Hi Floyd.

You're exactly right in saying that I don't listen to a lot of today's country and the tracks you pointed me towards were a revelation. Then again, I'm always ready to learn and I liked what I heard. Thanks for that.

Having said that, if I'd heard the track - Lee Brice, That's When You Know It's Over - on the radio and then gone to buy it in my local record store (before it closed) I don't think I'd have been heading for the Country section. It appeared to have more in common with Guns & Roses than it did with Charlie Pride.

And I think this is really the moot point. Looking at the instrumentation in the Lee Brice track, there's a power bass, root/5th chugging, power chords and synths. The overdriven lead fits perfectly, but anything else would have struggled to compete in what is essentially a rock track.

On the other hand, I would immediately identify your track as country. The feel is different, but more importantly the instrumentation is too. Piano and pedal steel well to the fore and acoustic guitars in the rhythm. Over this, I still feel the distorted lead is a little out of place.

So to sum up, I fully accept that country has moved on and that some of the tracks are using many techniques usually associated with heavy rock, but I'm not sure that you can take one feature of these tracks and drop it into a more traditional country song with complete success.

I can't remember disagreeing with you to this extent before and I trust you're not offended by my candid approach. Where Country is concerned, you're the master and I'm happy to learn.

ROG.