I know I'm necro posting but whatevs.

Its influenced by country though and that can only be a good thing. Its essentially a gateway drug. Good country players are just as good as any other musician so I for one support their dissemination.

right on,.....

but i'll not fund it

Ray Charles
 

Homage to R&B, since Ray Charles is the guy that brought country music to the mainstream.

In 1994 there was a project that paired Country and R&B singers called "Rhythm, Country & Blues". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhythm,_Country_and_Blues

The highlight for me was Conway Twitty and Sam Moore singing "Rainy Night In Georgia".

It's a trend were going to continue seeing as record sales for labels continuing to go down.

The dividing line between country and pop has always been clear, country fans don't buy pop albums and pop fans don't buy country albums. With fewer consumers actually buying music every year, the goal of labels seems to be to get these two audiences in one pot, in which you can push one albums and both sides will buy. It's a young trend that's still in the preliminary stages, but with hip-hop going stagnant, and rock being dead, I wouldn't sleep on the possibility of R&Billy taking over.

p.s. Yes, I did just coing the term R&Billy.

I think the two can work together. Rascal Flatts and Jamie Foxx had a pretty solid duet with "She Goes All the Way". Might have turned some R&B listeners on to country... maybe a little bit?

Ok here we go lol. First off i have say some ppl who come country from rnb n pop some sound good. Im a country freak. So hank williams sr n jr earl scrubbs mell tillis pasty cline loretta lynn reba mcentire garth brooks conway twitty george jones merle haggard johhny cash hank locklin hank snow i mean that all country no mistaken that now that my kind music i a jackd up ford muddin bonfires country music kind of gal but i also rock to deff lepard guns n roses metallica skillet castin growns shinedown avenge etc i mean i like all types music but i like my old country mostly now kid rock in hank williams jr when they sang together awesome the f word whiskey bent n hell bound and family traditon i loved it n kidrock song all summer long was a good country song. so i like the 70s 80s n 90s country music best i still like the new.

How about Poptry?

It goes back a long way.
Ray Charles has already been mentioned. Joe Tex cut alot of country sides. Millie Jackson did a country album.
Sometimes it works well.

I personally prefer pop country to some of the other country that I normally hear. It is just like a gateway drug as someone else mentioned but I stick to the light gateway drug and don't venture to the harder stuff.