being from nc, country is part of the native culture. we live in the country, the real south. Country music is ON down here.
My oldest kid likes to listen to country as his first choice, and blues. he got that from his friends.
My wife likes modern crossover country, that is pop music with lyrics relatable to 30-40 somethings. So we have a lot of the recent big country albums. Sugarland, FL/GA Line, Rascal Flatts, Carrie Underwear, Lady Antebellum, etc. But she also likes pop artists who pursue similar themes, like Taylor swift, Colbie Callet, etc. They are just the other side of the country/pop fence, because no southern accent.
As for audiophile, I used to use the Sugarland cd as a test track, but I don't have speakers powerful enough for that now. I have listened to Antebellum all the way through, and Rascal Flatts. Not bad at all. They are basically pop/rock with a southern accent. No Hank williams or loretta lynn here.
I do like to listen to Alisson Krauss, but her vocal mix is tilted up and the themes are kinda dark. I think that's normal for bluegrass. those cute twangy happy sounding instruments need some real death, loss and grief lyrics for balance.
i used to not like country music when i was a kid. one night while driving across the country, circa 1985 i got stuck in a traffic jam on uS40 in a blizzard in amarillo TX. I had a flat tire and broken exhaust pipe. i had $60 in my pocket for gas to Boston. I pulled off the road to deal with the flat, but couldn't remove the lugs. Then i was stuck in the snow, putting laundry under the wheels for traction, to no avail. After a few hours i got pulled out of the median of US40 by a truck with a chain around my bumper, I limped back to a truck stop, parked and lied down across the front seats to sleep. I turned on the radio and all that was available was country music. i listened to the lyrics and the calming harmonys and I felt good, it fit the moment perfectly. In the midst of a personal disaster, country music soothed me to sleep. next morning, sun was out, I got the tire fixed surprisingly cheap and headed south into the heart of TX cattle country to avoid the snow buried traffic. Listening to that same country station for a couple hours I eventually got back on 40 with clear road. ever since then I choose to tolerate country music, and occasionally there is a song that I really like.
