There seems to be a divide in the class, or at least in the people who have spoken, between "real" country (Hank Williams, Floyd Tillman) and mainstream country (Kenny Chesney, Toby Keith) to more pop extremes (Taylor Swift, Shania Twain). Personally I do not care much for any of country music but I like the speculation coming from genre labeling because it happens often with pretty much any genre of music.
The parallel can be seen with Rock music. Classic Rock has become the all encompassing genre for anything 25 years or older but recently, defunct bands such as Nirvana have fallen under this genre too. The gulf between a song like Nirvana's "Polly" and the Beatles "Please Please Me" can't get much bigger yet somehow it falls under the same classic rock genre. This happens because genre is as much about time and relevance than it is about sound.
Kenny Chesney country will be country as long as they share the same roots, the same fans and the same influences as their predecessors. Older music may be seen by some as the "true country" but it lost its role as country music when it ceased being current. The same way "Please Please Me" is early 60's Pop Rock, "Polly" is 90's Grunge Alternative and Hank William will be Western Country because simply labeling them as "rock" or "country" doesn't fit a now dead (dying) sound.
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