I think Redbird is on to something regarding the appeal that modern Nashville music (I won't call it country) has to a, let's call it, "god, guns and country" crowd. It's a huge contrivance about pickups and drinking and shooting guns and being a small-town guy/gal. Jesus drives for you, you can smash car windows when you're pissed, and god will bless everything you do and the USA because, you know, god has nothing better to do. Most of this music is mundane and unappealing. There are exceptions, like Kacey Musgraves, but most of it is poop. Nashville actually follows certain song structure formulas that have been test-driven to elicit a certain response. Creativity is out the window.
You want creativity these days? Watch the folk-meets-alternative scene out of Brooklyn. That is where the best music in the US is coming from these days. There's plenty of other good stuff out there of course, but Nashville ain't it.
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