It's certainly true that "country" these days is just 70's rock under another name. Some of the country singers have even recognized it--in the song called "Murder on Music Row" about that phenomenon. "Someone killed country music/ Tore out its heart and soul/ They got away with murder/ Down on Music Row."

Thank goodness we can still hear the old country songs--on CD, I-tunes etc-----but not on the radio.

At least some of the new "country" songs have good lyrics--"What Part of No Don't You Understand?" , "My Give-a Damn's Busted" etc.--when they're not OD'ing on saccharine sentiments (as distinguished from real sentiment).



Folk-----There is an awful lot of navel-gazing passing for folk these days--but then there are also excellent songs (though I don't know exactly when they were written) by Craig Johnson, for instance, and Mudcat's own Jerry Rasmussen-- for instance, his "Living On the River"--is to my mind a classic that will become part of the folk tradition.