I said it was at the roots, not is the roots. Heres a little history: Folk and blues were the two types of music which first developed in America, after classical, which is in turn European. Blues was started by oppressed African Americans, and folk was started as a musical way to tell a story, a folklore if you will. Folk music can be traced back before settlement in America actually making it not an original American music type. But back on subject. Country came out of a combination of folk and blues (and other lesser influences like Celtic and gospel), with a little more emphasis on the folk. Artits like Vernon Dalhart and Riley Puckett were some of the first to hit it big in this new type of music in the early 20s, which wasnt known as "country" until the 40s. By then it was being picked up by better known artists like Johnny Cash, Chet Attkins, and Hank Williams. Country soon began to blend with rock, which emerged from rhythm and blues, a branch of traditional blues. The blend of rock and country can be heard in a lot of music from the 50s and 60s like CCR, Roy Orbison, The Allman Brothers, Eric Clapton, and the Grateful Dead, among hundreds of others. The other side of rock went onto hard rock, or "metal", like Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Def Leppard, and Lynard Skynard (who you can still hear some country in). It is from these types of music that music today has evolved. Rap/Hip Hop from blues; alternative, punk, pop, metal, and even emo from Rock n' Roll; accoustic from folk; and so on. The other kinds of music today are primarilly European influences, like techno came from Europe originally, though it was diverged from rap and DJ's playing with synth's and turntables. Indie is more of a derivative of the Brittish invasion (Beatles, Turtles, etc) and glam rock (David Bowie, Slade, and Queen).
Does that answer your question?? There is my explanation for why country music is at the roots of American music today, a reason to respect it. I do admit that todays pop-country is not worth listening to, but that does not give any pretense to be saying that "All country music is nise pollution". That is just ignorant and close minded.
