Exaggerated country slang, shallow (actually insulting) lyrics about a 4WD truck, parties in pastures, and LOTS of drinkin'. Those were not country people when & where I grew up, those were called marginalized rednecks, most of whom are 40 year olds today still living that lifestyle in that same town.
To me Country Music isn't synonomous with Cowboys, so I frankly don't get the whole Stetson hat and pointy toe boots image. 90% of the people I know who I would call normal Country music fans have never ridden a horse, have never been to a rodeo, have never walked in a pasture of cattle, and would look stupid wearing a cowboy hat. So I don't know why these artists market themselves that way.
But most of all I hate Country music now because I can't relate unless I'm a party-hound with a muddy jacked up Chevy, waitin' for the horn to blow at the factory on Friday evening so I can get busy drankin' whiskey with the boys, while jorts-wearing hos dance around a bonfire in "old man Johnson's pasture".
Again, it's both horribly juvenile, and shamefully redneck.
You do realize that a lot of country singers were wearing cowboy hats(and boots)back in the day also
