Honestly, even some of the more pop stuff pre-2000s was good. I do love me some Dwight Yoakam. But I can’t handle any of the stuff they play on country stations these days. All the songs sound the same and are almost all about the same exact things. I wouldn’t be surprised if they just have AI coming up these songs at this point.
For most of my life I haven’t been interested in country music because the contemporary popular stuff tend to be terrible. I’m currently discovering some of the old(er) good stuff for the first time (also watching that Ken Burns documentary a few years ago really ignited my appreciation). Currently (as in this minute as I type this), listening to some old Steven Earle songs for the first time and wondering why I didn’t know about this.