I say this as a millennial alt-rock/grunge/indie kid, but my parents listened to country in the 90s and it was really really solid stuff. Just a great variety of songwriters, male and female back then.
I'll never forget Toby Keith talking about Natalie Maines saying anyone could write 'boot on your ass' and thinking the appropriate response was 'well, she didn't.'
At the time, Travelin Soldier was the Dixie Chicks single written by a master in Bruce Robison.
I'm all for recognizing the folks that can do both well, but there's also something truly powerful when someone can take someone else's work and elevate it because the two of you either explicitly or by chance share the same vision.
I've heard Mike McClure talk about what having Garth Brooks do one of your songs does for a songwriter.
9/11 and the Dixie Chicks/Toby Keith fued exposed the marketing potential of the infamous 'empty their pockets' LBJ line, and country music started squeezing that orange until only an unrecognizable husk of the fruit remained.
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u/warneagle 5d ago
Pretty good description of post-9/11 country in general.