The Drivers, the Gamblers, and the Cowboys

I love to drive. It is a private, personal experience for me, very deeply spiritual. I listen to my music, both Christian contemporary and new Country, or Classic Rock if that's all that comes in. I absorb the green of trees and the tickle of trickling creeks and the wind in my hair the way a fish absorbs oxygen from the water where he swims. Sometimes I pray, but usually I just enjoy being alive. I love it!

I recently heard a new Country song, "The Driver" by Charles Kelly (featuring Dierks Bentley and Eric Pasley). It embodies the very thing it is describing. It's art, a poem that shows with words and supports with the music the story it is presenting. The rhythm of it almost feels like wheels on asphalt. The soft mix of the three voices is like wind in your hair. And the words describe that feeling of wandering, the need to keep going, whereever the road leads.

Many modern Country songs rock it out with drums and guitars and dance-able rhythm. "The Driver" harkens back to songs like Kenny Rogers' "The Gambler" and "Desperado" (originally by the Eagles, but I prefer Clint Black's version). Strong enough to carry you away, soft enough to punch you in the chest. These are not ballads, in the sense of telling a story. Lots of Country songs do that.

These songs tap into a deep loneliness that we all fell at one time or another, and they end with a note of hope.