iTunes Playlists, Texas Country and Unleash the Redneck

While in the Dominican Republic over the last two weeks, I read Steve Jobs book. Interestingly enough, after reading Steve's book, I felt a need to start organizing some personal soundtracks for life. That, and buy a iPod Shuffle for some of these soundtracks. This morning I started organizing my first two playlists named, Texas Country and Unleash the Redneck.

Texas Country is exactly as it sounds. While living in Corpus Christi, Texas a few years back, I discovered a radio station only playing Texas artists and bands. My old '96 Toyota Tacoma rarely was tuned to very much else while down there. A month ago I stumbled across Reckless Kelly again on Pandora. Creating a station devoted to Reckless Kelly, I simply wrote down the other artists who sounded good, and got those through iTunes. A few of the artists in this playlist include:

Reckless Kelly
Steve Earle
Cross Canadian Ragweed
Ray Wylie Hubbard
Buddy Miller
Chris Knight
No Justice
Shooter Jennings

Unleash the Redneck, songs included in this playlist had to evoke a certain emotion. These are the kind of songs that, when they come on the radio, there is only one thing to do. Roll the windows down in my pickup. Reach down and twist the knob on the radio to turn the volume up...way up. Grab the stick. Mash the clutch. Grab another gear. Bury the gas pedal and drive it like you stole it just for the fun of it. These songs are what happens when rock and country collide, and not surprisingly include a lot of Texas Country. Some of the songs include:

Copperhead Road - Steve Earle
Cadillac Ranch - Chris LeDoux
Amos Moses - Cross Canadian Ragweed
Papa Loved Mama - Garth Brooks
Dumas Walker - Kentucky Headhunters
If You Want To Get To Heaven - Ozark Mountain Daredevils
A Guy Like Me - Reckless Kelly
Busted in Baylor County - Shooter Jennings
Beer for My Horses - Toby Keith
Old Enough to Know Better - Wade Hayes

Next I may have to put together a good collection of what has been described as, "Angry White Boy Music," in honor of a good friend and college teammate, Owen Donahue getting engaged a couple of days ago (congratulations Owen!). Although I already knew of Mettalica, Owen made sure this was part of my higher education while at Mizzou. An angry white boy playlist could prove motivational for those early morning January and February paddles.