Chicken Soup for the Soul: Country Music – Review and Giveaway (CANADA & US)

The Inspirational Stories behind 101 of Your Favorite Country Songs
Songs tell a story, and now many of country music’s most famous singers and songwriters are sharing more of the story! These artists reveal the inspiration, influence, and background, and when and why they wrote their most famous songs, in this fresh collection of stories. The book also includes great photos of the songwriters and lyrics of many of the songs. A great gift for anyone who loves country music!

My best friend growing up had a tshirt that said, “You can take the girl out of the country, but you can’t take the Country out of the girl” and Chicken Soup for the Soul: Country Music reminds me so much of that shirt! Even though I didn’t listen to country music at home when I was growing up, I did have a lot of friends who were country music fans and I love a lot of the classic country music songs. In more recent years, I’ve developed a renewed interest in country music that started when my husband became a Toby Keith fan. Since then, I’ve found some contemporary country songs that have touched my heart.

When Chicken Soup for the Soul: Country Music arrived, I didn’t think I’d be that interested in the book until I started reading about all of these country songs that I’ve loved since I was a kid as well as a number of songs that I’ve enjoyed in recent years. I thought it was interesting, and appropriate, that the stories are written by the songwriters as they can provide both the unique perspective as well as the background of what motivated them to write these songs.

My favourite stories were the ones surrounding the writing of the songs I Hope You Dance, Jesus Take the Wheel, Live Like You Were Dying, Mamas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys and The Devil Went Down to Georgia. I also appreciated that fact that most stories also includes the lyrics to the song. I spent a long time flipping through the book and singing the songs in my head after I read the story of how it was written.

I think this book would be a wonderful item to own or a gift for country music fans or aspiring songwriters themselves because of the perspective from which these stories are written. I really appreciate having the chance to read this book because it is one that I probably would not have picked up on my own but it has touched me in many ways (the story behind Jesus Take the Wheel actually brought tears to my eyes). It’s a book that I’ve gone back and reread a number of times because it has such a huge impact on me!

Giveaway:Three (3) readers from Canada or the US (excluding Quebec) will win a copy of Chicken Soup for the Soul: Country Music!

Remember, you must complete the mandatory entry in order for your extra entries to count (entries without the mandatory first entry will be discarded)!

Mandatory entry:
To enter the giveaway, tell me the title of your favourite country song. (1 entry)

Daily Entries:

• tweet the following (please include the link to your tweet): Country fans! Win 1 of 3 copies of Chicken Soup for the Soul: Country Music @ReviewCorner http://su.pr/2iPzLi CAN/US ends JULY 1
• Visit the Chicken Soup for the Soul website and tell me the name of another title you’d like to read! (1 entry) (please include the date you have entered in your post)

Additional Entries:

• follow me on StumbleUpon -include your user name (1 entry)
• subscribe to My Little Review Corner’s RSS feeds (or tell me you already receive them)– include the email address you used (3 entries – enter each one separately)
• subscribe to My Little Review Corner via email (or tell me you already receive them) – include the email address you used (3 entries – enter each one separately)
• Follow My Little Review Corner on Twitter @ReviewCorner – (2 entries – enter each one separately)
• ”like” my Facebook fan page – include your Facebook name (3 entries – enter each one separately)
• put my button from my sidebar on your blog –include your website address (5 entries – enter each one separately)
• blog about the giveaway – leave a link to your post (5 entries – enter each one separately)

*Contest closes at 10:00 pm EST on Friday, July 1st, 2011. Open to residents of Canada and the US (excluding Quebec), 18+ years of age.*

Winners will be contacted with the email left in the post and will have 2 days to respond. The winner be posted on this site. The prize is being provided directly by the sponsor.