosted.

After visiting Nashville for the first and only time, I knew without a shadow of a doubt that that was where I wanted to be. This is going to sound crazy, but I felt more like myself and at home there for that one week than I did back home with my family and friends who just do not understand my passion and love of music. I had such a blast that entire week, meeting the artists and tv personalities, as well as seeing all of the country music history at the Ryman and the Hall of Fame first hand.

When I returned from Nashville, I spoke to my radio friend, and she graciously offered to write a letter of recommendation for me as part of my application to Belmont. Unfortunately, my parents were so dead set against the move and my getting into country music that I quit in the middle of the application process and put my dreams aside for several years. As a result. I lost contact with my good radio friend.

It has now been 10 years since that fateful trip to Nashville, and 10 years of me putting my goals and dreams aside to please everyone else. No matter how often I have pushed my dreams aside over the years, I just keep coming back to the realization that deep down I know I am meant to do something in country music. I can either keep letting others keep me down or do something about it. So, I am finally going to stop putting myself last for once and go for it, no matter what anyone else thinks. This great quote from Trisha pretty much sums it up and has kind of become my motto: "I remember thinking, I can't have this desire so strongly and not be able to do it. And I remember praying about it and saying, 'God, if I can't do this, if this is not gonna work out for me, then make me wanna do something else. Give me the passion to do something else and I'll go do that.' But the drive never went away and there was never anything else that I wanted to do. And so I felt like, well, that means this is what I'm supposed to do and I'm gonna find a way to do it."

As I love to write and work for my local paper, I thought starting my own blog might be a good way to at least begin writing about the music and industry I am so passionate about. I spoke to several good friends and a new dj friend from a local station, and they are all very excited for me and encouraged me to just go for it. So, here I am with my own new blog site. My ultimate goal and hope is that this will eventually lead to possible opportunities to work for a country music publication or do something else in the industry. For now, however, this site will be a place to talk about my favorite music and artists, post concert and music reviews and just give my take on whatever happens to be going on in the industry at the moment.

Well, now that I’ve given most of my life story here, I hope you all enjoy my new blog. Feel free to share your thoughts and comments with me.