Country is considered "foreign" to most people in the northeast, with the exception of my uncle. Were it not for Sean Hannity, I would have NO IDEA who Toby Keith was.
If you ever get a chance to see Toby Keith in concert, get tickets. He rocks.
I'm not a big country fan (but I enjoy Toby Keith) but it's alive and well on radio around here. Akron, Cleveland, Youngstown, and Wooster all have 1 country station each.