Country Music Blog: The Judds

The first time I Googled "Coachella Festival," I was surprised to see we would be playing alongside Portishead. Only later did I realize we were playing the "Country Coachella," better known as Stagecoach Festival in Indio, Calif. And to be honest, I was happier because it meant I would get to see The Judds. This may surprise some of you, but as a kid, my brother and I would listen to those records every weekend. Looking at the line-up, everything else was secondary -- Earl Scruggs, Sam Bush, Riders in the Sky. Had any of them recorded "Grandpa"? Or "River Of Time"? I don't think so...

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Like a lot of people, I couldn't get a good seat at Stagecoach festival this year because I didn't buy a VIP seat. (In fact, I didn't realize there would be VIP seats.) So I spent most of the weekend milling around behind the throng of lawn chairs and blankets and wrote about the festival mostly from what I saw on the big screens. That's OK, too. At least I didn't have to walk as far to the barbecue contest. And I could easily hear music from the Eagles, John Fogerty, the Judds, Tim McGraw, Carrie Underwood and more.

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I didn't see any of Keith Urban's co-headlining dates with Carrie Underwood, but it appears after reading numerous reviews, they missed an opportunity to slip the same title into their set lists. Urban released "I Told You So" a year ago (April 17), and I remember at the time thinking when I first saw the title that maybe he was covering Randy Travis.

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Hearing music as a child and hearing music as an adult is often a completely different experience. As a child, you often enjoy a melody that makes you feel happy. As an adult, you may still enjoy songs for the same reasons, but it's more complex. You take in the words and the message and feel the soul within a song.

Being only about 5 years old at the time, the Judds' "Grandpa (Tell Me 'Bout the Good Ole Days)" is the first song I really remember "understanding" and enjoying for the words and the lyrics. I could completely relate to the concept. My grandfather was one of the greatest storytellers I've ever known, always telling me stories of his childhood that seemed so foreign to me. He spoke of times when he used to ride a cow to school, walk barefoot around the town -- times of long ago, happier times in the world, or so it seemed. As a young girl, I was always asking questions, inquisitive and naïve about the world around me, and he always assured me with a smile and a positive story and outlook.

In the video, Wynonna is a young adult asking these same questions to her grandfather. She looks at the world changing so fast around her and is longing for a happier place, asking her grandpa to take her back to a time when Lovers really fall in love to stay/Stand beside each other come what may and Families really bow their head to pray, and daddies really never go away. She asks these questions to her grandfather as a small child would, even referring to her father as "Daddy."

I used to visit my grandpa every Sunday afternoon when we'd play hand after hand of gin rummy at his little coffee table. He'd point out the pretty song of the redbird and the beauty of the large oak tree. As we looked out the window, he'd fill my mind with images of the "good ole days," and we'd laugh and forget our worries. Of course, hardships, war and chaos existed during the "good ole days," but he chose not to dwell on them or tell me. For this, I'm so thankful. Wynonna is longing for these days in the video, as I so often do now as a young woman. She reminds me of myself looking out upon the city on a sad Sunday afternoon. I, too, wish Grandpa were still here to "paint me the picture of so long ago."