Country Music Medicine

Some of the greatest duets have come from the passion between two musicians in love. Collaborations between two solo artists as they grace the stage together brings forth a certain excitement.   But in the case of Terra Bella the love and passion is there every time they grace the stage. Martina and Joe Costa are the married duo and rising musicians that hail from a ranching community in Central California now living and making music out of Nashville the two of them have that Bakersfield sound that Merle Haggard made famous all those many moons ago. This last summer my husband and I made the five hours drive down to Music City to do a bit of dancing and drinking and just immerse ourselves in the natural high of the area where country music is being made in every doorway. We stopped by a small place called Scoreboards tucked back out of the hustle of the mainstream Nashville night life. There was a duo on the events list for the night that I had never heard of before. Martina ...

We can talk about the different sounds, sub genre’s and tastes of music that fall underneath the umbrella genre of what is country music. And while the duo I have been listening to all day most certainly don’t have the traditional sound that I consider “pure” country music and while their roots hail in Rock and Roll the two of them have come together (and apart) to make some of the best music in the last 14 years that have not only shaped country music but told the story of country music’s people no matter how raw and painful it is. (They make me cry a lot). An another thing that brings me to Big and Rich is the fact that these two are great Christian musicians and really stand in their beliefs and it comes out in so much of their music. I always believed that actors, musicians, writers, the people with fans and the ear of a nation had the responsibility to push for change, to make art that made people not just feel but think. Musicians can do so much good with not only charity...