While the "Country" music you hear on radio and see on TV may be of questionable quality, there is a very healthy, active underground "alternative" Country music scene, often referred to as Americana, that is producing music as good as has ever been made. IMO, of course. No, you can’t hear it on radio, or see it on TV.
The mass audience was introduced to the original Hillbilly music of the 1920’s and 30’s in the Coen Brothers movie O Brother Where Art Thou. The Brothers wisely hired T Bone Burnett to do the music for the movie, and he did a fantastic job (in 2002 the album won the Grammy Award for Album Of The Year). T Bone has long been involved in the Americana movement and scene, amongst his productions a pair of albums by Alison Krauss (a long-time leader in the modern Bluegrass genre) and none other than Robert Plant, a name of course well known to the mass Rock audience. Ironic, isn’t it? At the time Country music was being introduced back into Rock (beginning in 1968, by Dylan, The Byrds, The Band, a few more), Led Zeppelin was putting into motion the modern "Hard" Rock music movement, which heavily emphasized Blues. It took a while, but Robert finally saw the light ;-) .
Music in O Brother includes that by The Carter Family, Ralph Stanley, Jimmie Davis, and a bunch of people you’ve never heard of, plus new recordings by current artists (including Alison Krauss, Emmylou Harris, Gillian Welch, Dan Tyminski, The Whites, The Cox Family). The original Hillbilly music is as primitive as is the Blues of the 20’s and 30’s, the two being more alike than different.
A lot of our most well known Rock guitarists were more attracted to old Blues (Eric Clapton, of course) than to old Hillbilly, but not all. While I like Rock ’n’ Roll guitar a LOT (the 1950’s originators of the style were influenced equally by Blues and Hillbilly), in the 1960’s the Hillbilly element in Rock ’n’ Roll all but disappeared (it remained in the music being made by the likes of The Everly Brothers, Ricky Nelson, Roy Orbison, a few others). These days I find myself more interested in the music being made by those who emphasize the Hillbilly element in Rock ’n’ Roll. (To hear great guitar playing, give a listen to dobro-master Jerry Douglas). The music being made by Marty Stuart And His Fabulous Superlatives (imo the current best band in the world) sounds FAR more like 1950’s Rock ’n’ Roll than does that being made by Rock bands. Marty’s Way Out West album was produced by Mike Campbell, Tom Petty’s guitarist. Mike’s one hip cat ;-) .
There are dozens and dozens of fantastic modern Traditional Country (as opposed to the Country/Rock/Pop of which the OP speaks) artists making great music. There is an annual event named The Americana Music Honors And Awards Ceremony, held at The Ryman Theater in Nashville. I don’t want to again list the many Americana artists currently active, as I have previously done so a number of times here on AudiogoN.
Expecting to hear good Country music on commercial radio and television is as unrealistic as it was to expect to hear Jimi Hendrix or The Mothers Of Invention on AM radio in 1967. It was in that year that underground FM radio sprung up, to serve the counterculture audience who wanted to hear something other than Top 40 Pop hits. The same situation exists today; if you want to hear the good stuff, you have to do your homework. It takes a little effort, so is only for those who care enough. One source is a print and online magazine dedicated to Americana music which debuted in 1995 (I have a complete collection)---No Depression. When Jeff Tweedy (now of course leader of Wilco) and Jay Farrar (now in Son Volt) made their band’s (Uncle Tupelo) debut album, they entitled it No Depression, the title of a 1936 Carter Family song.
