Recently I’ve been thinking a lot about how to broaden my understanding of different perspectives people have and it became clear to me, through constant reflection, that no one should be judged for their perspective so long as it doesn’t hurt others. People just see things differently.

I was thinking about this in the car listening to Bach’s Goldberg Variations since I find classical piano music soothing and easy to think over since it has a way of letting your mind wander. However after a while after coming to some conclusions I wanted some different styles to be in the background of my thoughts so I turned on the radio. “Loving You Easy” by the Zac Brown Band came on. I didn’t change the channel.

If you’re still reading this article and haven’t blocked my name in your browser, you understand that some people have this visceral reaction to country music which at times seems over the top. To be completely honest it’s not my favorite genre but I have been adding more country bands and artists to my Spotify playlists for the past few years. The Zac Brown Band is on some of those playlists and if you haven’t heard of them I would recommend checking them out even if you don’t typically listen to country music. Country is often introspective, sensitive, and sometimes even prosaic. I think that you just need to find your artist who can shoehorn you into the genre. For me, that artist was the late great Johnny Cash.

The Man in Black is one of few artists the world has produced who spans multiple genres including country, folk, classic rock, and arguably punk. Since I already liked the three of those genres it was easy for me to welcome the fourth. Songs like “Dark As A Dungeon” (a Willie Nelson cover) and “Get Rhythm” are in no ways any genres besides folk and country and so the more Cash I listened to the more and more I started to appreciate the country side. Johnny Cash did a lot of duets too and personally my favorites are those he did with Willie Nelson and so I started listening to Willie more too. “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain” and “Georgia on My Mind” are so often covered by other country artists that I started to listen to their renditions to see how others did it. You can see how this introduced me to more and more country music.

The thing is listening to country music puts you on the antagonized end of many musical arguments, so if you stick to your guns you have to listen to more and more country in order to broaden and solidify your stance. Suddenly you will find yourself listening to country somewhat regularly…and that’s not a bad thing. Your perspective has broadened.

I understand that the transition into listening to country music may not be an easy one and that there is a stigma attached to country as being all about “trucks, beer, and girls” but that is not all country (#notallcountry). Country music can make you think hard about uncomfortable things like your emotions. As John F. Kennedy said concisely, “Too often we…enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought”. It’s healthy to broaden our understanding of different perspectives despite mainstream opinion and stigma. It’s important to look at things from different angles and appreciate the trail people followed in order to gaze at life in the way they do. It’s fun to listen to different music instead of the endless cycle of Top 40 hits, alternative channels, and classic rock stations.

Listen to country sometimes.