Chapter 1: Greetings

It’s the summer of 1996. I’m 11 years old; you know that age when most kids are listening to pop, or unfortunately in some cases, punk and emo. I grew up in a household where we listened to nothing but country music.

Admin · March 13, 2026 · Members only · 4 min read

No, not Conway Twitty, Johnny Cash and Merle Haggard. This was the 90s. We listened to Garth Brooks, Sawyer Brown, Brooks and Dunn, Aaron Tippin and George Strait. I knew my mom grew up listening to Journey, the Carpenters and KISS though. My dad, not so much. My brother was all in on country music though, even to a point of listening to the country comedy singers like Cletus T. Judd.

I was a bit more rebellious. I was listening to Casey Kasem on Sunday afternoon’s after church. That summer, there was a song that hit number one on the charts

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