This is the definitive guide to selecting the finest recordings in country music. Artists such as Garth Brooks and Billy Ray Cyrus outsell established pop and rock giants in the United States, and they are becoming increasingly popular in Europe. Yet this very popularity means that it is now more difficult to define just what 'country music' is.

The Guide looks at the key recordings in ten major areas of the music, selecting a main library of 100 discs - the majority of them currently available CDs, but with a few harder-to-find specialist items - that should form the core of any country collection. In addition, over 300 supplementary albums are listed and described, enriching the coverage of each style.

Crossover artists are discussed (who adapted their styles to the vast pop audience), as are many of the other musicians who can make this vast and relatively uncharted area of music confusing for the first-time buyer and aficionado alike. The Guide alleviates confusion, and charts a clear course through the mass of releases that form the country catalog, past and present.