As in other things, how you set up your research dictates what answers you get. If you go looking for "real" folk or country music on the big corporate-owned radio stations, you're bound to be disappointed. It's sort of the equivalent of looking for a good home-cooked meal at McDonalds; you won't find it there, but that doesn't mean that nobody cooks real food any more.

I think there are probably more good musicians out there -- in all genres -- than there ever were before. But they don't generally make it onto the stations that are pushing Britney, Shania, and similar products.