Pickin\’ and Grinnin\’: Country Radio On the Web

"Country music" is a term that means different things to different people. One fan\'s country music may not sound at all like another\'s.

Contemporary country music is one of the most popular genres on the radio. It is truly mainstream popular music, with an appeal that cuts across all demographics. Its mega-stars regularly fill the seats at the largest venues. Indeed, as someone has observed, country has replaced rock as the main face of American pop music.

Only slightly less noticeable is the surge of interest in what is called old-time music, a choice of material and style of playing that hearken back to the genre\'s early days when it emerged from the hills and hollers of Appalachia, and other rural pockets of the American South, to claim a niche on the then-new medium of radio, as well as in the burgeoning recording industry of the 1920s and 30s. For an excellent crash course in the old-time music revival, give a listen to the "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?" album (the soundtrack to the movie of the same name).

Bluegrass music has a large and devoted following all its own. Bluegrass festivals and competitions are numerous throughout the United States and even in many other parts of the world.

Somewhere between the original old-time country music of the early 20th century, and contemporary country as it developed from about the 1970s or \'80s onward, you\'ll find honky tonk--exemplified by the great Hank Williams--and the other pre-mainstream traditions and artists of the 1950s and \'60s. These gave way for a short time to "outlaw" country, associated with the likes of Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings.

Then, reaching way back, there are people who love playing the old recordings of the earliest country stars, such as Uncle Dave Macon and the Carter Family. And let\'s not forget the cowboy singers who rode high in the saddle in the \'40s, and the Western swing bands, and ...

"Country music" means all these things and more. It\'s truly a diverse genre. We\'re fortunate to live in an age when so much of country music--it\'s rich legacy as well as its living embodiment in today\'s performers--is readily accessible. One of the easiest ways to enjoy it is via the Internet.

The number of country radio stations with live streaming audio feeds has become uncountable. But here are a couple of suggestions:

To plug into the most important country music station of all time, go to the WSM Web site at www.wsmonline.com. This is the pioneering Nashville station that brought the Grand Ol\' Opry to America\'s airwaves and established the careers of so many country stars over the course, literally, of decades. The WSM site provides a prominent "click to listen" button for picking up the live broadcast stream any time day night.

A more recent happy discovery is Classic Heartland, an online-only station headquartered in Branson, Missouri. Rather than try to describe what you\'ll hear there, let the Web site tell it: "Classic Heartland features independently-produced programs by volunteers who love this music as much as you do. In between these programs is our unique blend of classic country, western, bluegrass and alternative country music."

A recent Sunday\'s playlist included stirring country gospel, some old-time tunes played by contemporary artists, and a few genuine gold nuggets from the country music archives, including "North to Alaska" by Johnny Horton and "They\'re Gonna\' Put Me In the Movies" as rendered by Buck Owens.

Classic Heartland Radio may be found at www.classicheartland.com.

But seeing as how everyone\'s taste in country music is different, the best suggestion for finding the ideal countrified audio stream is to browse one of the directories of live radio stations on the Web. Outstanding is Mike\'s Radio World, which categorizes 3,000+ stations by genre as well as location. One whole page is devoted to country music stations. You can start here: www.mikesradio.com

Stefan Smith is a radio and music junkie who writes on those and other subjects for the Solid Gold Info Writers Consortium. Recently, he has written an extensive review of new software that anyone can use to capture music audio streams from Internet radio broadcasts and break them up into individual mp3 song files--a legal way to download virtually free music. Read the review at: http://www.solid-gold.info/radio2mp3.html

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