And regarding my thought on Carrie, I just want to add a little clarication here…my lack of clarity may have unessarily led to some hard feelings here, so I just want to add that I dont question Carrie’s artistic integrity or intentions, but rather her artistic maturity. (which is natural enough for a young, relatively new artist) I just think she could make better choices artistically, and although I prefer those choices to be in the direction of traditonal country, better pop or country pop would also qualify as progress as an artist for her, imo. And I really dont think I’m saying anything out of the mainstream of critical opinion here.

Carrie’s almost instant acclaim and overwhelming domination of the charts and awards is another discussion entirely, and I have already spoken out on that time and time again, so I won’t rehash that now. But she seems like a great person, and has an incredible voice and tons of talent and potential, no matter which direction she chooses in the future.

I do agree that traditional country should be respected, but it seems to be becoming less important as time goes by. Younger artists probably aren’t going to regard Jennings, Cash, and Strait in the same category as artists who either grew up on them or are old enough to remember their music.

You can look no furthur than Taylor Swift as an example; her influnences are Shania, Reba and Faith, not Loretta and Dolly. Miranda loves Haggard and Jones, while Underwood often mentions Martina, Faith and hard rock bands like Motley Cru and Guns N Roses under her influences.

I think the sound country becomes is what determines influences. Pop leanings are going to lend themselves to pop influences like Shania and Faith, while more traditional sounds will lend themselves to Strait and Jennings.

There is nothing wrong with different influences in country, and I actually perfer pop flavors over more traditional country. That being said though, that doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy the George Strait or that I can’t recognize the incredible impact artists like Strait and company had on the genre.

I am incredibly bothred by the notion that traditionalists seem to think younger listeners cannot respect the past of the genre just because they don’t gravitate towards older artists.

But yeah, if I’ve offended folks by calling some of your favorites crap, I do apologize…I tried to use that term generically and theoretically, and I tried to avoid characterizing any particular song (or artist) with that word, but I may have slipped up. And crap may be too stong a word, and I am willing to concede that all music is art, with the privoso that some is good and some is bad art. It is clear that we may have different definitions of the term, and there may be no point in debating that.

But for anyone to call Bob that Head, Cowboy Cassanova, or All I Want to Do “art” degrades the term. JOKING,… sort of…;)

But I do find this statement especially simplistic, dismissive and insulting, and it was directed at me.

“I can’t sit there and say that someone’s music is flat out crap simply because I don’t agree it’s healthy for a genre or I don’t like it.”

Much as you may doubt it, I try to base my assesments, (and we all make them) on factors beyond by personal biases and preferences. I gave the music of Wagner as an example, I don’t like the stuff, but I do agree it’s art, and great art for that matter. And I’ve never denied the possibility (or probablility,) that I could be wrong.

And Kevin please recall that we had a good discussion on the merits of pop and adult contemporary vs traditional country, and I did concede at that time, (and still do,) that there is a lot of pop music that is very fine indeed, and I could be comfortable calling it art or great art. SO I hope you are not lumping me in with those who have distain for all pop music.

But it is true, like Razor and many traditionalists, I don’t like traditonal country being overly infused with pop influence…the way I see it, pop dilutes country whereas rock spices it up. And like Razor and many others, I am one who holds Traditional country or traditional style country in the highest regard. Personally, Patty’s pop infused country from the nineties is not my favorite style from her, but she does it SO well, it just sounds a whole lot better and classier to me (as does Sara’s and Martina’s pop country) than most of Carrie’s singles (or Julianne’s, or Taylor’s for that matter)..but yeah, of course that’s just personal preference. And Patty was also VERY adept at spicing up Country music with rock…”traditional country with an edge” as she used to call it, and I love it.

And very interesting and observant point about how traditional country was once considered unsophisticated “hillbilly” music and not art. But I would challenge anyone who holds that postition to name a more sophisticated form of popular music than Bluegrass, that ole “hillbilly” stuff is full of virtuosity, poetry and sophistication, as is much of Traditional country.

I’ve said a lot of good things about Carrie, her voice, her talent and potential lately, and it is just very frustrating when folks zero in on the critical sings I say and run with them, take them out of context or exaggerate them and don’t acknowledge my positive statements, assesments and observations,… at all. And it seems at times that some folks do this because I have been somewhat critical of their favorites, without trying to really understand what I am trying to say. It’s amost like a “how dare you question” tone sometimes.

Finally, for what it’s worth, I leave you with these sage words from Emmylou Harris. A paraphrase.

“All music falls into one of two categories, the Blues or zippity-doo-dah.”

I’ve noticed that since my opinions/thoughts are so scattered, I kind of agree with most of the arguments on this thread to a point. Strange. If there weren’t so many comments, perhaps I could be more specific. But it all makes my head hurt at this point.:)

I’ll just say that traditional country music followed by alt-country is my bread and butter these days. I, however, do enjoy some good pop country music as well. I think there’s room for all of it, but it’s hard when the foundation of country music seems to be nonexistent (at least sonically) at times.

The artists that have impressed me the most are the ones who go beyond traditional country in its most derivative sense. I’d include a Patty Loveless in that category, who infused far more pop and rock into her seminal Epic albums in the nineties than she’s ever been given credit for.

I share the concern over artists who have no apparent connection to country music at all being presented as country artists, though. I’m not sure how common that really is, but I’ve been having more trouble connecting the dots in the past two years than I’ve had in all the years before them.

Taste is a subjective thing, to be sure. But I don’t understand how anyone can call themselves a country fan and not hold traditional country in high regard. I don’t understand how making the music less country makes it better. But I really don’t want to start a heated debate or upset anyone so I’m not going to say anything more on the topic.

But I do find much of today’s music to be insufficiently country, and with all due respect, some of the conversation here seems to be not only defending pop-leaning music but also trying to make a case that it’s better than the traditional music.

I’m not seeing what you’re seeing, but if some do think pop country is better than traditional country, that’s their prerogative. All country fans should have a base level of respect for the genre’s pioneers, but it’s kind of silly and, frankly, unreasonable to think that they should all hold traditional country music in the highest regard. Aren’t we all touched differently by music?

Or to concede the point that all music is “art” doesn’t is follow that some is good art and some is bad art?

Yes, it does. My point is –and I’m not directing this at you– that sometimes people are so blinded by their disdain for an undeservedly successful artist’s music that they forget that it is entirely possible that the artist stepped into the studio with a piece of music that sounds to some like “crap,” but that the artist believed in, put heart and soul into and couldn’t wait for the world to hear. I think it’s disrespectful to suggest that what that artist created is not art because it doesn’t fit one’s own view of good music.

Wholeheartedly agree, Leeann!