Is Country Music Dying?

Although at home in the U.S. I feel like country music is a genre that is losing its audience and integrity precisely because of the way it is looking for more audience (making music that is more and more similar to mainstream pop and rock), in Europe it is a genre that enjoys popularity with a younger alternative audience, mostly university age students. I love the old school country of Johnny Cash and June Carter, Roy Rogers, and Patsy Cline, and I even like a lot of the newer pop based country, but sometimes I feel like country has lost its roots and rich history. Country artists would be better off maintaining some of that traditional sound, and keeping up the work on a more modern image, and album artwork, etc.

I know here in Melbourne it isn't looking too healthy, I help a couple of country music bands and they are doing it hard, some of the guys are turning the clock back a bit and doing a lot of 60's music to try and survive.