The first time I heard Too Late for Goodbye by the Randy Rogers Band, my life was forever changed. It was the first song I had ever heard by the band, and I fell in love with their music instantly. I began buying every album they had ever released on iTunes, and I created a Randy Rogers Pandora station to find artists that had a similar sound because I simply couldn’t get enough. The Pandora station led me to artists such as Aaron Watson, Mike Ryan, Wade Bowen, Whiskey Myers, Cody Johnson, Josh Abbott and so many more.

I had grown up listening to popular country radio stations, and as many country-music lovers know, the radio is full of mainstream country artists from Nashville. There are of course exceptions, as my first love, George Strait, was a favorite of my family’s and we listened to the King on the radio fairly consistently. Our family loved all of the country artists from Garth Brooks and Willie Nelson to Luke Bryan and Florida Georgia Line. However, it wasn’t until I was older that I starting hearing a major difference and divide between the two types of country music.

Mainstream country is so infused with the pop culture that half of the time it’s hard to tell the difference between a pop and a country song. The sounds and beats are completely polished and a lot of the lyrics are similar. A song addressing the controversy has recently come out by another favorite Texas country artist, Kevin Fowler. Sellout Song is a hilarious parody of the mainstream country industry. The gist of the song basically claims that if you want to make a top hit these days, you essentially have to sing about whatever your producers tell you to, and most of the time it includes a flawless sound recorded by the label’s studio musicians, paired with a music video with a couple of girls dancing in bikinis on the hood of a jacked up pick-up truck. While these mainstream songs have the studio sound to win awards, Texas country artists tend to stick with their own band and use their raw sound to connect with their fans.

Another key difference between Texas and mainstream country artists is the different ways the two rely on making money. While in Texas, your favorite country artists are constantly in your town putting on local and affordable shows and performing at festivals, you’re lucky if you are able to catch a mainstream country show at all. Mainstream country artists rely on their music climbing the charts and exposure through the radio to make a living and reach their fan base. There is such a strong connection between Texas country artists and their fans because a lot of times, you can see their shows regularly, and it becomes tradition to go to your local bar, Wild West and Charley B’s for us Lubbock residents, and sing along with all the songs we’ve adored for years.

Don’t get me wrong; there are many artists that chose the Nashville route that I do really like. Chris Young, Tim McGraw, Lady Antebellum, Thomas Rhett, Brad Paisley, and many more artists have a ton of songs that I know all of the words to and I thoroughly enjoy. However, while I do love these artists and the music they produce, I will never have a connection with them like I do with the homegrown country artists that Texas claims as it’s own.