CounTry LanE

                                                             COUNTRY LANE

Shuffling through my playlist to listen to a song, something  having a soul as most of today’s song are all about rumbling of instruments and loud screeching of the vocalists backed by ear-deafening music(not that I don’t like it, I do) . So, decided why not take a trip down the “countryside” lane. And when it’s about country, we all know whose name will appear on top, yes the great Bob Dylan, “Blowing in the wind” titled under the same name of album was an instant success, With its strong lyrics it hit the core off the human soul, not to mention “like a rolling stone”, which can still be touted as one of the best songs ever, with its literary ambition, it cracked open the humane soul and appealing to the core. The album, “Highway 61 revisited” was an instant success and is still renowned as one of the best albums to be ever recorded till date. Other notable albums by Bob Dylan are, “Blonde on Blonde” and “Blood on the tracks”. However, the latter album does remind me of the song, “Idiot Wind”, it’s so lovable that you ever forget these type of songs.
Moving on, we can’t actually dismiss the efforts made by John Denver, another legend. With its whiskey smooth lyrics the song, “Take me home, country roads” titled under the album, “Country Roads” made an everlasting impact in the minds of millions. Other notable songs ever sung by Denver are “Rocky Mountain high” and “the eagle and the hawk”. Take my advice, if you ever plan on going on a road trip with your pals, then don’t forget to play this songs by Denver, trust me, it’ll take you down by such an incredible feeling that you won’t be able to express. Although, no rocky mountains exist in India but while listening to it, you’ll feel every ounce of that lyrics and your mind will be able to paint that reminiscing picture.
Although John Lennon was not totally country guy, but still would like to introduce him because of his some all-time great songs, “Oh! Yoko” and “Jealous Guy” and “Imagine”. All these three songs featured in the album titled under the name, “Imagine”. The album as it is described today as one of the most anti-political albums. Lennon quoted on his album, “This is one of the most anti-political, anti-religious, anti-nationalistic, anti-conventional, anti- capitalistic...but because it is surrogated, it is accepted.”
He surely knew how to sugar-coat a political message. Irrespective of the controversies, the album was a straight-hit.
The present generation of country singers does not have high numbers but still notable ones are “The Band Perry”, “lady Antebellum”, “Blake Shelton”, “Carrie Underwood” and etc. but these are the notables and known ones.
“The Band Perry” has released only one album so far. Notable songs are, “Hip to My Heart”, “All Your Life”, “Postcard from Paris”, “The Star Spangled Banner” and “If I Die Young”. The last single, “If I Die Young” was the best among others; it even was nominated for “The 53^rd Grammy Awards” under the category of Best Country Song but lost to Lady Antebellum’s “Need You Now”. But, my personal favorite song sung by “The Band Perry” is “All Your Life”. The lyrics are very beautiful and wrote in a very beautiful manner and the vocals and guitar does the rest. Just lay back and enjoy and you’ll slowly feel it flowing within your soul.
Blake Shelton’s singles like, “God Gave Me you” and “Honey Bee” and “All about tonight” and “she wouldn’t be gone” are my favorites. Then there is “Keith Urban” who was climbing with the charts with his hit single, “Long Hot Summer” and what else, I don’t need to actually write something on “Lady Antebellum”, who doesn’t know them, they took the world by surprise by releasing hit singles like, “Need You Know”, “Just a Kiss”, “We owned the night”, “I run to You” and “Love don’t live here”. They raked up 5 Grammy’s in total in the 53^rd Grammy Awards and in total have won 7 Grammy’s and that too in a short span of just 6 years. They are being touted as the next big thing in country music.
Then there is “John Mayer”, termed as the “new god of guitar”. Basically an artiste of alternative, progressive rock and blues but with his new album “Born and Raised” has raised some eyebrows as where was he till now? The album has been given very positive reviews and some have quoted, “His best album till date”. Although, everyone knew that there existed a country side of him but never was it completely shown until now. It’s a classic album with beautiful symphonies and some serious guitar stuff and a total country style rock. It’s like soul-searching meets classic folk rock. The album consists of pretty nice songs, like, “Something like Olivia”, “Walt Grace Submarine Test”, “Love is a Verb”, “Speak for me” and then there is the title track, “Shadow Days”. Oh, how did I forget the other two songs? “Whiskey-Whiskey-Whiskey” and “Queen of California”. The stylistic change-up and unburdening tone accompanied with frequent guitar-riffs account for one of the best works of John Mayer. The title track “Shadow Days” is being termed as the best of the lot but others are pretty good too, it’s just that other songs haven’t been released in a music video. This new album is really worth dying for. DO LISTEN TO IT.

The face of country rock has changed over the years, no doubt in that but in a new and better way. It doesn’t mean that the earlier works by, John Lennon, John Denver, Bob Dylan and others can be discarded. No wonder they are good but the present ones are also not bad.
“Country roads take me home,………”