ian, i listen to "modern country" all day every day on pandora and, quite frankly, i seldom hear piano in it. garth brooks uses it sparingly (long outro on "the dance" etc.) but, in thinking about it, i don't recall hearing a lot of piano in today's country music. i will pay special attention throughout today and post back if i hear anything to the contrary. then again, we may have different ideas as to the term "modern country" so will you name a specific artist or group and i'll listen to them for you today.