I like Y'alternative country like Son Volt and Whiskeytown but also love the Bakersfield Buck Owens style PLUS Willie, Johnny, Waylon, and George.

Which category was for me?

I like Americana, cowpunk, Bakersfield, but I most like old country, as far as country goes. I don't care for pop music with a country twang, I really dislike bro country. But, there is an audience for it, just not my taste. I also like Motown, punk, hard rock, reggae, classical, soul, almost everything.

The whole Willie Nelson / Waylon Jennings "Outlaw" movement was basically a reaction to "pop twang" in Establishment Nashville.

I like the louder, grittier stuff, but no MAGA / right wing jingoistic politics in the lyrics.

And I do listen to a ton of Alt-Country.

George Jones only had one good song.

But to listen to any of it on a steady diet of more than a couple of songs in a row is just not for me. I enjoy Americana and Bluegrass most. I appreciate early C&W, bc I know my history as a southerner and a music fan. Bt...I'm not real fond of most of modern country music. The authenticity is so gone. Too much polish, not enough grit.

A mid-20s coworker said she loved country music. I said, I do too -- people like Buck Owens and the Buckeroos, Tammy Wynette, Patsy Kline, Hank Snow (whereupon an old timer at work started singing "I've Been Everywhere" ), Marty Robbins, George Jones, Loretta Lynn, Slim Whitman and others of that era.

The 25 year old (who loved country music) then said "I've never heard of any of those people."

You can have the rest. Except for George. (One song)

I like his song El Paso and when I saw it on his Gunfighter Ballads And Trail Songs cassette in 1984 and I bought it. Turned out I liked all the songs on that cassette and I played it for years. About 10 years later, I bought a CD box set of his, Marty Robbins - 1951-1982, with 51 of his songs.

His biggest hit was probably El Paso but what I liked about the CD box set was he had two songs related to the song El Paso. Felenna is a beautiful song about the Mexican maiden the cowboy fell in love with in El Paso. The other song is El Paso City in which a man is in a plane flying over El Paso and reminiscences about hearing song about a cowboy and a Mexican maiden in El Paso.

that I thought had clever lyrics or a catchy tune. I don't like the oldtime songs with heavy twangs and whiny guitars and banjos at all.

I do, however, love Dolly Parton (who doesn't?). She is an extremely talented singer/songwriter and a national treasure.

Most metal artists and metal fans respect original country music artists and their songs. I'll listen to Johnny Cash and Dolly Parton but that's about it.

I am a huge metal and industrial fan myself. I'm super enthusiastic about cover songs as well. Here's a few that are in my regular rotation.



1. Jack White's cover of Dolly Parton's "Jolene". Dolly Parton likes Jack White's cover version.

The only country that has any counterrhythm is really 70s rock sung with a drawl.

It's the lack of rhythm I find so unappealing. Songs can have a beat but no rhythm. Nearly every country tune I've ever heard falls into that description.

But by and large, I don't really like country music. I don't like the smug provincialism of their self-anointing as 'real' American music. I don't like the gooey sentimentalism of the George Strait/Randy Travis variety. And I loathe the empty-headed, hyperaggressive MAGA strain of country cowshit.

I used to like Rank and File, Lone Justice, etc.

Marty Robbins, Dolly Parton, the Oak Ridge Boys, and the Gatlin Brothers.

For me, a lot of modern country music has the same beat and sound and I don't really care for that.