Redneck Zen

I am not someone prone to meditation or truly introspective thinking. I fear that if I simply sat quietly in a room and tried to meditate I would simply just fall asleep.

The fact that I am a creative person with a creative job also doesn’t help as too often my mind wanders and I’ll spend the time daydreaming. Even activities that should inspire a zen state in other people typically does nothing for me.

I walk every day, mostly for exercise but also because there hasn’t been a whole lot to do in the last year. I also stretch so that I can walk every day and yet neither of these inspire the mental clarity that I would like them too.

No, for me there’s only one activity where the mind goes blank and allows me to totally focus on what I’m doing.

And that is archery. It’s the only activity where I block everything out and really concentrate.

Now I should add some context. For a lot of people, archery is not something they see every day. But as some who spends a vast majority of his time in the rural environs of Northern Michigan and you’ll see more than your fair share of robin hood wannabe’s out taking shots at a foam deer. Give a country boy a stick bow and dozen arrows and he’ll entertain himself all day.

Now I don’t hunt, but show me a large chunk of styrofoam and I can’t help but get excited.

But archery is not the main thrust of this article, but what accompanies it. This article is about the playlist that comes with it.

And if you’re going to shoot your bow out in the woods while surrounded by trees there are some songs that should be in your rotation.

The first song is Whitehouse Road by Tyler Childers. This song captures the feeling of living out in the middle of nowhere and it speaks to my life as an artist. It’s about being out all night and having fun while totally getting the feeling of what’s like in the backwoods.

Then I stick with Tyler and follow it up with Nose To The Grindstone. It’s about a guy trying to get out of a small town. It's heartfelt and mournful and his voice just works for what he’s trying to do.

Then I’d move into the Sturgill Simpson. While Sturgill is not solely a country singer I still think his best work is the early updated Western country sound from Metamodern Sounds in Country Music. In fact, I would just put the whole album on the playlist, but instead I’ll include some of my favorites.

I’d argue there’s no better music for spending the day out in the yard than early Sturgill Simpson. You start with Voices, follow that with Living the Dream, and then maybe some It Ain’t All Flowers. If you want to deviate from that album my favorite Simpson song is The Storm from his first album. His voice reminds me, along with everyone else, of Waylon Jennings and his cool vibe is just perfect for the area.

Finally, I close it out with the youngest member and maybe the newest Colter Wall. Wall’s early work was characterized by a voice so deep that it made Sam Elliot jealous. I mean if a can of Skoal could talk it would sound like Colter Wall.

My two favorite songs are from a live recording he did in a brewery. It’s just him and a kick drum and it sounds awesome. It’s dark and ethereal sounds like something the bad guy in a cowboy movie would make into.

Of course, because I’m not super inventive I’d choose his two best known tracks. First I’d go with “Sleeping on the Blacktop” and close the whole thing out with “Kate McCannon.”

Go with these songs and you’ll have a great time no matter what you’re doing out in the woods.

Here's the playlist: