Writing Update: Rutherford and Country Music

On Everyday Liturgy I try to have a moderate, temperate voice. It’s how I feel most comfortable talking about matters of faith and spirituality. But there is another side of me. A side that rants (it did make a rare appearance on Everyday Liturgy when I briefly discussed a certain bridge).

I ranted a bit on the topic of country music over on The Curator‘s blog in “A Lament for Country Music.” It got a bit out of hand, and became a bit verbose:

“Country music was founded on lyrical proximity to the grit of the earth. Now it is just dressed up in poser cowboy boots and abhorently bad musical renditions of arrested development, binge drinking, adolescent love, pseudo-Christian ideals and bad Shakespearean puns.”

You can read the rest of the essay here. I would also like to invite you to help choose the Top 20 country artists making music today by nominating three country artists in the comments of “Help Us Curate: Good Country Music.”

I also wrote about the town of Rutherford, and my general lack of knowledge about it. It’s a place featured in Wendell Berry’s book William Carlos Williams of Rutherford, and I explore how Rutherford’s proximity to me doesn’t mean I really know anything about it. An excerpt:

“I don’t really know Rutherford that well. I have frequented the Western store in Rutherford upon occasion. I went and watched Fourth of July fireworks there seven or eight years ago. But I haven’t actually stepped foot on Rutherford soil in at least four years. I just glide right through it on the train, at least 30 times a year.”

You can read the rest of my essay “Thomas On Glynn On Berry On Williams On Place” on The Master’s Artist.