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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Torm" data-source="post: 1955477" data-attributes="member: 12706">I dunno. A lot of them say they don't like Country, but it never fails to amaze me how many of them will pick right up singing along with "Ruby" by Kenny Rogers if you start it up.  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" /> I think part of the problem is that Country is actually about 5 different genres that all ride on each other to try to sell to the same audience: 1. Bluegrass, 2. "Classic" - stuff like Jim Reeves, Patsy Cline, older Marty Robbins and Willie Nelson, 3. "New Country" - most George Strait and Randy Travis, Hank Williams Jr., 4. Easy Listening crossover - "we don't know where this goes, but it is closest to country," like Ronnie Milsap and Anne Murray, and 5. MTV Country - most Garth Brooks (the biggest culprit, IMO, btw, not Shania), Shania Twain, and Faith Hill.I like some of all of it, but I do almost think its time for there to be a formal division of these categories (maybe not with my exact names), in much the same way "Ska" is not Big Band or Punk, to make it easier for people to find stuff that is similar to what they like.P.S. If you want to be really afraid for the future of Country, take a look at the Billboard 2004 Year-End Top 100. It indicates CD sales. The chart is dominated by really obscene gangsta Rap and intensely redneck Country - the two categories of music that, in my estimation, are preferred by large numbers of people who don't understand file-sharing networks or Internet stores, and still BUY the majority of their music as CDs. (And no, to those of you who like either, I'm not calling you stupid - obviously, you're using a web forum, so......) I can't help but wonder how long it will be before record companies try to hybridize the two to save on production and sell to both groups at the same time - they've already made advances that way, with "Over and Over" by Nelly ft. Tim McGraw. I'm afraid the upcoming "Dukes of Hazzard" movie may be the catalyst for a more massive push....</blockquote>

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