“A good farmer is outstanding in his field.”
- Ye olde saying
Canadian, Corb Lund writes about rural life, among other things. He's no poser. That's evident in his songs. He knows of what he sings. Growing up on a working farm, I identify with many of his topics, although I think he has a greater affection for the agricultural life than I did when I was in the middle of it.
Both sides of my family were farmers for generations and that's what I was born into. If you know anything about farming then you know it's not a job, it's a way of life. It's a hard life. It's a 24-hour life. I knew pretty quick in my youth that it wasn't a way of life I was cut out for, but there I was. There is nothing that has to do with farm life, crops, livestock, machinery, every imaginable sundry thing, in every kind of weather, that I haven't done. I say that not in a boastful way. It's just a statement of fact. And with very rare exceptions, I didn't like any of them. I wanted to be playing whatever sport was in season, hanging with friends and rockin' and rollin'. As soon as I was able to leave the farm, I did.
Funny now that I look back on it so fondly. Nostalgia will do that to you. It's not that I think in retrospect I would have ever wanted to live that life, but I will say this. I am so grateful that I grew up when, where and how I did. I would not take any amount of money for my upbringing, the love of my good family and the lessons I learned from farm living. And what's more, I got some mighty good stories out of it, lots and lots of stories.
The very first song of Corb Lund's I ever heard was “Hard On Equipment.” It made me grin. Boy, I thought, Dad would get a kick out of this song, because his youngest son, me, could sure enough be hard on equipment.