The "new" country music is just not cutting it with me. I find it rather bland and uninspiring. Especially mega-stars like Garth Brooks, Tim McGraw and Shana Twain. I just don't see what the fuss is all about with those artists. Their music is so canned and predictable. Though there are some bright spots in modern country music such as Alan Jackson, Dwight Yoakum and Travis Tritt.
You left out Webb Pierce.
And Merle Haggard...
Lefty Frizzell, Ernest Tubb and Ray Price. Hank Snow and Tom T. Hall.
Not to mention Ferlin Husky...
Me neither. Remember Billy Edd Wheeler and "Ode to the little brown shack"? I got my Johnny Horton albums and Marty Robbins too. Merle Haggard and the strangers were good. The best country concert I went to though was Don Williams. You really got your moneys worth and he loved picking on the poor guy singing tenor in Ammanda.
I got some oldies stashed around the house about 18 crates of albums and about half of them are country. Johnny Russell was a real good one too. He was a great song writter and his story "Jesus is watching you" was great. My favorite later country artist is probably Ricky Skaggs as I like Bluegrass better than any. He did an album with Emmy Lou Harris and Johnny Cash called "Roses in the snow" IMHO a masterpiece of work.
Even those guys have fallen prey to the watering down of country music. It is all focus-grouped pablum now, targeted to suburban housewives.
This article explains it all.