The rejection of “Old Town Road” by the country establishment, in Mr. Hughes’s view, echoed a time when country radio stations ignored Ray Charles’s groundbreaking 1962 album, “Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music.”Lil Nas X, whose real name is Montero Hill, said he wrote “Old Town Road” last fall, after staying with his sister while avoiding his parents as a college dropout. “I wanted to take my horse to the Old Town Road and run away. The Old Town Road, it’s like a path to success. The white guitarist Jimmie Rodgers, who many consider the father of country music, built the genre on a foundation of the blues in the 1920s. 1 hits on Billboard’s country chart, one in 2017 and one in 2018.

Source: New York Times April 05, 2019 17:11 UTC