Do you consider Country Music to be America's music?

No, I don’t. America has a few hundred years of history, and country music as it currently exists is barely 50 years old.

Not I. I consider America’s music to be jazz.

Definitely. It’s the white American’s soul music.

no, America is diverse, and so is her music selection.

yes absolutely. i’ve just started listening to country on the radio in the car and i think it is the music that is most in touch with the issues americans face today. you don’t hear rappers singing about their foreclosed homes and having to work double shifts to make ends meet. the recurring themes in country music—faith, country, family, work, love, and loss—are the cornerstones of american life. i’m really surprised by the honesty and relevance of alot of the songs i hear on the radio. there is also something timeless about good country.
furthermore, the quailty and skill of the musicians is much much higher on country songs than on top 40 rock songs. i feel that country music today is the living descendant of the great classic rock of the 60s and 70s.

Sure it is, along with the Blues and Jazz.

Yes, and it’s crap

It’s one of America’s musics.

I thought so…..i’ve never heard of country music being sung in an accent besides American.

Was this even a valid argument? I dunno….. LOL!

@JellyB – yes it is a valid argument. There are country music fans in Canada, Australia and the UK. Some of Country music’s roots come from Irish folksongs and Scottish ballads.

@GAMBIT Ah! I suppose i’ve only ever heard the American / Canadian ones! :)

I consider this America’s music.

No; blues——>rock and roll.

funnily enough I expexcted cwilbur’s answer to be the opposite (something along the lines of “america is only a couple of years old, whereas country music has roots lost in centuries of European folk”).

I consider Country music to be a characteristic American cultural product, even though there are of course many other genres that have either originated or flourish there. And for me, just like anything else (movies, books, etc), it characterises the people that have made it, as well as those who listen to it.

This might just be because I don’t care for country music all that much, but no, I don’t feel it’s “America’s music.” Primarily because that leaves out a huge chunk of America that doesn’t listen to it. I’d go a bit farther into the past and pick something that’s closer to the root, like (at the risk of sounding like a broken record) blues or jazz.

And this may also be bias on my part, but it seems to me that country music has kinda gone down the shitter recently. Like I said above, I’m not the biggest fan of country music (though their are a few songs and artists here or there that I like), but when my family turns on the radio and tunes into the local country station, I completely lose interest. Especially when that Toby Keith guy comes on. Ugh.

@Jack79: it has centuries of roots, but then, so do jazz, blues, rock, soul, funk….

Modern country music, though, has the same relationship to its roots that Top 40 manufactured pop stars have to its roots—which is to say, the most homogenous bits have been selected, polished to a high sheen, wrapped in shiny plastic, and marketed marketed marketed. If you want real American music, you really need to look to the singer-songwriter scenes (like the Boston folk music scene around Passim, or the Kerrville Folk Festival) and not at Nashville and Branson high-gloss.

@emt333 you don’t hear rappers singing about their foreclosed homes and having to work double shifts to make ends meet. the recurring themes in country music—faith, country, family, work, love, and loss—are the cornerstones of american life

That’s YOUR America, which has nothing to do with my way of life. If that were the criteria, Rap would be more indicative as it laments the dark side of urban life.

My choices for America’s music would be Jazz and Rock N’ Roll. I don’t dislike country music but I can’t see it being America’s music in entirety.

It’s a group of rich, white men & women playing on the public’s emotions for financial gain while perpetuating unflattering stereotypes. Yep…Sounds pretty American to me.

@Blondesjon. You get the DALA (Definitive Answer Lurve Award) for that answer. =)

<blushes>

how ya been bluefreedom?

@Blondesjon. Very well and thanks for asking. Here’s wishing you a great evening, my friend.

@Bluefreedom…Same to you my friend. I get to go to bed soon. I know you don’t have that luxury.

@Blondesjon. Yeah, I’m here at work for another 10 hours until 6 a.m. Sleep well and I’ll talk to you soon.

@HarmonyAlexandria Country music doesn’t speak to me or my life either. It all seems like so much phony, flag waving, stereotypical bullcrap. Rap isn’t indicative of me either, but I can tolerate that more than country.

I think it is a genre that is specific to America (meaning it doesn’t exist anywhere else that I know of) and is derived from some of our oldest musical traditions, but i’m not sure it’s “america’s” music, given that America is a melting pot of different races, ethnicities, religions, etc. and country music tends to be geared towards a rather specific demographic.

On that note…it is expanding, the genre now has singers of different races, ages, ethnicities, etc.

Everything stems from blues..even country!

Yes, but it’s part of the music culture and history. Not the only one which represents America, imho.

Rock and roll, baby.