I consider myself to be a very “musically diverse” person as I can jam to hits like We Built This City by Starship to Best I Ever Had by Drake. I think a person’s music choices say a lot about them and there’s nothing better than finding someone with the same music taste as your own. And yet there is just one genre of music for me that I always find myself coming back to time and time again. Maybe you can blame it on my small town Midwest roots, or the fact that the majority of concerts around my area are country concerts—but inevitably, I’m in love with country music.

“I don’t get it.” “It literally all sounds the same.” “Every song is about trucks, girls and beer.” Ah, the critics. I understand that with any genre of music there are going to be those who love it, and those who are on the opposite end of the spectrum. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. So, here is mine.

Country music is more than just some guys and gals singing about trucks, girls and beer in country twang voices. Sure, there are some songs that are sort of bland like that, but there are so many other songs that are about young love (Die a Happy Man by Thomas Rhett, Bless the Broken Road by Rascal Flatts, My Best Friendby Tim McGraw and Give It All We Got Tonight by George Strait—just to name a few, I could go on and on). There are songs about all kinds of real life situations like break-ups (Make You Miss Me by Sam Hunt), growing up/moving on (Wide Open Spaces by the Dixie Chicks), getting married/having kids (Hey Pretty Girl by Kip Moore) and even the tough stuff like death (You Should Be Here by Cole Swindell and I Drive Your Truck by Lee Brice). All of these songs I’ve mentioned aren’t made up, you can tell the artists have gone through these situations just like me and you have gone through, or will go through at some point in our lives. I think that’s what makes country music so real and relatable to the listening audience. The lyrics make us stop and think about life for a moment—and isn’t that what good music is supposed to do—make us think and feel at the same time?

I’d be amiss if I didn’t also give some credit and love to those country songs out there that are about our country and our freedom. There are a lot of country music artists who just get it and pay respect to all of our amazing military men and women. Perhaps one of my favorites is Toby Keith. He sings songs like Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue, Made in America and American Solider.

And then, finally, there is country music in the summertime. Maybe the fact that it is summer now is what prompted me to write this article in the first place. I listen to country music all year round, but it is just something different in the summer. I mean is there really anything better to have blasting out of your car radio or boom box as you are driving along in the bright sunshine or sitting around a bonfire with friends and family? The answer to that is no. Nothing beats those feel good jams like Backroad Song by Granger Smith, Night’s on Fire by David Nail, Wasted Time by Keith Urban and Snapback by Old Dominion. Country music and summertime just go together like peanut butter and jelly and it only seems to be getting better. Sure, we can’t forget the classic artists like Alan Jackson, Willie Nelson, George Strait and Dolly Parton who helped pave the way for this uplifting genre of music, but I can’t wait to see where country music goes from here. I’ll leave you with a powerful one liner from country music great Harlan Howard as he said it best, “Country music is three chords and the truth.”