Remembering

This past week, on July 1st, my husband Randy lost a dear friend named Joshua Ragsdale. It has been a hard few days for to watch him go through the emotions, but even harder to read the tweets of Joshua's brother John and have it rekindle feelings of when I lost Adam.

Joshua wrote "Aint Much Left of Loving You" with Randy which is Randys current single and Joshua's first song on the radio that he was a part of. Even though the words of the song do not signify the emotions felt towards loosing him, but the song itself means so much more to me and Randy both as it will always remind us of Joshua!

This past week I traveled with Randy as he played in different cities throughout Florida. We heard the news Thursday morning of Joshua's passing and the whole day all I could think about was how Randy could perform the song that night. With a heartfelt, tearful introduction of sending the song up to heaven and a small break in the middle because of tears and he couldn't get the words out, I realized that very few people in the room knew what Randy was going through on stage.

Joshua was diagnosed with Leukemia and went through treatment after treatment. Being told he had a bone marrow doner and then the donor backing out. Being told one week he would be fine and then the next week the news would change. We kept up with his life through facebook, blogs, twitter, etc as we felt it necessary to leave the time he had left with his family. Randy and him would text back and forth and Randy was always thrilled when he would respond.

It was a tough battle and it times it looked as though he would beat it, but in the end the disease won.

Yesterday John Ragsdale (Josh's brother) tweeted "been planning Joshua's memorial. listening to tons of songs, looking at hundred's of pictures, crying thousands of tears..." After reading that my throat began to hurt as tears filled my eyes and I could put myself in his shoes. I can remember looking at picture after picture, watching video's just hear Adam's voice and crying feeling like "there just wasn't enough time." Joshua was 32 years old. How blessed his family is that they have so many songs that he left behind!!!!

Last week Randy and Joshua's song was 39 on the charts which means Joshua was alive to see his song go top 40. It may not seem like a huge deal, but it is! It is for Randy to know that together, something they did together, will be remembered. I pray that each of you will ask God to be with the Ragsdale family through this tough time as i'm sure many of you have lost a loved one. I also pray that you each will join in prayer with me that this song, Randy and Joshua's song, will be successful. It doesn't have to go #1, it doesn't even have to go top ten, but for the sake that one day Randy can stand on a stage and say "This is for Joshua" and that Joshua's family can be able to experience something so special as hearing the words their son, brother, fiance, cousin, etc... on the radio and they can say "My son wrote that song!" or "My brother wrote that song!"

There are lots of articles about Joshua's fight listed below. Thank you for your help and for your prayers.

http://blogs.tennessean.com/tunein/2010/07/01/songwriter-joshua-ragsdale-dies-at-32/

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20100701/DICKSON01/100701035/2121/dickson/Local%20songwriter%20loses%20leukemia%20battle%20%20leaves%20legacy%20

Countrier than cow ****

My musical thoughts:

I am the least talented musical person you will ever meet. I cannot sing AT ALL (I sound like a howling dog), I cannot play any instrument (although I did play the trumpet in 6th grade but that was too many years ago to remember), but I do feel like I have good taste in music!!! But let me advise you, I love almost EVERYTHING!!! Hence the word almost.

Here are some things I think you should check out and why I think you should check them out.

#1: Miranda Lambert is one of the most talented country music singers as well as song writers. She is so true to who she is and is not willing to change for anyone. In the business that is hard to do, but she has continued to show her personality in each song. Personally the fact the she is a down home southern girl (that hunts) makes me love her even more!!!!! If you have not gotten her new album yet, it is worth the money! If you prefer to buy by song, here are my recommendations. You for sure need to get "White Liar" mainly b/c it is one of the, if not the best song on the radio (and my good friend Natalie Hemby wrote it with Miranda!) The other song on her album that you need to get is "The house that built me." If you are girl and you are not in tears by the time the song is over, me and you wouldn’t get along. It is a beautiful song and speaks true to my life (minus the playing the guitar part.)

#2: RANDY HOUSER KICKS ***!!!!!!!! His new single "Whistlin Dixie" is amazing!!! He is probably the best male vocalist that has come out of Nashville in a long time. On his previous album "My kinda country" is a GREAT song! I love him!!!

#3: Speaking of great voices here are 2 people worth checking out. Lee Brice and Chris Stapleton. They are both unbelievable songwriters and 2 of the strongest most emotional voices I have ever heard. Chris Stapleton has a blue grass band called "The Steeledrivers." Worth the purchase for sure.

#4: Ingrid Michaelson. She is not country but I am IN LOVE with her voice.

#5: Easton Corbin: I simply love the song "I'm a little more country than that."

#6: Justin Timberlakes version of "hallelujah." It is a tear jerker and I am so glad to hear something new from him.

#7: I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE John Mayer even though he is one of the weirdest people ever. I read an article in Rolling Stone about him the other day and all his quotes about masturbation just really confused me. BUT, that doesn't take away his talent as a musician. His new album isn't nearly as good as Continuum, but the songs are still great. "edge of desire" is my favorite. And I love the message he is conveying through "who says." Basically saying, be yourself not who someone else wants you to be! BUT............ he is still weird! :)

#8: Kings of Leon.... ENOUGH SAID!!!!!!!! (well... one thing to say- they are soooo much more than "Sex on Fire" and "use somebody." If those are the only 2 you have heard, listen to the rest of their stuff with an open mind and appreciation of having a vision. They are incredibly talented. "You take to the yard like a cock fight!!!"

#9: Please don't tell my husband I said this b/c he thinks I hate this person. I am just to embarrassed to admit that I LOVE HIM!!! Chris Knight is one of the darkest song writers, but he is a lyrical genius!!!!! Literally you feel like you have watched an entire movie by the end of his songs.

#10 Eric Church is unbelievable! Talk about countrier than cow ****. I love how he says "dat" instead of "that." Oh what I thing I have for southern boys. And too, Jay Joyce produced him and Jay also produced Randy, so I love the compositions of the songs!!!

#11 Patty Griffin should have probably been #1 on my list. I saw her at the Ryman a few years ago and my heart just melted when I heard her sing. Between the songs she writes and the way she sings it, she is a true testament to what talent really is. She sings a song called "heavenly day" which Chris Stapleton sang at mine and Randy's wedding. It is the most beautiful song in the world!!!!

OKAY!!! For my last little bit.... I LOVE 80's music!!!!! LOVE IT. and my favorite song right now is "You make my dreams come true" by Daryl Hall and John Oats!!!!! It just makes me wana dance.... which is yet another thing I have absolutely no talent at!

So, there you have it!!! Another long winded post by yours truly on my musical insights!!!! I feel like I left soooo many people out.... like Old Crow Medicine Show (So much more than wagon wheel if thats all you know them for) Coldwater Jane (they are new.... beautiful girls and totally worth buying their single on iTunes), David Nail, The Fray, Eric Hutchinson, Michael Buble, and of course my amazingly talented husband Randy Montana!!! You can currently hear his demos on his MySpace page, but later this summer hopefully you will be hearing a lot more!

im done blabbing!!!!!! Let me know what you think of some of these artists!!!!

Well hello there

HERE I AM!!! Writing my first blog. How crazy is that?!?! What do you write about in blogs? politics for me is a negative so very rarely would I EVER write about that..... fashion, well lets just say unless it involves sunglasses, cowboy boots, or the occasional hoodie, I think I will pass.

Maybe I shall write about stupid people that break into houses and take 5 TVs, all your jewelry, computers, money, a gun, and a sense of security! YEAH, those people can kiss my butt!!!! And if you happen to know anyone that steals stuff, tell them they are worthless.


OKAY, now that is out of the way, on to the important stuff. I am not a big football fan, but I do like watching it and sometimes you may catch me yelling at the TV... "WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING!!!!?????!!" But I mostly use football games as the perfect time to curl up next to my husband and take a good nap... of course until he yells "WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING!!!!???!!" and then I'm awake.

So with that said, here are my football teams... of course I pull for the VOLS, and right now Lane Kiffin sucks. (SUCKS IS ACTUALLY A NICE WORD FOR WHAT LANE KIFFIN IS.) So here we go again... pretty much having NOTHING to look forward to next year.

And my NFL team is..... Peyton Manning. Now lets get this straight... not the colts.... just Peyton Manning.

Yes, there he is!!!!! For the record.... it is not because I think he is attractive, I simply picked him because his TV commercials are soooooo freaken funny, and not to mention he is the best QB there is!!!!


So, now that we are set on my football teams, time to discuss my feelings on Brett Favre. First and for most, let me ask the age old question, HOW DO YOU GET "FARVE" from "FAVRE?" That's right... you don't know either!!!!!!!! Just saying.

Just like every1 else in this world, I thought he was insane with the back and forth and front and backwards trying to decide what the heck he was doing... "To play football or not to play football? That is the question." But, like the majority of people, I quickly jumped on his band wagon and was thrilled to watch him play the game. So, to sum up the point of my rambling.... I am deeply saddened that he lost the other night. There is no need to go into how badly he played and all the pointing and yelling at the TV " WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?" Simply put, I hope he comes back again next year, just because! And my because should be a good enough explanation.


So, there you have it people... my pointless thoughts on a sport that I knew NOTHING about 5 years ago!!!


On a side note, I think you should purchase Nat King Cole "Love Songs" album. If you want to talk about someone who can sing, and music that is timeless, there you have it. I guess we weren't talking about someone who can sing... so in that case, go buy "Pants on the ground, pants on the ground!"