By believing you can,
your preferred life has a chance.
Country Cowgirl Dr. D and Nashville Recording Artist Blu Waters are taking you on a very special 15-week song and book reading journey.
I'm Just a Country Song:
Three Chords and Only MY Truth
Listen on:
Happy Trails To You
Singers:
Dale Evans and Roy Rogers
Writers:
Dale Evans and the Sons of the Pioneers
Listen On:
3/28/2024 | 19 min
Lyrics:
Some trails are happy ones
Others are blue
It’s the way you ride the trail that counts
Here’s a happy one for you.
Summary
Learn what a country singing cowgirl is like. It’s a special American Brand of courage. That kind of courage it takes to face life head on, speak up and stand alone even though she’s shaking in her Dale Evans’ plastic boots she wore at age 4.
So come along and enjoy the lyrics and the book read that remind us all to “Buck Up Buttercup”, keep country strong, and don’t go thinking the sun comes up to hear you crow.
Grandma’s Hands
Singers:
Willie Nelson and Mavis Staples
Listen On:
3/28/2024 | 18 min
Written by:
Bill Withers
Lyrics:
Grandma’s hands
Clapped in church on Sunday morning
Grandma’s hands
Played a tambourine so well
Grandma’s hands
Used to Issue out a warning
She’d say, Billy don’t you run so fast
Might fall on a piece of glass
Might be snakes there in that grass
Grandma’s hands.
Summary
At its soul and simplicity, “Grandma’s Hands” is a song that reminds us of the beauty of having someone who takes care of us, despite the hardships of life.
Join in and reflect on the time spent with grandma and her loving hands full of resilience, strength and the power in those wrinkles on grandma’s hands.
Most of all, gather in the shared wisdom in knowing a smile and looking for the positive is far better than wallowing in the woe of things.
Act Naturally
Singer:
Dwight Yoakum (Original Singer - Buck Owens and the Buckaroos)
Writers:
Johnny Russell and Voni Morrison
Listen On:
3/28/2024 | 17 min
Lyrics:
Well I bet you I’m going to be a Big Star
Might win an Oscar you can’t never tell
The movies gonna make me a big star
Cause I can play the part so well
And all I gotta do is Act Naturally.
Summary
“Act Naturally” comes from the phrase we often tell each other when we are nervously lacking self-confidence - “just be yourself and it will all work out”.
Although not easy to face rejection, the upbeat song is about believing in you and if you do, you might take the world’s center stage. Listen along to fight off the sad and lonely to pull up the bootstraps in search for the script the part you were meant to play.
Hear the guidance of a soul driven determination for a continued lifetime of getting up, believing it, finding it and being it. All you gotta do is, “Act Naturally.”
Mama Tried
Singer:
Merle Haggard
Writer:
Merle Haggard
Listen On:
4/04/2024 | 14 min
Lyrics:
The first thing I remember knowing
Was a lonesome whistle blowing
And a young’uns dream of growing up to ride
On a freight train leaving town
Not knowing where I’m bound
And no one could change my mind
But Mama tried.
Summary
Mama Tried is about a good woman who was simple, focused on surviving the lower end of a class system, and never was out in the world. It’s about how Mamas want that same simple life for their kids.
Merle Haggard wasn’t running from a bad home but to an adventure and the same goes for me. I was never from where I grew up and my Mama wanting me to have her same life did not guide my dreams.
Listen in as we reflect on living with our Mamas. Many of us sigh, sometimes chuckle, get unexpected watery eyes, and often say, “Mama Tried.”
Truth About You
Writer:
Mitchell Tenpenny (co-written with Matt Alderman and Thomas Archer)
Singer:
Mitchell Tenpenny
Listen On:
4/11/2024 | 14 min
Lyrics:
Yeah, there’s two sides to every break up
One’s a lie and one’s the truth
One of them went down and one was made up
But in the end we both lose
Why can’t we meet in the middle
Call it even call it a truce
If you quit telling lies about me
I won’t tell the truth about you.
Summary
It’s a song about wanting to move on, tell the truth to yourself, and let go of toxic relationships.
You know that story where there are two sides to every breakup and at the end you just want to meet in the middle and remember what was right rather than all the wrong.
No one wins in the blame game calling names. Tune in to hear the story of traveling in the middle and finding the truce.
In Color
Writer:
Jamey Johnson (co-written with Lee Thomas Miller and James Otto)
Singer:
Jamey Johnson
Listen On:
4/18/2024 | 17 min
Lyrics:
If it looks like we were scared to death
Like a couple of kids trying to save each other
You should have seen it in color.
A picture is worth a thousand words
But you can’t see what those shades of gray keep covered
You should have seen it in color.
Summary
“In Color” is about how a picture says a thousand words and in our memories those snapshots can fade to black and white, if you let them.
When you bring those memories forward and keep that wisdom from living alive, there is a chance the pictures and the stories they tell will radiate vibrant real life high-definition color.
Join in to learn about embracing picturesque conversations with your grandpa or maybe your dad. The recollections hold lessons that could fall short if taken only for the image shared.
Tempted
Writer:
Marty Stuart
Singer:
Marty Stuart
Listen On:
4/25/2024 | 16 min
Lyrics:
Tempted and tried
Deep down inside
I can’t deny
I’m tempted.
Summary
Get ready for my late 1980’s/early 1990’s passion for “hillbilly three chord rock” and the country singer who led the genre with a tinge of his bluegrass roots showing through, Marty Stuart.
“Tempted” is a song that reaches into the heart of being tempted by life, by loss of life, by forbidden fruit, and by always not quite being in the right place at the right time while needing to be exactly where you were.
I’ve Got a Tiger by the Tail
Writers:
Buck Owens and H. Howard
Singer:
Buck Owens and the Buckaroos
Listen On:
5/02/2024 | 19 min
Lyrics:
I’ve got a tiger by the tail, it’s plain to see.
I won’t be much when you get through with me.
Well, I’m losing weight and turnin’ mighty pale.
Looks like I got a tiger by the tail.
Summary
The name of this week’s country song comes from a Chinese proverb – he who rides the tiger is afraid to dismount. I might say it differently, in this life of a tiger, once this venture has begun, you must carry it out together to the end.
Listen in and ponder the red dirt wisdom of hanging on to the tiger tail wild ride that life challenges you with.
The Dance
Writer:
Tony Arata
Singer:
Garth Brooks
Listen On:
5/09/2024 | 18 min
Lyrics:
And now I’m glad I didn’t know.
The way it would all end, the way it would all go.
Our lives are left better to chance.
I would have missed all the pain.
But I’d have missed the dance.
Summary
The Dance is about getting to the end of the road with something you were beyond passionate about – could have been a relationship, an athletic pursuit, or a career.
It gives us pause that if you knew how it all would end, how it would go when reflecting back, perhaps you would have done things differently.
Or maybe you would do life the same again to not miss the good with the bad and the pain with the happiness. Click into the podcast and mull over what your choices might be.
Miss Me More
Writers:
Kelsea Ballerini and David Hodges
Singer:
Kelsea Ballerini
Listen On:
5/16/2024 | 21 min
Lyrics:
I miss me more.
I miss my own beat to my own snare drum; I miss me more.
Missing my own sheets in the bed I made up.
I forgot I had dreams, I forgot I had wings.
Forgot who I was before I ever kissed you.
Yeah, I thought I’d miss you.
But I miss me more.
Summary
“Miss Me More” is a song with a twist that parallels what happens in life. It’s about when we realize the fight might be between the version of you when you were lost and the version of you on the other side of finding yourself.
This podcast read is about three women friends who have three different stories of fighting to believe in themselves again.
In the end, it truly is about throwing a powerful right and left punch for that fierce sense of self to appreciate all what’s right about you.
Old Hippie
Writer:
David M. Bellamy
Singer:
The Bellamy Brothers
Listen On:
5/23/2024 | 20 min
Lyrics:
He’s an old hippie
And he don’t know what to do
Should he hang on the old
Should he grab onto the new
He’s an old hippie
This new life’s just a bust
He ain’t trying to change nobody
He’s just trying hard to adjust
Summary
The song “Old Hippie” guides us to understand we become defined by what is outside our window growing up whether it be the temperament of the culture or mood of the environment we travel in shapes our core.
The wisdom of the lyrics ponders if our generations are that different considering we grow up in our caretaker’s version of rightness at the same time carving our path in our current generation while raising the next as time passes by.
Come discover how the ultimate challenge to adjust is to select which truth is your truth to pay attention to. It truly is the cycle of what once was can come again.
Your Kind of Love
Writer:
Ronnie Dunn
Singer:
Ronnie Dunn
Listen On:
5/30/2024 | 20 min
Lyrics:
You’re showing me things that I’ve never seen
And I can’t get enough of your kind of love.
You know there was a time, not that long ago
Oh, they called me a cowboy no one could rope.
Baby, look at me, give me another kiss
If I’d kept on moving, look what I’d have missed.
Summary
There is a debate whether opposites can attract and stay together. “Your Kind of Love” is a testament that if you are willing to do the hard work and keep the conversation alive, the love can last.
Even though we tell ourselves we know exactly what we need, we may have missed what will be the love of our lives if we don’t stay open to the irritations, the ups and downs and the give and take of the relationship we didn’t know we were looking for.
Footprints on the Moon
Writer:
Gabby Barrett, Zach Kale and Jon Nite
Singer:
Gabby Barrett
Listen On:
6/06/2024 | 20 min
Lyrics:
Everybody says that you can’t till you do
Standing there, staring at the mirror in the room
Tell yourself, “One more day”
“One more day, one more shot”
The voices in the night, in your head
Yeah, they’ll pay you to quit
He’ll tell you that its hard, cause it is
But you can do anything, anything you want to
Summary
You may not know this – I didn’t. They say footprints on the moon stay there as if they are indelible proof that you achieved. This song reminds us that the moon is not too high to shoot for as you dream your dreams and the footprints you might leave will be encouragement for others to aim for the stars.
If you have enjoyed the book and podcast journey with Blu and Country Cowgirl Dr. D, you will want to listen in to our two intertwined stories of being told to quit cause its hard and lovingly being reminded we can’t make it all the while continuing to reach for our goals no matter how far away they seem.
The Gambler
Writer:
Don Schlitz
Singer:
Kenny Rogers
Listen On:
6/13/2024 | 21 min
Lyrics:
You’ve got to know when to hold’em
Know when to fold’em
Know when to walk away
Know when to run.
You never count your money
When you’re sittin’ at the table.
There’ll be time enough for countin’
When the dealin’s is done.
Summary
This song is about the time of one’s life when you are on a train bound for nowhere and a life seasoned teacher shows up to share a story that gives you some directions to keep.
Come join in to hear the story of my brother and me. Just like the Gambler, he taught me the game was best played by reading other’s reactions and knowing how to navigate life’s card game. I in turn have taught him some tools to break even and maybe together, we will find that ace before the dealing is done.
Heart Like a Truck
Writers:
Lainey Wilson, Trannie Anderson and Dallas Wilson
Singer:
Lainey Wilson
Listen On:
6/20/2024 | 23 min
Lyrics:
I got a heart like a truck
It’s been drug through the mud
Runs on dreams and gasoline
And that ole highway holds the key
It’s got a lead foot down when its leaving
Lord knows it’s taken a hell of a beating
Summary
No surprise that a song about a pickup truck chose me to guide this 15th and last episode of our limited series podcast. Both Blu and I appreciate you coming along for the ride!
A truck, perhaps a metaphor for your life, can explore new ground while still carrying with you what you tossed in the back and may soon need to be let go of to move on.
Country lyrics have guided my life’s red dirt wisdom these past fifteen episodes and no better stories can be told by the trucks we country folk have driven – often clocking hundreds of thousand of miles filled with potholes, twists, and turns.
Please listen in one more time and may you always have a fierce sense of self belief no matter the challenge, no matter the scratches and dents to your dreams. From Blu and me to all of you – “Happy Trails…”
Just because your light flickers doesn’t mean it’s about to go out.
Yohance Salimu
Country Cowgirl Dr. D
Dr. Darlene Chambers, SPHR, NBC-HWC, 200RYT
She’s a country cowgirl first, but Dr. D is also a Ph.D., an educator, a positive psychologist, healer, certified business, life and wellness coach, yogini, former AM radio talk jock and a sharer of inspiration in the form of red dirt wisdom.
On an important decade birthday a while back her son, John Alan, suggested that she capture her wild ride blessed with life altering experiences across 8 states so this podcast and book are dedicated to him. Thank-you son.
Her dear friend, Kat, better known as Nashville recording artist Blu Waters, is also a cattle farmer, certified Life coach, singer, songwriter and the voice you’ll hear behind each song that inspired the chapter each episode will be guided by.
About Coach Dr. Darlene
Coming Soon - "I'm Just a Country Song: Three Chords and Only My Truth
I Am Just a Country Song: Three Chords and Only My Truth
Coming Out in the Summer of 2024 - They say it’s the lyrics of a country song that make it country. The words of a country song taught me valuable life lessons learned these many years driving down red dirt roads and picking up those dents to my dreams. It’s the music lyrics of fierce beliefs in faith, family, and where I grew up that helped me overcome hardship and heartbreak.
The book’s wisdom follows one of the most quoted sayings that resonates with me. It’s from Henry Ford. He said, “If you think you can or can’t, you’re right.”
It emphasizes how much your choice determines success or failure. Your choice between listening to others who say you can’t or believing you can do what you set your mind to do.
The book is a guide to knowing the most important person in your life is you and achieving what you seek begins with believing in who you are - the best of you, the struggles of you, the failures and the wins.
Here’s to wishing, “Happy Trails” for you…
You are not a drop in the ocean, you are the entire ocean in a drop.