Roller Coasting Through 2011 ... Country Hanging In...

Jimmy Carter in Austin.

Spending a week in the Hill Country of Texas is a delight ... It's truly a mix of the old-school and high-tech culture. They really seem to have it all working around here.

What a perfect world if you could merge Austin and Nashville music cultures. The live music capital of the world and the recording capital of the world.

The old school is the real school in the Texas musical world. The Willi's and their world remain fascinating and current. The real Country music made by Willie friends like Freddy Powers ... go back AND LISTEN to his songs and tell me what Country music is supposed to be! I like lots of musical styles, but listen to some of those songs of Power's Merle/George Jones hits and tell me today's Country is simply POP.

Go back and listen to Conway's and George's best ... than scan most of the Country material of 2010. Jamey Johnson holds up, for sure. Just asking.

Pop or Country, labels are just that. I know the Internet is where I get so much of my world and I never use the CD player in my truck. Haven't seen a dial phone except in museums and the movies. Is the Country audience today "modern," or living in the past due to slow Internet speeds and the economy? Just asking.

I happen to like the Pop/Country stuff and, yes, I do like the sing-along Taylor Swift songs ... and the real-deal Country classics. So my world is safe ... but is yours?

It is hard to figure this out. The always-hip NFL has Hank, Jr. and Faith Hill fronting their primetime TV shows, singing their themes. NASCAR doesn't seem to be that engaged in its former true love, Country.

The drivers of NASCAR seem much more into other things. Not all, but when you go back in time, the change is radical. Do the "modern" drivers relate to the traditional NASCAR fan? You tell me. Driver /fan disconnect ... hmmm ... fan disconnect in Country music ... hmmm

Do the fans of Country music ... the listeners to radio ... relate to the music on the radio stations? Oh, that's a big hmmm....

We are so split up. I go to a Willie Nelson Picnic and see a lot of young faces with the old. They seem to love the diversity of Los Lonely Boys and Asleep at the Wheel. Maybe that's just Texas. Probably so.

The talent pool in Texas is deep. I hope Kevin Fowler and acts like that can attract bigger non-Texas audiences. His "pound" ## song is a hit song if it gets played.

Country music today is just like Top 40 in the '60s ... Eddy Arnold to Cream! Again, you tell me if that's a good thing. I loved that range, but is it good that radio plays all things pop-ish like a Carrie Underwood (I like her and respect her talent) and would never play a Conway Twitty classic hit? The swimming pool of Country Radio today seems rather shallow.

Is there a way to put a classic Country song in some kind of context with today's hits? Maybe that's not the job ... to grow and educate the audience.

These days you seem to have more questions than people have answers. Everything seems so over-complicated. Didn't someone once say, "Keep It Simple, Stupid?"

I spew these questions because this week I have seen the future and the past. I like them both, but I am not so sure my fellow passengers are feeling the same way. The Pop/Country stars of present reflect on more AC/DC than Conway. Is that a reason for the fan disconnect at times? Or is it just the industry picking the wrong people to carry the flag? Just asking...