It is my understanding that the American country music industry employs much more specialization of labor (e.g. performers / lyricists / composers are all different people) than other American genres, so I generally expect the quality to be higher.
My sister and I both love country music. My dad is very vocal about how much he hates it, but his reasons have nothing to do with the quality of the music - they are purely cultural. Country music is part of the South, and like any member of respectable Californian society he believes that the South is evil. This does not leave room to enjoy Southern music.
But I suspect that overseas they are more likely to view country music through the same lens as "America", having no specific concept of "despicable Southerners".
>But I suspect that overseas they are more likely to view country music through the same lens as "America", having no specific concept of "despicable Southerners".
I think you're going to find that the rest of the world is going to have much more commonality in social cultural viewpoints of the American South than with California.
Depends on what part of France. I'm sure French farmers will find quite a bit in common with American farmers. I'd be surprised if country music is popular among Parisians.
A lot of country music came from California, although from the parts of it (like Bakersfield) that were more Southern then, not very popular with the rest of the state now, and have meth and gun violence problems.
My sister and I both love country music. My dad is very vocal about how much he hates it, but his reasons have nothing to do with the quality of the music - they are purely cultural. Country music is part of the South, and like any member of respectable Californian society he believes that the South is evil. This does not leave room to enjoy Southern music.
But I suspect that overseas they are more likely to view country music through the same lens as "America", having no specific concept of "despicable Southerners".