I grew up around all the old country music and even older from when it was country & western so I have loads of emotion tied up with Charley Pride to Roy Rogers. About the only old stuff I dislike is if there are too many George Jones or Tammy Whynette songs in a row (although I like their duets). I`m not sure why I hate the new so-called country as much as I do, something phony about it if that makes sense. I love Alison Krauss and Raul Malo, but not sure if they are even considered `country`now. They were at one time. Somewhere after Dwight Yoakam and Rodney Crowell things went very bland. The guitar is generic `70s arena rock style, by the numbers mostly. They need to listen to some `50s rockabilly like Carl Perkins and Gene Vincent who always had killer twanging, or at least Johnny Cash, Ricky Nelson and Elvis (Luther Perkins, James Burton & Scotty Moore). Or Don Rich in Buck Owens band, that`s what they need to rediscover. Johnny Cash and Willy Nelson never had to wear a cowboy hat to be real country.
I was dragged into a U.S. native run casino one time and they had new country on the PA system... I literally had to leave and read in the car because of that, not from my disinterest in gambling.
