I prefer Southern Rock (Lynyrd Skynyrd, Blackfoot, The Eagles, Molly Hatchet, Allman Brothers, ect.) over Today's Country... BUT if you meant Classic Country, I would have chose that, Classic Country is legends such as (Johnny Cash, Hank Williams, Waylon Jennings, George Jones, Dolly Parton, Loretta Lynn, too many Country Legends and Unsung Heroes to mention
)...
Personally, I feel like Country music went "South"/Bad in the 90's, I feel that in the 90's to "Land it Big" you either went Rock/Grunge or you went Country, and so it became really generic. From there, it "Snowball Effected", so to speak, into what I feel is today's "Music Debate" where you either go Pop/Rap or Country to make it big. Or in Taylor Swift's case you perform both, I am okay with her, I do not like her music, but she is doing what makes her happy, after all we are all human. I'm NOT saying that ALL of Country music is bad and again this is my personal opinion, it just seems that the good country songs are getting covered up by the crappier stuff. Yes, I agree with what Tom Petty said about Country Music, to an extent. All in all, I LOVE Music, but there are some parts of it I like more than others.