Give me some of that old-timey twang.

I discovered long ago that I can play just about every kind of music at my store. I've even played Opera music without people raising their eyebrows. The one kind of music I can't play without complaints is Country-Western.

I've always like some country-western music, but I always thought I kinda hated the "Nashville Sound" of the 60's and 70's: the "twang" singers. I liked Charlie Rich back in the day; the closest I got to that kind of music, and always loved Country-rock and Bluegass, Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt. T-Bone Burnett, Don Williams, Mark Chesnutt, Dixie Chicks, Patsy Cline, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Alison Krauss, and (especially) Dwight Yoakam.

Johnny Cash is pretty hard to ignore.

But singers like George Jones and (dear god) Tammy Wynette?

Turns out, I love them. I've been listening to the podcast "Cocaine and Rhinestones," which this season revolves around George Jones, and I can't get enough of that music. Damn, I just didn't know.

I mean, I'm familiar with a lot of it. Apparently I heard more of it as a kid than I thought I did. A lot of it crossed over into pop territory, or at least versions of it did. And some of the songs are undeniable masterpieces, standards that fit in with the best of American music. 

I've always had a soft spot for country-western, but falling in love with the most twangy music out there is somewhat unexpected.

I have to wonder if it's a function of age. Certainly, I have no fondness for the current "bro-western" I hear. The further back I go, the more I like it.