The New York Times Examines Modern Country Music

Updated:

January 6, 2010 11:33 am

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In a new article called “Nashville Inches, Ever So Grudgingly, Into The Future,” The New York Times shines a light on the current machinations of the country music industry.

The article likens current-day Music Row to “the last vestige of the record industry as it used to be,” and examines the changes (or lack thereof) in the country music landscape in the last decade. As it happens, the same stars often clog up the genre’s top spots; as the article points out, “until Sugarland unseated them in 2007, Brooks & Dunn won Vocal Duo of the Year at the Country Music Association Awards for 15 years running, save one.”

Country music’s current popularity is measurable: according to Nielsen SoundScan, eight out of ten of the top-charting artists this decade were male country artists or groups. Tim McGraw received more airplay in the 2000’s than any other artist in any genre.

Read the Times piece here.