No one sings “Always On My
Mind” like Willie Nelson. He is still
one of the best vocal performers
in music history. Johnny Cash’s
baritone echoes from my child-
hood when I first heard him say
he killed a man in Reno just to
watch him die. Hank Williams Sr.
sounded whiny and lame to me
when I was a teenager but I only
knew “I’m So Lonesome I Could
Cry.” Once I heard tunes like “My
Bucket’s Got A Hole in It,” “How-
lin’ At the Moon,” and “Hey Good
Lookin,” I realized his voice was
NJ STAGE - ISSUE 58
one of adulthood.
My love for traditional country
music has nothing to do with life-
style or nationalism. Many modern
country songs are divisive. They
draw a line between rural middle
America and the endless strip-
malls, banks and iced coffee cups
of our suburban utopia here in
New Jersey. I grew up Colombian
born, Italian adopted, and raised
in the New York suburbs of cen-
tral coastal New Jersey. However,
I was drawn to the twangy good-
ness and hollowness in the ether
INDEX
NEXT ARTICLE
115