Like most, my answer is yes and no.

As a child in the 1940s I'd lie awake at night listening to Gene Autry's Melody Ranch radio program. I loved Gene and Roy Rogers and the Sons of the Pioneers. I also liked a lot of jazz and other popular music from that era. I didn't know there was anything special about them at the time but The Weavers had “pop” stuff on the radio that I liked.

When Rock & Roll came along in the early 1950s I liked that a lot. I liked the Doo Wop stuff, Little Richard and his imitators, right on through Buddy Holly. When the Kinston Trio came along I thought they were great and bought their records. I rediscovered The Weavers and that was the end of the KT for me. But my journey into folk music soon led me to original artists like Lead Belly, Brownie McGhee, Rev. Gary Davis, and eventually to bluegrass music. Earl Scruggs' banjo sucked me in but I eventually learned to love it all. I never really listened to any “popular” music after about 1961 or so.

Today I listen to the same things, cowboy songs and western swing, country blues, Kentucky thumbpickers (Merle Travis, et al.), bluegrass, old country music, ’50s rock & roll, doo wop, jazz, swing, etc. I never listen to singer-songwriters much and prefer music with more complex instrumentation. Modern country, modern rock, rap, etc., hold no interest for me. I still love classical music but don't really spend much time or money on that. I've always enjoyed the unaccompanied singing from certain Appalachian areas but don't really listen much anymore.

So yes... and no.

      - Mark