Historically, I've never been a fan of country music. And that's an understatement. Sure, my childhood hometown was Staunton, Virginia, the home of The Statler Brothers, and Phil Balsley's daughter Leah was a gradeschool friend of mine.

And yeah, from there I moved to LaGrange, Georgia at the age of 11, where I befriended Razzy Bailey's delightful twin daughters, Jenetta and Jenevra. Did this make me guilty by association? (One awkward relational moment took place when one of Razzy's daughters asked me what I thought of her father's new hit single as it played over the P.A. system at our local swimming pool ... Sadly, I answered with blunt honesty.)

Truth be told, there was one vein of country music I liked as a child.

Every July 4th back in the day in Staunton, The Statler Brothers performed a free concert at Gypsy Hill Park for the community (and anyone else who cared to make the drive). And I have fond youngster memories of those good times with my family. Back then the only country music I appreciated was the Statler's music ... unless you count Michael Martin Murphy's "Wildfire" or the occasional Johnny Cash hit I noticed that really didn't sound "country" to my young ears.

By the time I became a big Christian music fan of the rock variety at the age of 15, I wouldn't have even owned up to enjoying the Statlers. And a couple years later, when it became clear that it wasn't just that I liked rock, but that I was an alternative music fan, country music was the kiss of relevancy's death in my mind.

This perspective stayed constant over the next several years as I finished up high school and college -- and then I did a very, very bad thing. I moved to -- (gasp!) -- Nashville. I pulled into town with my Walkman blazing Chagall Guevara, the 77s, U2, Charlie Peacock and The Ocean Blue. What pray tell, was I doing in Nashville?

Indeed, the country music capital of the world is also the Christian music capital, hence I made the sacrifice in the name of pursuing my favorite vocation. Besides, the people I would be hanging around wouldn't like country music either. I was sure of this. That is, until Charlie Peacock told me he liked country music.

Say what?!? Exactly.

To make a long story short, from that moment on, country music was in relentless pursuit. Within a few years I thought it was okay to enjoy alt country -- artists such as Emmylou Harris and Buddy Miller.

After all, it was ALTERNATIVE country music, and hey, one of U2's producers was helming Emmylou's stuff. And Johnny Cash? His music was WAY too cool to be considered "country." And his vibe? He was more rock 'n' roll than most of my favorite alternative artists would ever be! And besides, he loved Jesus -- and not just when he got his Grammy Awards, if you know what I mean.

Everything really started to fall apart for me when I saw how often the alt-country artists I respected would collaborate with straight-down-the-pike pop country stars. What were they THINKING?

And my ears ... was I -- am I -- starting to get old? On occasion, some of those country popsters have started sounding good to me. Schnikeys.

So here I am in 2006, and I have yet to publicly admit (Admit? Yes, that's the best word.) that I like a significant amount of country music. Let's just consider this blog entry a therapeutic move, shall we? OK. Here we go ...

My name is Jay Swartzendruber, and I like a lot of country music.

There, I did it. But note that I can't bring myself to say simply, "I like country music." (Oh yeah, that qualifier has to be there.)

Thank you for your understanding.

-- Jay

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