Country music, like any other genre, has gone through numerous changes and evolutions over the last several decades. While some of the newer, more modern sounds are welcomed by some, there are plenty of fans who prefer traditional country music.
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Fortunately, that style still abounds as well, thanks in large part to these four artists, who all became popular within the last decade but are doing their part to keep traditional country music alive.
Zach Top
If Zach Top sounds like traditional country music icons like Alan Jackson or George Strait, it’s because that’s the kind of music Top grew up listening to. Top is only 28 years old, but his music sounds like artists a generation ahead of him.
“Three chords and the truth are necessary,” Top tells Billboard. “A fiddle and steel guitar never hurt. But it’s songs that make people feel something, and something that’s got a story to it. That’s what I love about country music — songs that make me feel understood, no matter what stage of life I’m in.”
Top’s debut single, “Sounds Like The Radio”, hit the Top 15. He followed that up with “I Never Lie”, which became his first No. 1 hit.
Ella Langley
Ella Langley is just getting started, but already she is amassing plenty of country music fans of all ages. Langley has had back-to-back hit singles, beginning with “You Look Like You Love Me”, her duet with Riley Green.
She’s currently back at radio with “Choosin’ Texas”, a honky tonk-sounding song that includes Miranda Lambert as one of the writers. She also recently wowed fans with a flawless cover of Kitty Wells’ 1952 classic, “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels.”
Lainey Wilson
There likely isn’t a bigger traditional country music fan than Lainey Wilson. From her debut “Things A Man Oughta Know” single to her current “Somewhere Over Laredo” hit, Wilson is determined to help propel traditional country music forward.
“I will tell you, right now it is so cool, first of all, to see people just love the way that I grew up,” Wilson tells Audacy’s Rob + Holly. “Not even talking about country music. Just, like, the Western way of life.”
Jon Pardi
Jon Pardi is proud to embrace the traditional country sound, even if it does have his own flair to it. In recent years, Pardi has had hits like “Dirt On My Boots”, “Heartache On The Dance Floor”, “Ain’t Always The Cowboy”, and more.
Pardi also says he is willing to carry the torch for traditional country music. Although he also admits he isn’t bothered by the changes.
“In all honesty, I don’t know what country music is anymore,” Pardi tells Esquire. “We got Hardy heavy-metal country, we’ve got Beyoncé country, Morgan Wallen country, Jelly Roll. Everybody’s bringing in the stuff they grew up listening to, and it’s awesome. If it’s a good song and it’s moving the soul and it has some semblance of country, we’re stamping it country music.”
Photo by John Shearer/Getty Images for CMA
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