A Country Boy Can Surmise

There are two places in Southeastern Kentucky I think of as my true homes:   the small community of Lily , in the foothills of Laurel County, and, fifty miles east, Rockhouse Creek , in the lush mountains of Leslie County.   I will focus on Rockhouse here, mainly because it is the dark, lovely topography of my collective memory, but also because it is the epitome of Central Appalachia, the kind of place that journalists-who-don’t-know-what-they’re-talking-about always zoom in on with their statistics and opinions. In fact, Rockhouse is located just a few miles from the communities that were recently the focus of a piece called “ What’s The Matter With Eastern Kentucky? ” by Annie Lowrey in The New York Times that referred to Appalachia and the Deep South as “the smudge of the country.”             Well, I am that smudge.   My people are that smudge.   My homeland is that smudge. And we are much, much more than that.   In fact, we would fight for that smudge.   Many of us

Here are some songs I have been loving lately, especially while cruising on the lake or riding down the highway with my windows down.  Mostly new stuff, but with a couple of recent-but-older ones thrown into the mix.  Download all of these!  Pay for your music!  Otherwise it's stealing. His "Take Me to Church" is a huge hit--and I love it--but this one by Hozier really speaks to me. A great summer sound from The Black Keys.  "Fever". The video makes me have flashbacks to my childhood. I'd listen to these two sing the phone book. It's even better when they're singing a song written by Brandi Carlie and the Twins.  The Secret Sisters doing "Rattle My Bones".  Speaking of Brandi Carlile, the tree in the video for "Dreams" looks so much like the one on the cover of ELI THE GOOD, which I was able to give to Brandi in person, although I about passed out. Best pop song of the summer go