Ancestry.com on the Radio

Yesterday evening, I was driving home after dropping my daughter off for an after-school activity and was listening to KIX 96.1, my favorite local Country music station. Lo, and behold, an advertisement for Ancestry.com aired during the commercial break. At first, I thought a country music radio station would be an odd venue for genealogy website advertising, but the more I thought about it, the more it made sense: just like Trace Adkins sang in his hit, Songs About Me, country music is "songs about loving and living and good hearted women and family and God." Isn't that what genealogy is, at the very root of it? Jessica Andrews sang "I am Rosemary's granddaughter, the spitting image of my father and when the day is done, my momma's still my biggest fan"--and that's what we discover as we trace our roots; we're not that different from the generations before us. Those of us with military ancestors or relatives can relate to Adkins' Arlington (a song that makes me cry every time I hear it) or Toby Keith's American Soldier. Most of us aren't descended from the rich and famous, nor are we ourselves. Most of our ancestors sang and played and listened to the music of the "common" people, the working class. Genealogy isn't just a pastime for the classical music and opera lovers only anymore; it's for the ordinary Joes who listen to rock 'n' roll, country, or even rap. So I had to smile as the commercial ended and the next song played. It was a good fit.