The Wild Ride of 2020 . . . As Told Through Country Songs
Here’s one way to do a 2020 Year-In-Review. WhiskeyRiff.com matched each month with a country song that summarized our mood and/or feeling at the time. Are you willing to revisit the nightmare? Okay, here we go . . .
January: “Here For The Party”, Gretchen Wilson. A party to start a new year and a new decade. Oh, how our hopes were high.
February: “Wish I Didn’t Know Now”, Toby Keith. We were still cruising along with concerts, award shows, and the Super Bowl, but . . . as Toby says, “I wish I didn’t know now what I didn’t know then.”
March: “I Saw a Tiger”, Joe Exotic. The terrible COVID-19 tiger arrived, and as we all locked down, at least we agreed on one thing: Carole Baskin killed her husband.
April: “I Hate Everything”, George Strait. By now it’s clear the pandemic has us in a chokehold. Everything that’s fun is canceled, and to top it off, the disease takes Joe Diffie and John Prine.
May: “Six Feet Apart”, Luke Combs. Social distancing had us watching Livestream concerts, until we got bored. Exactly how long WILL we have to stay six feet apart?
June: “Black Like Me”, Mickey Guyton. The tragedy of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor was another punch to the gut . . . and nobody in the country music community spoke more powerfully than Mickey Guyton.
July: “Mr. Mom”, Lonestar. No school, no family vacations, and parents stuck working from home. More dads than ever find themselves being “Mr. Mom”.
August: “I Think I’ll Just Stay Here and Drink”, Merle Haggard. Was Summer 2020 a complete waste? At this point, there’s nothing to do but just stay here and drink.
September: “The Boys of Fall”, Kenny Chesney. Will football happen? Maybe. Then again, maybe not. Hey, whatever form it takes, we’re in.
October: “I Will Always Love You”, Dolly Parton. This is US loving Dolly for . . . asking “Playboy” to help celebrate her 75th birthday, for bringing Stephen Colbert to tears with just her voice, and for donating $1 million to help get us a vaccine.
November: “The Snake”, Eric Church. Oh yeah, that election. Voters went to the polls to choose between . . . a rattlesnake or a copperhead?
December: “If We Make It Through December”, Merle Haggard. Let’s see . . . We’ve been through social distancing, mask debates, protests, no concerts, no restaurants, lives lost, and a brutal election cycle. If we can just make it through December . . .
