By Sarah Ball
It's like comparing whiskey to a milkshake: The earlier days of country music were marked by a blend unpolished twang (Hank Williams), authentically bluesy strains (Cash) and downhome, boisterous instrumentation (Monroe). But what passes for country today goes down a lot easier—and has a lot less emotional impact: the bubblegum hits on today's radio stations bear little resemblance to those of the genre's founding fathers. Here, NEWSWEEK's scale of 15 artists who span the continuum, from traditional to trite.
