honestly, in my opinion, country largely died with Johnny Cash. there are a few half-decent to pretty great releases since then (from memory I can really only think of Old Town Road) but country has probably been hit the hardest by the trend towards generification we see in, like, "radio music" (with modern pop not being far behind).

that being said, if it did die with Cash, it did kind of go out on a high note, with his cover of Trent Reznor's ''Hurt'' being one of the greatest songs of all fucking time.

@dba_afish: I get what you mean, but when I think of "dead" music, I think of genres that are so niche that only indie bands/artists make that kind of music. Country is more like a zombie that doesn't realize it is one and thinks things are better than ever. The music is way too similar with no variety of the instruments, like they're forced to use specific ones. Variety is the sauce, the spice everyone needs in their life (although there will be some exceptions), and the country I hear now doesn't have enough of that. I would say something about lyrics/themes, but I'm sure if someone checked my playlist, I would have that thrown right back at me. Even in my younger years, I never had a country song catch my attention in any way other than "change the station" although that somewhat changed with some music from Falout:NV. Doesn't mean I'll go out of my way to listen to them though, except for "Big Iron" if that song's considered country. If it isn't, ignore that comment.