In the last four years since graduating high school, I have grown into a different person. While I still try to weigh the positives and negatives of that, one thing is for sure — if high-school-me met current-me, I would punch me in the face.

Among a multitude of things the former me would greatly disapprove of, country music is probably one of the most offensive. I am not sure when exactly I fell in love with the country genre, but it happened some time after I left Texas to move here. In case you were wondering, that is called irony.

Contrary to the gospel of Lady Gaga, I do not believe you are born as who you are. I believe that through circumstances and choices you grow into who you are, which is why I can honestly talk about why I love country music without fear of repercussion that I do not fit into the stereotypical mold of who I used to be.

SMALL TOWN VALUES

I love country music for more than the fact that I am internally programmed to flock to anything with a twang sound as a Texan — of course I was a late bloomer. There is a certain purity in those chords hardly found in any other genre. I know on the surface it sounds like modern country lyrics only consist of trucks, girls and beer, but I would recommend looking beyond that. Country music holds to an idea most rushed to let go of long ago — an idea of family, small towns, patriotism and God. Families who work hard for a living, small towns full of people that wave to each other, American flags in every yard and every pew in town filled on Sunday mornings. It sounds fantastical and utterly sappy, but I know of quite a few places where that is actually reality.

I realize that not all country music is as wholesome as I have described, and perhaps I give the genre more credit than it deserves, but I still believe that at its core, country music embraces a lifestyle foreign to most.

I love country music, not because I am geographically programmed to, but because I believe in that fantastical idea, and while others try to shake any residue of it off, I am going to keep holding on.