Are you like us and wondering why almost every male artist seems to have to play up the fact that they're country or from the country or a redneck? Do you long for the days when such songs were actually few and far between and were not repetitive?  So do we.

It's the time of year where we predict who has a chance to be successful in 2009.  For this feature Roughstock has chosen some of the best and brightest from various labels and areas of Country music.  Success isn't guaranteed but don't forget that you saw them here first.

When Heidi Newfield recently hit the Top 10 with her debut single "Johnny & June," she became just the fourth female artist to get inside the Top 10 of country radio's hits.  Just 10 years ago, 15 female artists had scored Top 10 hits.  What does this mean for female country artists? Why is it happening?

Outside of talk stations, country music is the radio format with the most stations dedicated to it.  Country radio charts (which determine what a number one hit is) are split up into two levels: Major markets and everybody else.  Is this right?  Is it another example of corporate consolidation gone awry? Is it good for the country music industry?

It's always interesting when a successful record label launches another record label and that's exactly what has happened when Lyric Street Records announced today that they've created a second label Imprint in Carolwood Records.  While no artist announcements were made, it's fun to speculate what the label will do.

Jeff Bates has been kicking around the music circut for over 25 years and has survived personal demons along the way to achieve a level of success that many artists dream of. Over the course of a half-hour, Jeff talked with us about a variety of topics and was particularly passionate about the music industry and, of course, his fans.

One of the biggest misconceptions that fans often make about musicians is that because they have recorded a CD and have a song or two out on the radio, they must be wealthy. OR at least significantly better off than other people. Jeff Bates recently ran into that epiphany and told a great story about it.

After releasing a sub-par single and seeing it barely reach the Top 20, Toby Keith's back with his new single "She Never Cried in Front of Me." Is it another sub-par release from Toby?

Something interesting happens when taking a look at the various country music charts. While most people take "Billboard" as the gospel and 'taste maker' for chart 'supremacy' the chart often doesn't take into accout many of the stations which play country music. One chart, Music Row Magazine's "Country Breakout" chart does and the charts are often different. Why?

What is it about country music that makes fans so passionate? What causes them to draw lines in the sand and debate about it as if it were a life-or-death situation? Roughstock tries to get to the bottom of an ages-old debate.