What is the difference between the Country Rock that groups like the Eagles, Poco, New Riders of the Purple Sage, Pure Prairie League, Flying Burrito Brothers, etc. play and the music one hears on Country Music stations?
If Country Music artists covered songs by the groups above, would they be played on Country Music stations? If you listen to Country Music stations, do you ever hear music from any of the above groups?
I think that has been co-opted by Alt-Country, liminals within Americana.
Country music does not equal typical country music radio. Country music radio tends to be formulaic but that is true for almost all of types of radio stations as well. I have heard groups like the Eagles and Jimmy Buffet on country radio but it isn’t all that common. There are a lot of other types of country that aren’t typically covered by country radio throughout most of the country either. Lyle Lovett is a very popular Texas country artist but good luck hearing him on any radio station outside of Texas.
Not much, but the you need to go into the history.
Back in the 60s, there was country and there was rock, and never the twain did meet. Country fans hated rock and rock fans hated country. Bob Dylan recorded Nashville Sklyine, showing that country could fit in with the new music, and Gram Parsons of the Byrds had them recording Sweetheart of the Rodeo, probably the first album to be called country rock. Parsons left to form the Flying Burrito Brothers, which was solidly in the genre, and Poco was formed in the same time. Other groups like the Eagles started working in the genre.
Country music, meanwhile, was slowly adding rock to their mix, but what you hear on country music stations is that which evolved from country artists who were played in country music stations as opposed to evolving from the country rock musicians, who were not being played on country stations (and often, not anywhere else).
The rhythm section. Back in the day, the Eagles married a rock-ier rhythm section with their country songs. Now it is commonplace.
The Marketing. 70’s country-rock bands marketed themselves as, well, rock bands. When the Byrds did Sweetheart of the Rodeo - considered the seminal CA Country Rock CD - it was still The Byrds…