Yeah funny thing Dave - I got asked to be in a "country" band last week. Two things I couldn't get my head around:
1) Their set list had 1 song by Merle, 1 by Waylon, 1 by Willie. Everything else was either standard bar band stuff or that Alan Jackson/Toby Keith/Garth Brooks stuff that belongs in the 70's Soft Rock file imo.
2) They had a keyboard player playing a steel guitar patch through his synth. Made me nauseus.
I like the term "Texas Country" for the real stuff now. Seems to include the Outlaw era, the Swing stuff, The Hank stuff, George Jones, et al. Now if I could only find a band that was playing it.