Country music has evolved since its early days. Back in the day, I bet you could have assumed who listened to country music. Now it seems like more and more people are listening to country music. I don’t really know why, but my theory is that today’s country sounds nothing like classic country.

The genres over the years have changed so much, but that is a story for another day. Today’s country sounds more like the Southern Rock from the late 1970s to early 1980s. Bands like Lynyrd Skynyrd, Doobie Brothers, Charlie Daniels Band, and Marshall Tucker Band would all be considered country by today’s standards. If you ask people why they don’t like classic country, most of the time it is because “it’s too slow” and they cannot keep focus. I happen to be a fan of all types of country; I was raised on it, which is probably why. I will admit, classic country can be a bit slow and boring, but what makes country great is the messages it has to go with it. It’s not all about beer, trucks, and girls--which is the typical stereotype of country music. I can give you many examples that have nothing to do with any of those three things.

Country started becoming more popular within the last five years and that is because it is so relatable to everyone listening to it. It used to be about living on a farm and doing blue-collar work, but now it’s mostly about celebrating the good times and having fun--which indirectly explains why more and more teenagers are getting into it. All we care about is having fun and partying. Wednesday night was the CMA Awards, which brought a ton of attention to country music within the last few weeks with voting and whatnot. But this year, the New Artist of the Year was a man by the name of Chris Stapleton who has never had a song top above 40 in the charts--partly because he still has the classic country sound, which people these days don’t seem to like.

Forbes put an article out on Thursday called "Country Music is Pop Music." I’ve been waiting for this day for a long time. As I said before, I grew up on it and loved it since I was a kid, but it is awesome to be friends with people who I would have never thought would like country, but now they are big fans. A new artist named Mo Pitney clearly says in one of his songs that, “Country can be in the middle of the city, country can be on a farm, country ain’t even a place on the map, it’s a place in your heart.” The more and more I think about this, the more and more I see how it’s evident in society.

Though country has changed over the years it is still good and there are many talented musicians. If you’d like to give it a shot, here’s a few to start off with: Luke Bryan, Sam Hunt, Dierks Bentley, Jason Aldean, and Cole Swindell. Of course there are many more, but feel free to look them up and you’ll see that today’s country is totally different from classic country--and there's nothing wrong with it.