Music.

Y'all don't get it twisted- I used to be a country music HATER. Like, irrationally abhorred by it. But then I watched Walk The Line (that 2005 mobile with Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon, 10/10 recommend), and I was like "woah this OST kinda bangin!". So for a couple weeks I would listen to the songs from the movie (Joaquin singing), and got a little curious as to the original songs. I listened to a Johnny Cash song (I wish I remember which, but it was probably Get Rhythm tbh), and was all like "bruh ew what is this, I prefer the movie version fo sho". I think after watching that movie, I spoke to my mom about it, and we both wondered how accurate it was to Cash's actual life, and I believe after looking into his history, I got more invested. I started to listen to more of his songs, and slowly preferred them to those of the movie OST. Something Johnny Cash's personality, the way that he truly puts his heart into his songs (not all of them, but the ones that he wrote fo sho), you feel what he's feeling. There's definitely something to be said about "knowing" the artist affects the way that you view their art; it made it easier to like the songs. And oh boy, I'm glad that it did. I've loved "oldies" music for years (1920's-1960's(ish)), and watching Walk The Line introduced me into a whole other realm of music. Older country songs go HARD and I will not deny it. I know that by definition Johnny Cash is more "country", but it feels like less of a genre and more of the fact that he has a southern accent and uses literally the second most popular instrument. This movie awoke me to a whole timeframe of music that I'd (generally, with some exceptions of course) overlooked. Curtis Lee, Roy Orbison, Johnny Cymbal, Elvis (although I have mixed feelings on him... yeah yeah whuteva), and Johnny Cash, of course. 

I kinda de-railed from the main point I was trying to make, oops!

Anyways,

Being introduced to Johnny Cash's country-music with the prenotion of his past, and what the music meant to him, I felt less inclined to judge it just based on the genre title. I actually gave it a chance and listened. Every now and again when I'm listening to a song (doesn't matter the genre, or by who) I'll distance myself from my knowledge for a moment, and think to myself "if i I were to introduce this song to someone, they would be so focused on XYZ that they wouldn't listen". And I think that this defo pertains to Johnny Cash's music. In the circles I tend to run in, the people are like I was before, aka:" I can tolerate almost everything, but I HATE country!". Now, that being said, I do still quite strongly identify with that quote when pertaining to modern country, which 99% of the time I just can't get behind, but it's not because it's "country".

I am not making this post in an attempt to convince everyone to listen to old-country music, because I know most people (esp if country music is a no-no!) definitely won't do that.

I am making this blog post because I think it's a good example of how keen we are on making first-judgements, and sticking to them. Not trying to understand them before reevaluating.

I believe that I have grown a lot as a person in the past year or two, I still have some personal stuff to work on, but I think I've become better at understanding others, and leaving my mind open.