For most radio stations, the programmers have little or no opinion about the musical value of the music they add to the format. They only make a determination on whether the song can be sold to the demographic group that they service. Music creeps in from all over that, in its own way subverts the format.

The song "Creep", by Radiohead, is an example of this. They are a serious group, making very interesting albums. But that song was novel enough to bring them into the mainstream; now they have to live it down.

Artists like Bonnie Raitt and Carlos Santana have similarly, in the past few years, bent both their music and the format itself enough to fit. Perhaps Emmy Lou's producer is trying to do the same thing with her latest album.

I think that the "O, Brother" music prsents a much tougher problem for Country programmers. This is the music that Country radio has out-grown, performed (in some cases) by artists that they feature; if you have paid any attention to Country radio over the past few years, you can see that Capital "C" Country has made a conscious effort to disavow its hillbilly roots. There is no Merle Haggard, no Hank Williams, no Buck Owens, no Chet Atkins, no Loretta Lynn, no Tammy Wynette on Country radio - not even a casual tip of the hat to the icons because the programmers know that if they open the doors to those guys even a crack, their core audience will not want to hear the new stuff. their only choice is to stonewall it, Jackson. And it's their loss. They have chosen a path toward irrelevance