What is it with country music? Especially country radio? Everyone tries to fragment the music into sub-genres, when the beauty of country music is the combination of sound and history.
Turn on your radio and you'll hear "hot country" -- Toby Keith, Sugarland, Keith Urban and the rest. But no Clint Black or Randy Travis, never mind Hank Williams. You might catch a passing reference to Johnny Cash, and a token playing of "I Walk the Line" every now and then.
If you're lucky, you might have a "classic country" station, but even these seem to fragment the music. Some consider "classic" to be post-outlaw -- Waylon, Willie, the Oak Ridge Boys, Barbara Mandrell. Others consider "classic" to be pre-outlaw -- Hank and Lefty, Bill Anderson, Buck Owens (but not Jimmie Rodgers or Floyd Tillman). There's very little cross-over between the two versions of "classic."
So I'll ask again -- What is it with country music? Country music is a tapestry, not a few random threads. It's Jimmie Rodgers and Hank Williams and Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings and Garth Brooks and -- gulp -- even Carrie Underwood. And if you follow the branches of country music away from the main trunk, you'll find the Eagles and the Byrds and -- continuing further out -- Jackson Browne and Bruce Springsteen.
That's the purpose of Goodtime Country Radio -- to present the full tapestry. We like Lucinda Williams and Hank Thompson and Bob Dylan and George Strait. We'll explore more of this in the days and weeks to come. Listen -- it's all country!
Goodtime Country Radio
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