Country music

===Fifth generation (1990s)===

[[File:Garth Brooks at We Are One (edit).jpg|thumb|right|upright|[[Garth Brooks]]]]
{{See also|1990s_in_music#Country_music|l1=1990s in music § Country}}
Country music was aided by the U.S. [[Federal Communications Commission]]'s (FCC) Docket 80–90, which led to a significant expansion of [[FM radio]] in the 1980s by adding numerous higher-fidelity FM signals to rural and suburban areas. At this point, country music was mainly heard on rural [[AM radio]] stations; the expansion of FM was particularly helpful to country music, which migrated to FM from the AM band as AM became overcome by [[talk radio]] (the country music stations that stayed on AM developed the [[classic country]] format for the AM audience). At the same time, [[beautiful music]] stations already in rural areas began abandoning the format (leading to its effective demise) to adopt country music as well. This wider availability of country music led to producers seeking to polish their product for a wider audience. In 1990, ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'', which had published a [[Hot Country Songs|country music chart]] since the 1940s, changed the methodology it used to compile the chart: singles sales were removed from the methodology, and only airplay on [[country radio]] determined a song's place on the chart.<ref>{{cite magazine|title=R&B Enjoying Rare Dominance Over Rap|magazine=Billboard|date=April 24, 2004|page=68|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mxAEAAAAMBAJ&q=Nielsen+Broadcast+Data+Systems+january+20+1990&pg=PA68|access-date=April 25, 2018}}</ref>

In the 1990s, country music became a worldwide phenomenon thanks to [[Garth Brooks]],<ref name="Country Worldwide">{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=0LYxAAAAIBAJ&pg=1510,3298161&dq=billy+ray+cyrus+country+worldwide&hl=en |title=Country is No. 1 musical style |date=August 19, 1992 |newspaper=Reading Eagle |access-date=July 26, 2010}}</ref><ref name="Country Worldwide2">{{cite web |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=TjQfAAAAIBAJ&pg=4760,3698051&dq=billy+ray+cyrus+country+worldwide&hl=en |title=Country music reflects the time |date=September 27, 1992 |publisher=Herald-Journal |access-date=July 26, 2010}}</ref><ref name="Country Worldwide3">{{cite news |url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/thestar/access/504338431.html?dids=504338431:504338431&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Nov+25%2C+1993&author=Jack+Hurst&pub=The+Record&desc=Country+music+is+making+waves+across+the+seas&pqatl=google |title=Country music is making waves across the seas |date=November 25, 1993 |work=thestar.com |access-date=July 26, 2010 |first=Jack |last=Hurst |archive-date=May 6, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110506081606/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/thestar/access/504338431.html?dids=504338431:504338431&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Nov+25%2C+1993&author=Jack+Hurst&pub=The+Record&desc=Country+music+is+making+waves+across+the+seas&pqatl=google |url-status=dead }}</ref> who enjoyed one of the most successful careers in popular music history, breaking records for both sales and concert attendance throughout the decade. The [[RIAA]] has certified his recordings at a combined (128× [[RIAA certification|platinum]]), denoting roughly 113&nbsp;million U.S. shipments.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?table=SEARCH_RESULTS |title=RIAA.com |publisher=RIAA.com |access-date=February 1, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070626051113/http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?table=SEARCH_RESULTS |archive-date=June 26, 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Other artists who experienced success during this time included [[Clint Black]], [[John Michael Montgomery]], [[Tracy Lawrence]], [[Tim McGraw]], [[Kenny Chesney]], [[Travis Tritt]], [[Alan Jackson]] and the newly formed duo of [[Brooks & Dunn]]; [[George Strait]], whose career began in the 1980s, also continued to have widespread success in this decade and beyond. [[Toby Keith]] began his career as a more pop-oriented country singer in the 1990s, evolving into an outlaw persona in the early 2000s with ''[[Pull My Chain]]'' and its follow-up, ''[[Unleashed (Toby Keith album)|Unleashed]]''.

====Success of female artists====
Female artists such as [[Reba McEntire]], [[Patty Loveless]], [[Faith Hill]], [[Martina McBride]], [[Deana Carter]], [[LeAnn Rimes]], [[Mindy McCready]], [[Pam Tillis]], [[Lorrie Morgan]], [[Shania Twain]], and [[Mary Chapin Carpenter]] all released platinum-selling albums in the 1990s. The [[Dixie Chicks]] became one of the most popular country bands in the 1990s and early 2000s. Their 1998 debut album ''[[Wide Open Spaces (album)|Wide Open Spaces]]'' went on to become certified 12× platinum while their 1999 album ''[[Fly (Dixie Chicks album)|Fly]]'' went on to become 10× platinum. After their third album, ''[[Home (Dixie Chicks album)|Home]]'', was released in 2003, the band made political news in part because of lead singer [[Natalie Maines]]'s comments disparaging then-President [[George W. Bush]] while the band was overseas (Maines stated that she and her bandmates were ashamed to be from the same state as Bush, who had just commenced the [[Iraq War]] a few days prior). The comments caused a rift between the band and the country music scene, and the band's fourth (and most recent) album, 2006's ''[[Taking the Long Way]]'', took a more rock-oriented direction; the album was commercially successful overall among non-country audiences but largely ignored among country audiences. After ''Taking the Long Way'', the band broke up for a decade (with two of its members continuing as the [[Court Yard Hounds]]) before reuniting in 2016 and releasing new material in 2020.

[[File:ShaniaTwain3.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Shania Twain]] performing during her [[Up! Tour]] in 2004]]
Canadian artist [[Shania Twain]] became the best selling female country artist of the decade. This was primarily due to the success of her breakthrough sophomore 1995 album, ''[[The Woman in Me (album)|The Woman in Me]]'', which was certified 12× platinum sold over 20&nbsp;million copies worldwide and its follow-up, 1997's ''[[Come On Over]]'', which was certified 20× platinum and sold over 40&nbsp;million copies. The album became a major worldwide phenomenon and became one of the world's best selling albums for three years (1998, 1999 and 2000); it also went on to become the best selling country album of all time.

Unlike the majority of her contemporaries, Twain enjoyed large international success that had been seen by very few country artists, before or after her. Critics have noted that Twain enjoyed much of her success due to breaking free of traditional country stereotypes and for incorporating elements of rock and pop into her music. In 2002, she released her successful fourth studio album, titled ''[[Up! (album)|Up!]]'', which was certified 11× platinum and sold over 15&nbsp;million copies worldwide. [[Shania Twain]] has been nominated eighteen times for [[Grammy Awards]] and won five Grammys. [<ref>{{Cite web|date=November 23, 2020|title=Shania Twain|url=https://www.grammy.com/grammys/artists/shania-twain/7643|access-date=October 25, 2021|website=Grammys}}</ref>] She was the best-paid country music star in 2016 according to Forbes, with a net worth of $27.5 million. [<ref>{{Cite web|title=9. Shania Twain ($27.5 million)|url=https://www.forbes.com/pictures/eeel45fhgfm/9-shania-twain-275-m/|access-date=October 25, 2021|website=Forbes}}</ref>]Twain has been credited with breaking international boundaries for country music, as well as inspiring many country artists to incorporate different genres into their music in order to attract a wider audience. She is also credited with changing the way in which many female country performers would market themselves, as unlike many before her she used fashion and her sex appeal to get rid of the stereotypical '[[honky-tonk]]' image the majority of country singers had in order to distinguish herself from many female country artists of the time.

====Line dancing revival====
In the early-mid-1990s, country western music was influenced by the popularity of [[line dancing]]. This influence was so great that [[Chet Atkins]] was quoted as saying, "The music has gotten pretty bad, I think. It's all that damn line dancing."<ref>The Roots of Country Music" Collectors Edition by ''Life'', September 1, 1994</ref> By the end of the decade, however, at least one line dance choreographer complained that good country line dance music was no longer being released. In contrast, artists such as [[Don Williams]] and [[George Jones]] who had more or less had consistent chart success through the 1970s and 1980s suddenly had their fortunes fall rapidly around 1991 when the new chart rules took effect.

====Alternative country====
{{Main|Alt country|cowpunk}}

[[File:Steve_Earle_2.jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|right|[[Steve Earle]] performing in Ireland in 2007]]
Country influences combined with [[Punk rock]] and [[alternative rock]] to forge the "[[cowpunk]]" scene in Southern California during the 1980s, which included bands such as [[the Long Ryders]], [[Lone Justice]] and [[the Beat Farmers]], as well as the established punk group [[X (American band)|X]], whose music had begun to include country and rockabilly influences.<ref name="Malone2002">W. C. Malone, ''Country Music, U.S.A.'' (Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 2nd edn., 2002), {{ISBN|0-292-75262-8}}, p. 451.</ref> Simultaneously, a generation of diverse country artists outside of California emerged that rejected the perceived cultural and musical conservatism associated with Nashville's mainstream country musicians in favor of more countercultural outlaw country and the folk singer-songwriter traditions of artists such as [[Woody Guthrie]], [[Gram Parsons]] and [[Bob Dylan]].

Artists from outside California who were associated with early alternative country included singer-songwriters such as [[Lucinda Williams]], [[Lyle Lovett]] and [[Steve Earle]], the Nashville country rock band [[Jason and the Scorchers]], the Providence "[[cowboy pop]]" band [[Rubber Rodeo]], and the British post-punk band [[the Mekons]]. Earle, in particular, was noted for his popularity with both country and [[college rock]] audiences: He promoted his 1986 debut album ''[[Guitar Town]]'' with a tour that saw him open for both country singer [[Dwight Yoakam]] and alternative rock band [[The Replacements (band)|the Replacements]].<ref>{{cite web|last1=Deming|first1=Mark|title=Guitar Town – Steve Earle|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/guitar-town-mw0000189768|website=AllMusic|access-date=October 31, 2016}}</ref> Yoakam also cultivated a fanbase spanning multiple genres through his stripped-down [[Honky-tonk#Music|honky-tonk]] influenced sound, association with the cowpunk scene, and performances at Los Angeles punk rock clubs.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Erlewine |first1=Stephen Thomas |title=Dwight Yoakam {{!}} Biography & History |url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/dwight-yoakam-mn0000791483/biography |website=AllMusic |access-date=August 7, 2019}}</ref>

These early styles had coalesced into a genre by the time the Illinois group [[Uncle Tupelo]] released their influential debut album ''[[No Depression (album)|No Depression]]'' in 1990.<ref name=smith2009>C. Smith, ''101 Albums That Changed Popular Music'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009), {{ISBN|0-19-537371-5}}, pp. 204–9.</ref><ref name="AllmusicNoDepression">M. Deming, [{{AllMusic|class=album|id=r626894|pure_url=yes}} "No Depression Bonus Tracks"], ''Allmusic'', retrieved January 26, 2009.</ref> The album is widely credited as being the first "alternative country" album, and inspired the name of ''[[No Depression (magazine)|No Depression]]'' magazine, which exclusively covered the new genre.<ref name="smith2009"/><ref name="AllmusicNoDepression"/> Following Uncle Tupelo's disbanding in 1994, its members formed two significant bands in genre: [[Wilco]] and [[Son Volt]]. Although Wilco's sound had moved away from country and towards [[indie rock]] by the time they released their critically acclaimed album ''[[Yankee Hotel Foxtrot]]'' in 2002, they have continued to be an influence on later alt-country artists.

Other acts who became prominent in the alt-country genre during the 1990s and 2000s included [[the Bottle Rockets]], [[the Handsome Family]], [[Blue Mountain (band)|Blue Mountain]], [[Robbie Fulks]], [[Blood Oranges (band)|Blood Oranges]], [[Bright Eyes (band)|Bright Eyes]], [[Drive-By Truckers]], [[Old 97's]], [[Old Crow Medicine Show]], [[Nickel Creek]], [[Neko Case]], and [[Whiskeytown]], whose lead singer [[Ryan Adams]] later had a successful solo-career.<ref name=WolfandDuanep549-92>K. Wolff and O. Duane, eds, ''Country Music: the Rough Guide'' (London: Rough Guides, 2000), {{ISBN|1-85828-534-8}}, pp. 549–92.</ref> Alt-country, in various iterations overlapped with other genres, including [[Red dirt (music)|Red Dirt country music]] ([[Cross Canadian Ragweed]]), [[jam band]]s ([[My Morning Jacket]] and [[the String Cheese Incident]]), and [[indie folk]] ([[the Avett Brothers]]).

Despite the genre's growing popularity in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s, alternative country and neo-traditionalist artists saw minimal support from country radio in those decades, despite strong sales and critical acclaim for albums such as the soundtrack to the 2000 film ''[[O Brother, Where Art Thou? (soundtrack)|O Brother, Where Art Thou?]]''.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Strauss |first1=Neil |title=MUSIC; The Country Music Country Radio Ignores |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/24/movies/music-the-country-music-country-radio-ignores.html |website=The New York Times |access-date=April 13, 2019 |date=March 24, 2002}}</ref> In 1987, the Beat Farmers gained airplay on country music stations with their song "Make It Last", but the single was pulled from the format when station programmers decreed the band's music was too rock-oriented for their audience.<ref>{{cite web |title=Beat Farmers {{!}} Biography & History |url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/beat-farmers-mn0000038661/biography |website=AllMusic |access-date=April 13, 2019}}</ref> However, some alt-country songs have been [[Crossover music|crossover hits]] to mainstream country radio in cover versions by established artists on the format; Lucinda Williams' "[[Passionate Kisses]]" was a hit for [[Mary Chapin Carpenter]] in 1993, Ryan Adams' "[[When the Stars Go Blue]]" was a hit for [[Tim McGraw]] in 2007, and Old Crow Medicine Show's "[[Wagon Wheel (song)|Wagon Wheel]]" was a hit for [[Darius Rucker]] (member of [[Hootie & The Blowfish]]) in 2013.

In the 2010s, the alt-country genre saw an increase in its critical and commercial popularity, owing to the success of artists such as [[the Civil Wars]], [[Chris Stapleton]], [[Sturgill Simpson]], [[Jason Isbell]], [[Lydia Loveless]] and [[Margo Price]]. In 2019, [[Kacey Musgraves]] – a country artist who had gained a following with [[indie rock]] fans and music critics despite minimal airplay on country radio – won the [[Grammy Award for Album of the Year]] for her album ''[[Golden Hour (Kacey Musgraves album)|Golden Hour]]''.<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Moss |first1=Marissa R. |title=How Kacey Musgraves' Grammy Wins Give Country Radio a Choice to Make |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-country/kacey-musgraves-grammy-golden-hour-country-radio-793796/ |magazine=Rolling Stone |access-date=April 22, 2019 |date=February 12, 2019}}</ref>