hip hop bunny hop

Eh? Why not just draw the conclusion that early rock was quite similar to it's contemporary country, and the genres bifurcated as time went on? To use the already mentioned examples of Jerry Lee Lewis & Johnny Cash, they did a split wherein they both covered Hank.

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Engine

Conclude whatever you like. All I'm trying to specifically convey right now is that I like Country but not because of Wilco, Ryan Adams, Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, or Jerry Lee Lewis. I'm done discussing them here.

If you wanna talk about Hank Williams, I'm all for it. Especially if you'd like to connect his music to lo-fi black metal because that's a seriously interesting notion.

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Howard the Duck

if you want my 2 cents, Cash started out as a rockabilly artist cos Sun weren't that interested in country

he only got more "country" the more he was involved with Nashville

so yeah, Sun-era Cash was definitely rock

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Neapolitan

Sun-era Cash would be Rockabilly not Rock - Rock was used a term that came later when they dropped the Roll from "Rock n Roll" (The Beatles claimed to be the first Rock Band). It might be all semantics to most people but it's helpful to understand the terminology. To my understanding Rockabilly music came first then Rock n Roll then Rock. Johnny Cash is an artist that throughout his career played different genres, and is recognised both "Rock n Roll" and Country HoF.

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Howard the Duck

it's a sub-set of rock or at least its progenitor

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Malaise is THE dominant human predilection.

Engine

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Like an arrow,
I was only passing through.

Neapolitan

I've seen Rock used as synonymous with Rock n Roll and other times as a sub genre of Rock n Roll. Early Rock n Roll (circa 50's) was transitional period between Doo-wop, Jump Blues, Western Swing, Rockabilly & a few other styles too and what became known as Rock. And when Rock furthered developed it became aka Hard Rock, Punk Rock, Alternative Rock etc. I've seen consider Johnny Cash as early Rock n Roll and Rockabilly during his early career. Later on in his career I've seen Johnny Cash describe as Outlaw Country, other sub genres of Country would be Bakersfield Country and Nashville sound etc.

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Geekoid

I'm not altogether opposed to Country. In the town I grew up in, there is a fiddle festival where basically a whole weekend in the summer is devoted to Country & Western music. I don't really like it much, but I appreciate it as a part of the town's character.

Having grown up in a country music town, I get the appeal, but I'm just not into it. I agree that the mopey trucker songs are quite silly, and there's a fair amount of cheesiness in popular country, its close relatives are very appealing to me. I find outrageously obvious country music amusing and somewhat novel, but overall, it's just too affected for me to take it seriously.

I'm a fan of Appalachian Folk music, which is heavily rooted in Irish folk. It kind of bridges the gap for me between Americana and British Folk. I really like Alt-Country, and without mainstream country, how could it be alternative? I appreciate that. There is also some pop music with subtle country influences that I like, but definitely not the other way around. Bluegrass can be good, especially if it's more on the folkish end of the spectrum. Rockabilly has some real gems, too. But I won't be selling my soul to the likes of Carrie Underwood, Taylor Swift or Brad Paisley (yikes!).

TheSpaceCowboy

Country music is my favorite genre, and no I'm no backwoods hick that eats cornbread and chicken, drinks moonshine and drinks copenhagen in Georgia. I'm just an average country boy from Minnesota, country music tells stories, it talks about stuff I can relate to.

Neigh-Sayer

It depends on the kind of country, really. I love most bluegrass, and alt-country stuff like The Civil Wars, and folk-influenced stuff like Mumford & Sons, Bon Iver, Ray LaMontagne, etc., and classic country/folk like Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan.

Stuff like Big & Rich or the Zac Brown Band... not so much.