Happy weekend, y'all! Let me know what song got you into country music, and if you are interested in grabbing any merch head over to gradywsmith.bigcartel.com and snag some!
Same! I was starting elementary school when this album came out and my mom and I rocked out to it to and from school everyday! I owe all my country music roots to her ❤️
"Black Eyes, Blue Tears" is still a GREAT anthem for domestic violence victims and/or survivors, and "If You Wanna Touch Her, Ask" seems like it could get some serious traction today.
My grandfather had an animatronic deer head hung is his sitting room that would sing that song. I used to sit there for hours watching this deer bob it’s head and sing.
That’s one of the songs that I was introduced to country at a younger age. I wasn’t a fan of modern country until now. But that just one of the songs I would listen to and my best friend by Tim McGraw
My “gateway” song was “Famous in a Small town” by Miranda Lambert. Way back in like 08/09 when I would listen to cmt In the morning before school. I loved the funny lyrics and good music. And surprisingly Taylor Swift was an artist that helped push me into country music back in the old days
Cruise, this is how we roll, and Sam hunts entire montavallo album. That was my intro to country music! Now I love the 90’s country and Texas scene. Also I’ve been listening to a lot of Colter Wall and Brent Cobb lately!
I don’t know about “song”, but I think a certain artist, in a certain time period...for the 80s: Alabama was a major door opener, early 90s: all about Garth Brooks. Mid 90s: Shania Twain kinda blew the doors off the “anti-country” folk. Tim and Faith and Leann Rimes were others that I can remember my non-country friends gravitating to. Then Lonestar, Dixie Chicks and Rascal Flatts...different artists at different times...anyways cool video cool discussion point. Thanks!
I used to be strictly a classic rock fan throughout my childhood. Listening to a friend play Wagon Wheel on his acoustic guitar around the fire is what initially planted the seed for country music in my brain. Wagon Wheel soon expanded to Chicken Fried, Tennessee Whiskey and Your Man by Josh Turner. Country is now my favourite genre and the rest is history.
My personal gateway was the “Common Threads” album in 1994, and, more specifically, Travis Tritt’s cover of “Take it Easy”....That, and John Michael Montgomery’s “Sold(Grundy County Auction)”
My youth was Shania and The Dixie Chicks. I never listened to anything else “country” until my 20s and Kenny Chesney pulled me back in with There Goes My Life
Yep, same here. I ONLY listened to country and bluegrass music from the moment I was born until about 13, when my choir director introduced me to a lot of new genres. My mom's side of the family is full of bluegrass singers and musicians and songwriters from Kentucky, so it was basically all I knew growing up.
2007: My sister introduced me to Taylor Swift “Teardrops on my Guitar” on the radio and following right after that I found Josh Turner “Firecracker”. I was obsessed. This girl who sat next to me in class was the only other girl in my sophomore class who knew who Taylor Swift and Josh Turner. We became best friends after that and she opened my horizon with the country genre.
My dad used to play his Alabama cds in his truck when I was about 5 years old and that’s what git me into Brad Paisley, Alan Jackson and a bunch of other new and old artist. I’m super glad that my dad had the CDs and always played Mountain Music at max volume.
-drinking problem -man in black -guitars cadillacs hillbilly music -as she's walking away -shes in love with a boy -check yes or no -grundy county auction So many good ones too.
the ken burn country music documentary is what got be back into country. Hearing the stories and hearing the music behind those stories made me love the genre even more.
Mine were "All the Pretty Girls" by Kenny Chesney, and later "Man I Want to Be" by Chris Young and "How Not To" by Dan + Shay. Good ol' KC came up through my RU-vid recommendations 5 years ago, and opened my two country. The other two used to play at my first job 3 years ago, and that was when I started to listen to country almost exclusively.
for me it was life is a highway (from watching cars almost every single day when my brother & i were two & four), lucky man by montgomery gentry (one of my dads all time favorite country songs) & boys round here by blake shelton (our across the street neighbor listened to a whole lot of, as pat green puts it in his & josh abbott's song "my texas"..."polished pop country crap"). after my guy best friend "repaired" my music taste this year, there's always some form of indie / red dirt / texas country music playing on my spotify !!! zach bryan, kody west, koe wetzel, parker mccollum & blue edmonson are some of my current favs :)
ZBB really brought me into the genre... I listened to country since I was born (2004) and ZBB was my first concert in 2012... also when I was 4 I would watch cars on repeat every day I probably watched it 150 times so I have “life is a highway” drilled into my head..
My gateway was listening to the a capella band Home Free...I grew up in a household that hated country music (my papa loved it, so I heard it a few times a year with him, and my grandma played us Alan Jackson) but me being a choir kid started to get really into the Acapella group Pentatonix. Thanks to the RU-vid algorithm recognizing that I enjoy a capella Christmas music, I started seeing Christmas music from home free recommended to me. One thing led to another and a year later, I was not only listening to their Christmas songs, but all their country acapella music as well. Now another year later, I’ve branched out into main stream country music, and it’s my second favorite music genre now.
The first country song I ever listened to (apart from "Life Is A Highway", of course, go Cars!) was "My Little Girl" by Tim McGraw when I was nine or ten. When I was twelve, I had a few other Rascal Flatts songs that I loved, like "When the Sand Runs Out" and "My Wish". Then, when I was fourteen and really getting into music, it was Carrie Underwood and Maddie and Tae who really got me into the genre.
I was 5 or 6 years old when I heard George Strait “If You’re Thinking You Want A Stranger” on the radio for the first time. I remember being absolutely mesmerized by that song; but I think it’s more fair to say that “The Fireman” by George Strait is what got me hooked for life.
Toby Keith was mine. Six years old, I remember singing Beer for My Horses, Mockingbird, and Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue with my parents. Forever a country fan
I've grown up listening to country music and Jammin' out to Garth Brooks in the car with my mom. I got to see Garth in concert twice and cried both times. Garth is still my favourite to this day, I've tried getting some friends into country music but some grew up to it like I did, it got over played and now they hate it so I guess not everybody can have good taste. My boyfriend tends to like rap music but I'm slowly getting him into country music through Bro Country and Pop Country. Your channel has definitely opened up my eyes to more artists and to fall in love with country music all over again. Colter Wall is a favourite of mine right now for sure so Thank You!!!
Taylor Swift was my introduction and I think she was for a lot of young women in my generation. She might have left the genre but she made it cool and accessible for girls my age
Same! My mom listened to country when I was little, but my gateway back into country was the Taylor's first single Tim McGraw. 14 years later here I am as a hardcore country fan who still loves taylor swift!
Britni Weiss I never stopped listening to her after she switched because I think she’s a pretty good songwriter and her new album is so good. It’s not country by any means but indie-folk is closer to country than anything else she’s put out recently.
My Grandma gave me a CD that she dug up in a box a short few weeks after my grandpa passed. “The essential Jim Reeves” I played that CD nearly every day in my truck for a year. Particularly “Four Walls”, my favorite on the disc. Reeve’s voice reminded me of my grandpa and really made me fall in love with that low and slow, old school country. Now I love artists like Don Williams, Merle, Glen Campbell, and so so many more. I always loved folk artists like Townes Van Zandt, and Jim Croce so it wasn’t hard to get me hooked on the beautiful and raw singing/storytelling that is so prevalent in old school country.
I couldn't believe you said "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue by Toby Keith" that's the exact song I thought of when you started the video. When I was realbyoung I liked like 70s rock and the beastie boys and stuff like that with my dad and then like 7-8 years old I heard "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue on a CD in my mom's car. It was a live version he did in 2002. I memorized the entire pre song speech he gave on the song. Since then I've been in love with country music. Both traditional country, some pop-ier country, love most of it. But that's crazy that it was the same song! Love the channel Grady. Like 95% of the content I seek out is sports related. You're the exception. And this is legitimately my favorite channel on RU-vid! Keep it up!
I don't know why but the song that sticks in my head when I think of riding around with my parents as a kid listening to country music is This Kiss by Faith Hill. The first Album I ever had was Unleashed and I loved Courtesy of the red white and blue. Then I kind of stopped listening to much music until High school and I remember Loving Brantley Gilbert Halfway to Heaven. Probably something to do with being a young highschooler thinking nobody understood you and it was kind of a rebel album for me
@@bawin384 idgaf what shes doing now. She was a pop music sellout for years and years, and on a side note, shes also technically selling out again from pop to alt because that's what's popular now with the rise of indie/alt culture. And it's really ironic to call someone bland and narrow because they dont like the most basic, popular, white girl success of so many years lmao.
I was raised on Chesney, Charlie Daniels, Luke Bryan, Billy Currington, Parmalee, Sugarland etc ; and a bunch of others. Where I come from, I live in a country music loving city in Indiana
My gateway into country music wasn’t an artist or a song but Grady Smith and these videos. I’ve found a whole mix of music to pair with what I already listened to and for that I say thank you Grady and keep up the good work on your videos.
Brooks & Dunn, Shania Twain & Alan Jackson were my country introductions when I was a child & ever since, nothing beats 90s/early 2000s country for me 👌🏼
When I was a kid, I had an iPod mini given to me by my uncle. And my favorite song on there was “Honky Tonk Badonkadonk” by Trace Adkins. I had no clue the song was about butts when I was 7 but I still loved it lol. Not sure if this song got me into country but it may have been my first favorite.
One of mine earliest memories is ridding around town with my father in the late 90s and that don't impress me much came on the radio and I fell in love with shania twain
Golden Hour, Kacey Musgraves was my gateway! Loved the country-sided songs like Space Cowboy, High Horse and Wonder Woman, and decided I wanted sooooo much more. Now country is all I listen to!
The first country song I remember jamming to when I was really little was "How Do You Like Me Now!?" by Toby Keith. That song has always stuck with me and been a favorite. Plus my grandparents always watched Midwest Country and my grandma always listened to Alan Jackson, so he was my main gateway into country music. Thanks Grandma for influencing my taste in music, I miss that lady a lot!
It started with Johnny Cash for me. Then I started getting recommendations for other singers like Merle, Waylon and Buck Owens. Very soon after that I came across singers like George Strait, Chris LeDoux, Cody Johnson, Jon Pardi, and Aaron Watson who are now my all time favorites.
The ones that brought me into it would have to be "it's 5 o'clock somewhere", "toes", "drive for daddy's genes" and "country boy". Yes mostly alan jackson, gotta love him 🤘
0:53 For those who are not in the know, Pewdiepie's LWIAY series started off as a parody of Jacksfilms's YIAY series (if only in name). (They are both okay with it, it's all in good fun)
For me it was Luke Combs and I turned a lot of my friends, we are all from the city, into Luke Combs fans. He is just so amazing and genuine that it’s hard not to love him.
"When I Get Where I'm Going" by Brad Paisley. I disliked country up until that point but that song hit me in just the right place. "Don't Rock the Jukebox" by Alan Jackson was another.
I discovered you through the Song Vs Song podcast and I really like the channel so far! Also, my gateway artist was definitely Shania Twain. I'm learning about a lot of artists I hadn't heard of through the channel. I can also attest, as a Scottish person, that 'The Gambler' anecdote is true, lol!
The first songs that got stuck in my head were Cruise and That’s My Kind of Night. But Zac Brown Band is what really brought me in to country music full force. Then I saw them live and I was officially hooked.
Remember watching Granger Smith’s “Earl Dibbles Jr.” skits. Eventually I discovered Granger as an artist and because of that still have the nostalgia whenever I hear one of his songs.
Shania Twain in the 90’s, they played her music on pop stations here in Los Angeles. Also, my dad listened to a lot of Singer-Song writers of the 60’s/70’s that weren’t country but had a bit of a country flair that got me interested in that kind of sound and eventually led me to the genre. “Life is a highway” because they played that music video on Disney Chanel when Cars was coming out in theaters. I never watched cars until 4 years ago as an adult but I saw that music video almost daily on Disney Chanel when I was kid lol. I actually truly started regularly listening to country after watching your videos and watching some history of country stuff, the history aspect is what truly sold me and your videos do a good job of updating me on the current country scene.
Brad Paisley "Im gonna miss her and Southern Comfort zone" really made me explore the genre, now I love older country and people like Colter Wall, Cody Jinks, Turnpike, Whitey Morgan, etc etc
For me the earliest memories of county that I have is listening to Tim McGraw’s first album especially his duet with Faith Hill over and over in my fathers truck everywhere we went along with LeAnn Rimes. Also Elvis...my father was a huge Elvis fan and owned all of his records and would play them on the weekends but I remember his country music songs the most that threw my into the songs and also made me fall in love with Elvis and country for all these years.
The fact no one mentioned a song like “All My Exes Live in Texas” is sad... like most people that know nothing from what I’ve seen usually at least know that song
I didn't listen to much music prior to the early '90s, when I was forced to watch CMT because my sister liked it. But I fell in love with the videos for Joe Diffie's "Prop Me Up Beside the Jukebox" and "Startin' Over Blues". They showed me that country music could have a sense of humor, which I greatly enjoyed. I consider "Prop Me Up" to be my favorite song to this day, partly due to its role in getting me hooked on country music. Joe Diffie is one of my favorite singers as a result, and I was heartbroken when he died earlier this year.
I can't even really remember what brought me into Country except it was way long ago. A lot of mid to late 70's classic country was where I started with the influence of my riding around with my Dad and listening to what was playing on the car radio. I sort of left Country behind through mostt of the 80's but came back to it with the starting of CMT. I have to say artists like Mary Chapin Carpenter, Garth Brooks, Clint Black, Martina McBride, and Travis Tritt were the artists that propelled me through the 90's and beyond. I love the alt country and Americana scene greatly. I have also have a great reverence from Bluegrass. Give me a well crafted song and a catchy riff and I am sold.
