Country Music Listing Confusion....?!

[ljweber70]

I've been a country music fan all of my life but am running into a bit of confusion on the industries' country music "categories"....In July, I joined TAXI and immediately submitted 5 or 6 of my demos to ALL of the country listings at that time. (I'm learning!) As I am getting my critiques back, its obvious that those songs do not belong in the "country pop" genre and shouldn't have been submitted in the first place. However, I've had multiple screener's review the same song (for different listings) and have contradictory remarks regarding "genre." IE: the same song has been labeled "right on" for a "contemporary" country listing, "too traditional" for another "contemporary" listing and "not close enough to listing" for a "neo traditional listing". I'm a bit confused with the terminology and frustrated in determining what "category" my songs fall in and accordingly, what listings to submit to. What specifically makes a song "contemporary country" vs. "neo traditional" vs. "traditional"? For example, some listings want "neo" traditional country -- "think Brad Paisley..." What makes Brad Paisley's music "neo" ?? In my opinion, Brad Paisley is a traditional country artist with a "neo" production on his CD's. Providing the screener loves everything else about the song, can my production be the deciding factor whether or not I get the forward? Surely I don't need a regular and "club mix" of a song for submissions..?? Any guidance in this area would be greatly appreciated!Thank you,Larry Weber