Opinion: Modern country is the worst musical genre of all time

^^^^^^

 no argument from me !

It’s really irrelevant to bring up canonical songs by Carter Family (very nebulous attribution of ‘authorship’ here, but I think it’s fair to say a mixture of originality and traditional-recitation occurred here, and the profundity of the influence of these versions remains difficult to dispute), Jimmie Rodgers, Red Foley, Bill Monroe, The Stanley Brothers, Roy Acuff, Ernest Tubb, Hank Williams, Eddy Arnold, Lefty Frizzel, Bob Wills, Hank Thompson, Bill Anderson, Johnny Cash, George Jones, Willie Nelson, Patsy Cline, Merle Haggard, Loretta Lynn, Mickey Newbury, Dolly Parton, Jerry Jeff Walker, Townes Van Zandt, Kris Kristofferson, and Billy Joe Shaver.  
That is completely separate from this current stuff.  
There should be no more conflations of this current stuff with the above stuff.

@tylermunns Agreed, but also they're two completely different iterations of the genre: one steeped in the traditions of bluegrass and frontier folk, while modern country is a cousin of contemporary rock, specifically southern rock and Americana.

Having played in an alt-country band for many years, it was interesting to see the audience reaction when we covered much of the canon of those you named versus when we would throw in a Kenny Chesney, Brothers Osbourne, Eric Church, or similar modern artists. The former always elicited a lot more smiles and applause than the latter. Usualy because the audience was older. 

The familiarity factor, or perhaps even the nostalgia factor may indeed have caused the notably higher positivity in responses.
Obviously this statement I’m about to make is entirely subjective, but I would posit that the music of the artists I listed is 20x better than that of Kenny Chesny, Brothers Osbourne, Eric Church, and music of that ilk.
That may also contribute to more positive responses.
The “iteration of genre” point you made is moot.
Every musical thing is a “new iteration” of what preceded it.
It just so happens that this new iteration really, really, really sucks.

@alexatpos  Thank you so much, Kurt Elling's voice inflections in the song are a great segue back to the great Country music artists who use only their voice and acoustic guitar to make a statement. And yes the original composition by Donald Byrd played in Dextar Gordon's "One Flight up" is a work of art...