When most people think about their cousins, they think of somebody that they only see once or twice a year. When I think about my cousins, I think of my brothers and sisters. We’ve all grown up together and are very close knit. Ever since I can remember the family has been going on a beach trip every summer. We mostly go to the Outer Banks in North Carolina. It’s grown as a second home to us. I always look forward to these trips because they are the best vacations. Something about being surrounded by a hundred family members that love you really relaxes me.
Now one thing to note about my family is that no matter where we go, we bring the party. My granddaddy used to say, “it’s not a party until the Wolfords show up.” And most of this charisma that we carry comes from our musical taste. Because let’s face it, without music there really isn’t much of a party to begin with. My aunts always say “we raised y’all right” based on the music that my sister and I listen to. They like to take credit for our music taste. While they did have a huge influence in the mix, I do take some liberty in discovering some of the “oldies” on my own. I like to “do my homework” before we go to the beach. I like to listen to the music that all my aunts and uncles grew up listening to. Most of my best memories are dancing at the beach with my family and singing these songs as loud as we possibly can. I make sure that I have at least three playlists locked and loaded for our activities and I also make sure that I know the music that I put into them. The Wolford family tends to veer more towards old school country and classic rock (more specifically ACDC and Creedence Clearwater Revival).
My uncle tad is one of the more interesting characters in my family. He is very quiet and shy but, if you get a couple Bud Lights in him, he’s your best friend. For years I’ve tried to break through to him and have a bonding moment with him like I have had with my other family members but he’s a hard egg to crack. I eventually just had to stop trying and say to myself “the moment will come when it’s right.” Then I realized that throughout all this time I could’ve utilized the most powerful tool known to man, music. As soon as this dawned on me I knew that I could get him to smile and to sing with us if I played the right song (some of his picks would include “Can’t you See” by The Marshall Tucker Band and “Funky Cold Medina” by Tone-Loc). When I put on my playlist he stopped everything he was doing to dance and sing along. Throughout the week, others would have control over the speaker and he would yell “leah, put your playlist on and turn this crap off.”
I was getting compliments left and right for my music taste. I felt like I accomplished my goal when I asked my uncle to play Dire Straits and my aunt Meg said, “damn girl, you like good music don’t you?” It feels really good to have your hard work pay off, even if you’re just creating the perfect playlist. As I grow with my family I become more seasoned in the era of rock and roll. I always try to get them to listen to Umphrey’s, and what I have showed them they have like, but they like to stick with what they know. My younger family members are a totally different story.
My younger cousins are all different ages but there is a group between 13-18 that tend to stick together. They’re all younger than me but I love to hang out with them to hear what kind of music they’re all listening to nowadays. All anyone could talk about was Drake’s new album and the song “Keke” from. I had never heard many of the songs that they talked about, so I would always ask them to play it for me. A lot of it I didn’t care for because its not my cup of tea, but it was fun to listen to them all sing along and make fun of each other’s singing. Whenever we got into my car Umphrey’s would of course be already playing and they would all say, “oh is this that band that you love?” But they would never want to listen all the way through a fifteen-minute jam.
We all decided to go to the movies one night to see the new Purge movie. We had to take a couple separate cars because of how many people. Three of my younger cousins were driving with me only because I said I got the “cool jams.” But the aux chord in the car wasn’t working so we were succumbed to using the radio. I was flipping through the stations and I landed on a station playing “This is What You Came For” by Calvin Harris and Rhianna. Finally, a song that I knew that they also knew! My cousin Bella yelled “turn it up!” and so I did. We were all singing as loud as our lungs would allow us to. We all were joking around singing so awfully and loud. I almost had tears in my eyes from laughing so hard. I felt my stress melt away with every time I glanced at my cousin Graham dancing in the back seat. The song ended but I didn’t want it to. We were having so much fun! That nourished my soul. The power of the music got to me and I had to turn to music down, look at my cousins and say, “that was so fun I really love you guys.” To which they all responded, “we love you too leah!” The Wolfords are a special kind of family. We all have a lot of love in our hearts. And we all know how to get down to the greatest music on the planet! I couldn’t help but feel complete leaving the beach this year because of the good times we all shared over a simple song.
Rock n’ roll is my favorite genre of music. I think I like Umphrey’s so much because it’s the closest that I can get to modern day rock n’ roll. Also, because they are all really talented and down to earth musicians. I love to teach new people about them, but most people won’t give them the chance that they deserve. It warms my heart when I’m showing someone a song and the say “wow.” They’re saying “wow” because they realize that they can be more than just a “jam band.” Umphrey’s has so many sides to them that they can appease to a lot of different music tastes.
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