I live in the remote mountains of extreme north Georgia. I grew up in Gainesville, GA which is about an hour north of Atlanta. But now that I’ve got a family of my own, we’ve settled ourselves in a more rustic setting. Our home is a cabin nestled between mountain peaks and beautiful valleys. The peaks are the beginnings of the Appalachian Mountains and in fact, the Appalachian Trail starts just a few miles from our house. It takes us 20 minutes to get to the grocery store and any sort of civilization. The evenings at our house are sometimes filled with the sound of my wife, Chelsea, playing bluegrass tunes on her fiddle.
Why do I mention this? I mention this setting because I’ve discovered a whole world of music that I’d never given much thought to before. I assume most readers of IVM are similar to me: we spend a lot of time on the internet and we listen primarily to punk, hardcore, metal, indie rock, electronica, etc. Coming from that background, I can’t express the vast difference between my normal musical tastes and the music I see going on around me in this new setting. People here love bluegrass and traditional fiddle tunes and Irish folksongs. The amount of ex-hippies that love folk in these parts is ridiculous.
So my exposure to this world of simple, traditional music has rubbed off on me. And I’ve realized that there are some great things to take away from this influence. These tunes revel in a simple life set amongst God’s natural creation. The songs reflect the beauty of what God has created and the beauty of an unbusy life lived in harmony with nature.
So I ask you to respond to this article in a couple ways. First off, you can tell me about your experience (or lack thereof) with folk/bluegrass/traditional tunes. You can also take this post as an encouragement to get out in nature and either take a hike, or go bike-riding, or swim in a lake or go camping this weekend. And finally, you can and should use this article as a reminder that God speaks strongly through nature, expressing His handiwork and glory through the things He created. Go see little reflections of God’s character in the birds you hear and the trees you see. Thank God for His goodness to you and praise Him for His wonderful creation! Let yourself be immersed in the revelation of your heavenly Father through the glory of nature and beauty of God’s handiwork!