Something's wrong here. Why does radio seem to think that once a star is over 40 they are ready for the scrap heap? Stars like Loretta and George sound just as great as they did 20 years ago. So, why aren't they being played?

Radio programmers say that the audiences are younger, and they want to hear the younger artists, rather than the older ones. I don't know about that...

What it seems like to me is that the programmers are trying to cash in on the pop audiences, so the artists have to record "pop" country if they want to have their songs played on the radio. Even our reigning CMA Female Vocalist, Martina McBride has done it with her latest album, Emotion (see my review of the album.)

While I love nearly all of the new country songs, if you think about it, they are diluting the real country sounds. Very few artists nowadays can get away with traditional sounds and still remain successful.

• The Dixie Chicks fought to keep their fiddle and steel guitar in their music when asked by VH1 to remove them so that they could play their videos.
• Randy Travis still is successful with a traditional sound.
• So is Dwight Yoakam with his rockabilly sound.
• And George Strait hasn't had a bad record yet. He's very consistent at recording music that makes it to the top of the charts.

So, what is happening to country music? It's turning into pop. Soon, there won't be a music played on radio that you could call country. It will all be pop.

Am I wrong about this? Can country music continue on the way that it is going and remain country? It makes you wonder, doesn't it?

Voice your opinions on my Country Forums about this subject.