I'm crumbling.

Something that has been a part of my identity for all of my life is slipping away. I'm still clinging, but without passion. I don't know how far I have to fall before I must acknowledge that I hold to this principal no more. But I think I am close to that point.

What I'm talking about is (of course), my aversion to country music.

Yes, a couple of years ago a friend gave me a Lyle Lovett CD for my birthday. But I don't think that's where it began. I think it was Garth Brooks covering Billy Joel's Shameless. I'm a huge (huge!) Billy Joel fan and the song almost sounded better with the country slide mixed in (it's taken me years to publicly acknowledge this).

But then I took possession of Lyle Lovett. And on the advice of a review in a journal, I picked up a Johnny Cash boxed set. Then a friend introduced me to the Lost Dogs. There is an Emmylou Harris disc on its way.

I'm perilously close, I know.

This can all be rationalized away. It's folksy, crossover music, in-between genres. It's good, heartland music, far from the black guitar, big-hat wearing stereotypes.

I still believe that, I really do.

I think.