I have always been a fan to anything with some meaningful lyrical content, country seems to pull that off more often than allot of other genres.

I have never been too hardcore into country music, but I can say that I have always had a bit of a respect for it, and I never really could bring myself to hate or despise it as much as other music fans. I guess cause a major part of my childhood contained country music, thanks to my mom, especially Charlies Daniels and Brownsville Station. I still listen to a bit with my mother, and now that i'm older and i'm into other genres, we can just share music from both our generations and such. :)

"I was raised on Country Sunshine" ;) I can relate to country music. I have seen almost all the legends in person and I'm a singer too.
Gospel and Country are my favorites. They touch my heart ;)

I just realized over the last few months that... I actually DO like country. Not just tolerate it, but like it. Not all of it, obviously, and not much of the trash on the radio, but country nonetheless. I'm not sure why. More research is needed.

Which artists have made you a fan of country?

I've been on a huge country kick lately, but I've always listened to it, or at least some of it. There's a lot I'm not a fan of, especially the newer ****, but I love me some Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, David Allan Coe, etc.

Some of it's kind of hard to find, though. Anything that isn't from the 90s-2000s, really.

Some of the older artists akin to the ones you've mentioned, and I'm a really big fan of Josh Garrels, a guy from Indiana making folk/country/indie/electronic stuff. He mixes folk instruments, a country-soul voice, samples, and occasionally, kind of raps/sings rhythmically. Also, some more folk and country based punk music has gotten my attention. There's been some other random stuff I've heard by accident that has made me realize I like the genre.

I like bluegrass too, but I know nothing about it.

If you're looking for a good country/ bluegrass band with a slight punk edge, I'd recommend Slim Cessna's Auto Club. Anything from 2004 onwards is definitely worth a listen, with their 2008 album Cipher being an absolute masterpiece.

Another bluegrass/punk band you might want to check out is .357 String Band. Their shows were best described as a blend of rednecks, bikers, and punks and the band seems to pretty much look that way as well. They were relatively short lived though, disbanding sometime in 2011 or 2012, and only releasing three albums, all of which are pretty good.

This description is irresistable. I've got to check this guy out now.

I'll check them both out, thanks!

Fair warning: The guy is a Christian and his lyrics definitely reflect that, but most of the time he's very subtle about it and not in-your-face or preachy... think Sufjan Stevens. And when he is overt about it, it's usually done in a very poetic way, with somewhat mystical sounding lyrics.

But if that doesn't turn you off, you're in for a treat. All of his work is top notch.

I did check him out and listened to the first couple songs without even noticing the Christian overtones. It wasn't until I looked him up on wiki that I even figured it out. Having said that, Christian music bothers just as much or little as any other religious or cult music...as long as it's not in your face over the top, it's ok by me.

Definitely got more of a singer-songwriter vibe from him than a country vibe, but a few songs had obvious country leanings. The mixture of genres and techniques was interesting. I didn't dislike it, but it didn't hit me as spectacular right away. I do think it's one that after a few listens would really start to make an impact.

Based on the way you described your interest in country music in an earlier post, it seems like we have similar tastes when it comes to the genre. I was on a Townes van Zandt kick for a while, and the only way I could listen to him was with headphones on. I think he's just brilliant. Anyway, if you had any other recommendations, I'd love to hear them!