Country Roads, Take Me Home…to Hedersleben?

My group of 50 CBYX students is doing our intensive German language camp at a former Cistercian monastery in the town of Hedersleben, about two hours northwest of Leipzig. It’s pretty much in the middle of nowhere, nestled in a tiny town, surrounded by farm fields and cows for as far as the eye can see.

The monastery is big and sprawling, with lots of guest rooms, classrooms, conference rooms, and other odd spaces hidden away. It not only serves as our language school for part of the year, but it also seems to be a community space, with a venue for professional performances, like the opera performance that happened last Sunday, and also apparently as a studio for some local bands. My CBYX group has been here a little over two weeks now, and we are still discovering new aspects of the place.

Last Tuesday evening, my friends and I just happened to be playing volleyball in the courtyard and saw a band carrying guitars and banjos into a studio to get set up. When they saw us, they invited us inside to watch them play.

The studio itself was super cool. It turned out not to be just their studio but also a storage place for antique junk. Really cool junk, though, because not only did we see hundreds of old vinyl records, which I still plan to look through, but also boxes of old chinaware and silverware. There was also what looked like an old 1930s radio, and of course, creepy dolls hanging off the medieval rafters. For all I know they are haunting the monastery right now. 

The band was made up of four older gentlemen that looked to be in their fifties or sixties and a female lead singer about the same age who had an amazing singing voice. As far as instruments, they had two guitarists, one of whom was playing the bass guitar, a banjo player and a drummer. I'm not completely sure, but I think the band specialized in playing the German equivalent to American country music, as well as some country classics. 

My mother has kind of a fixation on the concept of Life Skills, things that she wanted her sons to be capable of doing on our own by the time we left home. Laundry, obviously, some cooking, dancing, cleaning a toilet, basic abilities in pretty much every sport or game, home repair skills. One of her more obscure aspirations is for us to be able to whip out at least ONE karaoke song in any scenario, at any time. Because of this, almost every time either my brother and I were in the car with her growing up, we would be listening to country western classics from artists like Willie Nelson, Jerry Jeff Walker, and Hank Williams. Of course, she would also force us to sing along with her in an attempt to make sure we were prepared for that big day when either of us got called upon to step up to the microphone. 

So when this German band asked if anyone knew the lyrics to “Take Me Home Country Roads,” I knew it was my time to shine. My official, fully-memorized karaoke song dropped right into my lap! They invited me up onto the stage and gave me the main mic while the lead singer took a break. It was honestly pretty scary at first, and I was really nervous about messing up but then I realized I had been training for this moment my whole life, so I just started singing. 

Not only did I get to sing my official karaoke song “Take Me Home Country Roads" but also “Sweet Home Alabama” and “Jolene,” which I did with Max, another fellow Texan. After I had my turn, some other classmates: Dayanara and Sam got inspired, and absolutely crushed “These Boots Were Made for Walking” by Nancy Sinatra. I am writing this blog post to document for my mother and the world that I have successfully fulfilled my destiny of impromptu karaoke. And the band told me to come back next week and do it again.