Jewish Country Music (??)

I’ve always loved country music for a variety of reasons. In addition to how many women artists there are (compared to other genres like rap and heavy metal), country music also has those wonderful harmonies, great use of humor, and unusually creative rhyme schemes (I love how a good country song can rhyme “pain” and “thing” – say those words with a twang and you’ll get what I mean!)

However, I never saw myself participating – Jews & country music just don’t go together, and you’d have a hard time coming up with very many Jewish country music artists.  A friend of mine from high school claimed that “Patsy Klein” would count. Actually, there is one, Kinky Friedman, who fronts a band named The Texas Jewboys and who ran for governor of Texas in 2006. Friedman ran as a joke but came in fourth out of six otherwise serious contenders, which speaks volumes about Texas state politics.

However, as we celebrate Chanukah, it occurred to me that many aspects of the holiday jive perfectly with the country music ethos – epic battles, the importance of tradition, belief in miracles, and especially all the foods fried in oil. And there’s a major shortage of good Chanukah music – so here’s my contribution. Enjoy, and Chappy Chanukah!