Country Music

I grew up in Texas and moved to NY at age eleven. I still listen to a lot of country music--older country like willie nelson and waylon jennings when I paint. I was watching fox news the other day and they had a new country artist on and he was showing off his tour bus. He was proud of his bus and showed the interviewer what he considered the most important thing on the Bus---Hand Sanitizer. He said with a big smile that he was a "germ-a-phobe." Then I got to thinking about how I cant really see waylon or willie or johnny cash touring around with hand -sanitizer and calling it the most important thing on the bus. I think there would have been a bottle of whiskey and some pills on the counter instead. Then I started to think that hand sanitizer was symbolic of the sanitization of modern music and art itself. Look at the face of Johnny Cash, that face shows every inch of the life he lived. His art reflected the life he lived, it seasoned his work and made it real and honest. I think the same goes for painters and artists. I think the secret ingredient of many artists today is to mix the same hand-sanitizer in with the old oil paint to insure their works is free of a showing any signs of living. Homogenized and pasteurized like dairy milk, they dabble away painting music that would best be played in elevators.