3 Country Stars Who Were (Wrongly) Told They Were “Too Country”

Plenty of singers have been labeled “not country enough” by genre purists, but there are also a few powerhouse country stars who have been told they were “too” country at some point in their careers. Let’s look at a few examples!

1. Lainey Wilson

Lainey Wilson has taken the country music world by storm over the last few years. She has a substantial fan base as of 2024, and she’s only getting started. According to the “Watermelon Moonshine” singer herself, she was actually once deemed “too country” for country music.

Lainey started out her career in Louisiana, where she played the guitar and sang in venues before heading across the American South. Wilson said that she was more than ready for country music, but country wasn’t ready for her.

“Pulling up to Nashville, I was terrified, I was a fish out of water,” Wilson said on her Hulu special Lainey Wilson: Bell Bottom Country. “At times, I was too country for country. But mama and daddy didn’t raise no quitter.”

2. Dwight Yoakam

Dwight Yoakam is the king of dusty Southern rock country ballads. It’s hard to imagine anyone criticizing his country roots, especially because he is so unapologetically himself.

Back in the day, Yoakam used to play at the same venues as punk bands and rockabilly outfits. Even his music today embodies that old-school Southern rock energy. A country purist would probably say he isn’t “country” enough. But according to Yoakam, a record executive told him he was “too country for rock and too rock for country.”

“Country music was [once] a very edgy rock and roll energy,” said Yoakam in an interview from 2010. “That’s what I had most in common with the bands playing the rock club circuit at the time.”

3. Kameron Marlowe

@kameronmarlowe

#icanlie #fyp

♬ I Can Lie – Kameron Marlowe

Kameron Marlowe has made a name for himself since he launched his career on Season 15 of The Voice. The North Carolina native initially became interested in country music after listening to the radio with his grandfather on fishing and hunting trips. It doesn’t get more country than that.

According to a TikTok video posted by Marlowe, it seems like some people might think he’s one of few country stars who are “too country”. Or at the very least, his hit song “I Can Lie” might be a bit too 1990s-era mainstream country for some listeners’ taste. It’s understandable, to a degree. Marlowe makes music that leans toward the traditional, classic side of country music, rather than toward pop.

Photo by Brett Carlsen

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