re: Johnny Cash’s thoughts on country music from his 1997 autobiography.

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You were doing fine until this portion.

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How so? The point is, why so much time spent denigrating whatever people like because it isn't "authentic" enough? What's the importance of preserving some theoretical genre (that probably never even existed in the platonic perfection it was imagined to have)?

All that matters is liking what comes out of the speakers. Everything else is bullshite.

Jesus the posters on this board can’t recognize a troll to save their frickin lives

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and the reason why it's bullshite is because there are 3-7 writers of any nashville song that comes out and they use a mad lib type system to write what they think will sell records. there's no soul to it. they have their vessel of an "artist" to push their corny shite to the radio waves aimed at a specific demographic. it's all business and business is pretty good for them.

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Yeah, but in the past and even now to a much smaller extent, those writers were most often country people, who write about what they know.
The words in the songs were true, just not for the star who ends up singing them. Yes it's a formula and always has been, but it has worked well for a lot of people.
Most of your writers don't want to be stars themselves, they just enjoy writing songs, and like making some money at it, but they still do it, even if they're not making a dime.
Real country people are still writing real country songs, but they aren't necessarily being hugely successful, because the country music format has been highjacked by greed.

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She doesn’t need the money now, obviously, but they (Nashville suits) can take the 6 songs and that 100k and turn around and flip them through their circus and make much, much, more off of it.

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The more they make, the more she makes though. She still owns those songs and gets the writing royalties from them. Good for her.

'Cause, if I can see the concrete, slowly creepin'
Lord, take me and mine before that comes

Thanx man. It can be a female's song just by changing a couple of words.

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Ironic considering most of what comes out of the speakers at modern country shows is, in fact, bullshite.

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It might be dogshit, but I don't think it's bullshite.

But even so, people like what they like. It shouldn't have ANYTHING to do with some kind of weird narrative outside the music. Think of how many millions of people in the 60s who dismissed the Beatles because of the haircuts. It's just dumb.

Sorry I'm behind on getting back to you, after my last post this morning, I had to run out and get some stuff done.
If you have a connection like that, and have some good songs, you have to try and make the most of it.
Good luck on it!

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people like what they like.

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while true, they are also the same people who say "there's no good music anymore" a lot of the times.

lots of objectively well written and great music out there. it's just not typically on FM radio these days.