I'm English - here, if you say you like country music, people give you really strange looks, like you crawled out from under a rock. Country music is really looked down on by the majority of people here. I was bullied at school because of my tasye in music, but I still love Waylon and Willie, Tompall Glaser, Jerry Jeff Walker and so many others, including the guy no one else seems to have heard of - Joe Sun! His version of Out Among The Stars still gives me chills. I even (back when I was able to go out and do things like normal people) saw Johnny Cash on stage. Oh, and Marty Robbins, who was an amazing showman and kept the audience in stitches between songs - much like John Barrowman does today. Never did get to see Waylon live, but Mum has seen Willie Nelson twice - he's her pin-up, I think he's a year younger than mum!

I grew up stuck somewhere between dad's love of classical music and mum's love of Jim Reeves, then mum bought a compilation LP because it had Jim Reeves on it, so I heard Waylon and Jerry Reed for the first time, and it was just love at first hearing. I have a HUGE record collection, and I've got a USB turntable so I can convert all my LPs to MP3 tracks for my iPod and have them on CDs too. It'll mean I don't wear the records out!

I like some stuff that isn't country, too, but country is my first and most abiding love when it comes to music!