Oh my, you happy little humming readers, I thought about something this week that I’m actually quite ashamed of.



You and I have been dating through this column for months, and I haven’t talked about a really important topic that you should always get out of the way in the very beginning of any relationship: music!



I know that my Permanent Lipstick predecessor, Ginger Knoxx, spoke of music often. I’m not even close to as hip as she is about music, but that’s mostly by choice.



Essentially, I’m quite content with what I rock.



What is that, you say? Well, my personal taste revolves around all forms of classic rock, from the Rolling Stones to Jeff Beck, metal including old Metallica and Black Sabbath, punk with Fugazi and Iggy Pop, the blues, from John Lee Hooker to B.B. King, jazz like Coltrane and Ella Fitzgerald, hair bands like Poison and Motley Crue, ’80s bands including The Cure and Depeche Mode, alternative music from Weezer and The Flaming Lips, and quite importantly, old school rap with greats like De La Soul, Run DMC, A Tribe Called Quest and N.W.A. I’m also a huge fan of R&B amongst the likes of Erykah Badu, John Legend, Alicia Keys and Mary J. Blige.



Do I dislike most modern-day music? Not really, I just prefer to appreciate it from a distance, especially after spending my younger years chasing after the latest and greatest bands and members, forever getting that kind of effusive anticipation and anxiety out of my system.



However, I have to tell you about something really weird that’s been happening to me with music.



This is something that I never in my life thought I would EVER say: Lately I’ve been watching a whole heck of a lot of Country Music Television.



I haven’t completely excluded country from my life-long music diet, but I’ve always stuck to the artists whom I really thought were talented, like Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash. And I’ll confess, one of my guilty pleasures is the Dixie Chicks. Other than that, I really thought most country music was worthless, that it all sounded the same and that I was better off sticking to electric guitars and turntables.



But much to my surprise, within the last week, Country Music Television offered me two shows that changed my life and perspective: CMT Giants: Reba McEntire and CMT Crossroads with Kenny “Babyface” Edwards and Trisha Yearwood.

The Reba McEntire gig consisted of a whole host of country and mainstream musicians sharing stories about her and performing her music. Kelly Clarkson’s cover of "Why Haven\'t I Heard From You" was so amazing that it gave me goose bumps and quite literally choked me up. Equal in greatness were performances from Dolly Parton (duh), Wynona Judd, LeAnn Rhymes and Faith Hill.



It was also so beneficial for me to gain an understanding of Reba as an artist, her music and how she paved the way for so many of the female country musicians that would follow. I had no idea.



Then, in the wee hours of last Saturday, I caught a replay of “Crossroads” with Babyface and Trisha Yearwood. I’m a fan of anything written, produced or delivered by Babyface, and went into that show with zero knowledge of Yearwood other than what I’d heard in the Reba show. After, I was so taken by how beautiful, pristine and natural her voice is, which goes quite nicely with her sweet, humble demeanor. Amongst so many other songs, I appreciated their covers of Madonna’s “Take A Bow” (a song Babyface co-wrote that’s helped me through so much), James Taylor’s “Fire and Rain” and Eric Clapton’s “Change The World.” I also really enjoyed Yearwood’s songs that I’d never heard before or considered in my whole life.



When the curtain closed on “Crossroads,” and after all of these eye-openers, thoughts and musings, I ultimately had to admit something to myself: I think I like country music now. I still can’t believe I just typed that.



What am I going to do about it? I’ll probably start by buying some McEntire and Yearwood albums, then my plan is to continue to watch CMT with a mind that’s much more open than it’s ever been.



My hat’s off to you, CMT.