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http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/reuters/0908 ... nteresting article. It seems everybody wants to go country nowadays...even songwriters. It just means more competition and I wonder how it will change the sound of country music.

Not sure if that's innovation or desperation-time will tell, I reckon. It actually points up the fact that a strong song can be a hit in any genre, something that was fairly obvious to folks that listened to pop radio in the mid-to-late sixties, because you had Sinatra and Streisand jammed up next to the Beatles and Hendrix on playlists of that era-the rigid categorization and niche marketing we've seen over the past twenty years or so has little to do with how people actually listen to music-it's really only a sub-category of boys 13-19 that listen to metal and ONLY metal, for instance. Shoot, there might even be a couple of heterosexual male teens that like the Jonas Brothers. (okay, I'm kidding, but just a little)

It seems that more and more, "Country Music" is becoming more pop. I know they call it contemporary, but still! Sometimes they throw a peddle steel or fiddle in, but it's basically pop. I've been listening a lot lately and it's got to be getting close to half of the songs played are more pop than country. I suppose they have to do this to maintain the biggest audience possible. If this is the case, it makes sense to hire pop writers and let Nashville cut it so it still has a bit of a country feel to it. I'm not saying it's a good thing, just the way it is.Buc

Yeah, but, if everybody tries to cross over to the pop market, it ain't country music anymore.

I bet it's because country music fans, so far......have still been PURCHASING CDs!

well this is old news. Darius Rucker now a country writer. Michelle Branch is now a country writer. Jessica Simpson, well...hey, even Kara Dioguardi is out in Nashville working with Rascall Flatts.So I guess I agree with everyone here - it's about CD purchases and where your best chance of placing songs now lies. We'll see how long it lasts.

Alan Jackson back in the what, 80s? 90s? "Gone Country"...

I'm old enough to remember the exodus from LA to Nashville in the early 90's. As soon as Alternative Rock happened the LA music scene (as far as pop and rock bands are concerned) slowed down considerably. Everyone got worried and moved to Nashville- and why not, beautiful town, nice people (at least all that I've met), per capita is the recording studio capital of the world, you could actually afford a house back then, why not! Hell, Dan Huff was an LA guy, so were a bunch of others ( Jason Blume).

This is not the issue - the issue is are people hearing the music they want to buyor what the label marketing department want them to buy.You all know the public don't get to hear some really great songsbut thats life !!! Bugga

I can't for the life of me figure out WHY Taylor Swift's music is considered "Country". Cause they use a fiddle? Cause she wears cowboy boots? Her latest ("You Belong With Me") might as well be Avril Levigne. HOW is that "country"?It's pop, disguised as country. Big and Rich, same thing. Glorianna's big new hit, "Wild at Heart", holy moley, more of the same...