My thanks to Tony Scherman for an authoritative history of the roots of country music (November issue). But I disagree most strongly that country music is in, or is about to begin, a decline.

Having been involved in country radio for ten years, I would pose this question: If you compare a Buddy Holly song to a Metallica song, is rock on the decline? The contrast between the two is as distinct as the difference between Hank Williams Senior and “The Tractors.”

Country is not in a state of decline. Rather, like any other form of music, it is evolving. Dwight Yoakam bemoans “loss of contact with that white rural experience.” Is this the same man who owns a multimillion-dollar horse ranch in California?