My dad’s favorite Cash song is “One piece at A time” too.

On the other hand, I’d have to say my dad is responsible for getting me into country music. Whenever he had the radio on in either the car or in our basement, it was on a country station. I guess it turned out I was exposed to country first. He is mostly into classic country like George Jones, Hank Jr., Waylon, Johnny Cash, etc., but he also shared a liking for some of my favorite artists and songs of the 90′s. As I got older, I came to appreciate the country legends Dad listened to and began seeking their music, as well.

Much of it is what I heard in the car growing up. He loved Johnny Horton, John Conlee, and Marty Robbins. His favorite Johnny Cash songs were the corny ones – “Ghost Riders in the Sky” and “One Piece at a Time”, and I remember him playing “Man in Black” a lot.

There are some songs that I can’t hear without thinking about him. He was a huge Clint Black fan, and he played the heck out of “Nobody’s Home.” He also loved an album cut called “The Old Man” which seems ironic in retrospect.

Even though it’s not a country song, his favorite was “Sloop John B” by the Beach Boys. Since it inspired Mel Tillis to write “Detroit City”, there’s a country connection at least.

My mom liked a lot of country music also, and I picked up on some eighties country from her, like Ricky Van Shelton and Rosanne Cash. Kenny Rogers was always in heavy rotation, too, and I remember hearing a lot of Tammy Wynette.

Even though my parents were big fans of country music, I had to discover a lot of legends on my own because they didn’t care much for them, like George Jones, Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton, Merle Haggard and Waylon Jennings. Interestingly enough, I’d be the one to help them discover how good those artists were. I wanted to know everything about country music and hear everything significant back when I was a teenager, so I helped fill in the gaps for my parents in the end. Not a bad thank you for turning me on to the music in the first place!

Offhand, I think I inherited much more music from my Dad than my Mom, just because he made more of a habit of playing music in the house. He loved Willie’s Stardust and Frank Sinatra, plus 70′s pop/folk artists like Harry Chapin, James Taylor, John Denver and Carole King.

I also got a real love for oldies and Motown from a friend of my parents’ who would watch my sisters and me sometimes. She would always play that particular station whenever we went anywhere with her.

I didn’t actually take to those artists immediately when I started listening to music on my own, but once I started exploring the world beyond country music a little more fully, I found myself gravitating to them more and more.

My Mom also enjoyed a lot of folk music, Joan Baez and Judy Collins, but I never really took to that genre, unless it was unconciously laying down the seeds of my future appreciation of Country music even then.

I pretty much discovered Rock and Country on my own..beginning with Creedence’s Travelin Band (I thought he sounded like Elvis) and Who’ll Stop the Rain on 45..Then on to Country Rock and Southern Rock, then to Country and Bluegrass.

Since then, both my Mom and my Dad have grown to really appreciate Country music. (My Mom enjoys Patty Loveless almost as much as I do) And my Dad and his wife actually had the honor of being a guest of the late great Don Helms for tea at his house, he even gave them a steel guitar demonstration!

Now Dad tell’s me he used to listen to WWVA as a kid… I’m grateful for our family’s musical traditions, but I can’t help but envy the folks who grew up with the Opry on radio as a family ritual. We had Prarie Home Companion, in more recent years anyway.

{Oh, and as a side note, Patty Loveless will be Garrison Keillor’s guest this October 3rd on the show.} ;)

Great topic!