Alan Jackson made headlines recently with his comments about the state of modern country music, stating that "country music is gone — and it's not coming back."
"It's like the 1980s again," Jackson said. "I'm 62 years old; I'm not some 30-year-old stud. It's not the same, but somebody has to bring it back, because it's not just people in their 50s, it's people in their 20s, too. All the kids and young people around my house? The older they've got, the more hardcore and traditional what they've leaned into has become. It's not old-school, it's the real school. And I'm kinda pissed off ... about what's happened to the format, or whatever they wanna call it."
It's not an uncommon sentiment and it's one that other artists, from Kelly Clarkson to Reba McEntire, have shared. But country legend Randy Travis chooses to see the good in the current generation of country artists.
Travis responded to Jackson on social media, writing "There's still some doing it like we did it my friend."
Travis also included some recommendations of modern country artists, including Drew Parker, Luke Combs, Riley Green, Ashley McBryde, Eric Church, Cody Johnson and Alexandra Kay, who Travis recently discovered on TikTok.
@AshleyMcBryde @ericchurch @codyjohnson the list goes on!
— Randy Travis (@randytravis) May 19, 2021
Read More: Alan Jackson Pays Tribute to Merle Haggard on New Album 'Where Have You Gone'
With albums such as Always & Forever and Storms of Life, Travis is credited with bringing a more traditional sound back to country radio after a more pop-country sound began to rule the charts in the '80s, partially inspired by the popularity of the Urban Cowboy soundtrack.
Jackson, part of country music's "class of '89," along with Garth Brooks, Clint Black and Travis Tritt, helped launch country music into unprecedented mainstream popularity.
Jackson recently released Where Have You Gone, his first new album in six years.
Travis, who's recently been spending his time connecting with country fans of all ages on TikTok, released his memoir Forever and Ever, Amen: A Memoir of Music, Faith, and Braving the Storms of Life in 2019.
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