I think you are seeing the degrading of Popular Music by "non-judgementalism".

Also, the record producers have long realized that the public will buy anything if they convince people it is "in".

Some hope exists on smaller lables. Check out Rounder, Sugar Hill and Shanachie. Each has a web site listing their artists schedules.

I seldom buy CDs the minute they come out, but I did get Raul Malo's "Nashville Acoustic Sessions", a 2004 release. Malo is the lead voice in "The Mavericks". It is an almost perfect use of acoustic musicians to deliver Pop, County, Folk and even Rock standards. Even a nice Dylan cover. If CMH keeps these standards of quality on other releases it will be another lable to follow in the future.