[redbird]

I don't know if this is overreaching but I feel that at least in the States, country music benefits a lot from the cultural/political polarization (the culture wars) that's snowballed in the last 20 years or so. People who like country music often like strictly country music, meanwhile people outside of it treat it like that embarrassing uncle at family reunions, so it really digs in to its niche very well and has its loyal base that's glued together perhaps by a cultural element.