Mitchell Landress

Riding down the highway in my truck this week, the song “Fly Over States” came on the radio. The song is by Jason Aldean and although I had listened to the song before, it was little more than background noise. Mixed in with the usual noise of kids playing in the backseat, I had never listened to the words of the song. But as I listened to the song in the quietness of my pickup I was struck by the depth of meaning captured in the observation of the song writer. The song begins with two men flying from New York to Los Angeles. As they pass over the endless cornfields and farmlands of mid-America one of the men asks the question, “Who would want to live there?” Obviously small town life might appear bland to someone accustomed to the busyness and excitement of high society in the metropolis. But the response of the song writer is simple: Have you ever been there? Have you met the people who live there? Have you ever considered the people who live in these small towns and how their wo...