Does he truly respect country music or try to hip-hop it up?
Ray Charles had an album titled "Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music" that got a lot of favorable reviews from the Eastern elites when it came out in the early 60's. I hated it immediately upon release (and still do). He took what was truly great, traditional music and added his R&B caterwauling and vocal histrionics to what was already sublime.
On the other hand, I can respect Charlie Pride as a musician. He honors the genre and keeps it authentically country. His live version of "Kaw-Liga" is almost as good as the original by Hank Williams.
He sings it like a natural. check him out on youTube. He has that deep flowing voice without the soul and yodeling crap when black singers can't carry a tune. He is a great fit.
Darius Rucker sings proper country and doesn’t hip hop it up at all. Btw, whatever happened to Cowboy Troy?