>>>>Pretty sure Mike is giving that list as examples of *good* country music. ( at least they'd be on my list )
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>"Good" country music is a contradiction in terms. :)
>>>
>>>Only to those who don't know it and insist on having strong opinions on any given subject.
>>
>>
>>I'm with Kevin on this one. I would rather listen to static than listen to country music. I grew up with county. It was all my parents listened to.
>>
>>I will grant you that country artists (Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton) have the occasional cross-over hit. I once owned a Juice Newton cd. But those are pop songs by country artists. I have a hard time listening to some Greatful Dead. Just a little too much pedal steel guitar.
>
>There is a genre that is sort of country-ish but is basically just amazing acoustic, which is a real favorite of mine. Its roots are in bluegrass and gypsy music so it is kind of like Django Reinhardt in Nashville.
>
>David Grisman - the God of this stuff - calls it Dawg music.
>
>The first David Grisman quintet album is on my list of best anykindofalbum of all time.
>
>Tony Rice, Daryll Anger, Mike Marshall, Mark O'Connor, Rob Wasserman, Bela Fleck who has carved out a whole genre of his own with The Flecktones. ( when the are going to play in NYC they sell out in 20 minutes - mostly to Julliard students ) and of course the incomperable Stephane Grappelli who played with at the Hot Jazz club in the 30s with Django Reinhardt. A lot of this stuff gets dismissed before being heard as "country" .
>
>Trust me.
>


I do (trust you that is) and I agree, IMO it is not "country". Angela (my wife) turned me onto all of the above. How do you classify somebody like Mark O'Connor except "Musician"?