To tell you the truth, I basically gave up on country music a few decades ago. But I'm sure as you say, that there are some good people around these days in that arena. It's definitely more likely to come from there than from pop or anywhere else today.
I personally like a wide range of music from the past, including classic rock (Stones, Led Zep, Journey, etc), classic soul (Motown, Sam Cooke, Righteous Bros, etc), classic country (Merle Haggard, Bobby Bear, Conway Twitty), doo wops (Dion & the Belmonts, Duprees, Johnny Maestro, etc), and even some of the old crooners, like Dean Martin.
Check out The Time Jumpers......you won’t be disappointed.