The first time Luke Bryan came to my attention was on a reality show called "The Celebrity Apprentice." Its star is now the president. Surreal. I still kinda shake my head in disbelief. Forty-five wasn't even very good on that show. My wife and I watched it for the entertainment value of the celebrity contestants.
It’s depressing. I'm not a fan of the administration, but I am a fan of music. Music is the most inspiring, spiritual art form. Is that too much of a dramatic statement? Come on then, what other art form touches your heart that way? But I digress...
On that show, I remember Luke Bryan performing a song that had the corny lines, "rain makes corn, corn makes whiskey, whiskey makes my baby, feel a little frisky." Comical in its corniness. But, I'm a cornball at heart.
Another song that got stuck in my head was, "Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye." That melody, it's hook was addictive and resonated with my OCD. I love a good hook.
Cut to a few years later and the pop sensibility of Luke Bryan's melodies had made me a fan. I'm not a musical snob. Like I said, music to me is very spiritual. A simple melody is beautiful. I'm like Jesus with music, I have unconditional love for all the tunes.
Socrates may have said, “ A person who embraces all music, embraces all people.” He also may have said, “Keep an open mind.”
So, Luke Bryan got the 45 bump and is now a big star. I bought tickets to his show at The Forum, one of my favorite venues. I saw Prince there twice. A very religious experience. Luke Bryan came on stage and immediately he had the thousands in attendance in the palm of his hand. Like Prince, he has the ability to connect directly with the audience. An openness of spirit. Luke Bryan is a damn rock star.
Within a few beers and chords, the crowd was one. He was funny, natural, dynamic and loose. I repeat, a rock star.
I left that concert feeling inspired for humanity. A feeling of shared connectedness ripe in my being and the song, "This Is How We Roll," indelibly etched in my beery brain.
We really do all want the same thing you know? A family, good health, the ability to fight for our dreams and die trying. Did I warn you I was corny?
You may have a snobbery for country music. You're a damn fool. Country music is built on big ideas and small words. It's stories, big-hearted stories, for small minds. What, are you an intellectual?
Recently we journeyed out to San Bernadino and were somehow transported to middle-America as we drove out of L.A in bumper to bumper traffic. I don't know how it happened but suddenly we were in a land of dust and flags.
I had to rub my eyes. Surreal. There were pick up trucks with huge flag-poles erected on their tailgates with giant American flags flying in the dusty breeze. It could not have been California. The only rational explanation was that we were transported through some sort of porthole into the deep South. It was kinda weird.
The concert was great, of course, and Luke Bryan did what he does best, which is easily and in a relaxed manner, rock the world.
These flag flying hard drinking, and I mean the hardest drinking people, danced and sung and felt the love of music.
There is something deep in this blog about music or an underpinning sense of humanity uniting us all, despite our psychological shortcomings and primal, tribal immaturity as a species.
At the present time this sense of our shared common values is being tested by some talentless yobo of a reality star with no music, country or otherwise, in his cringeworthy soul.
I guess what I'm trying to say is, give country music a chance, and if anyone invites you to a Luke Bryan concert, say yes, drink a lot of beer, let him blow your mind, and feel a unity between you and the other humans. Drinking and music can bring us together again.