Back in May, Tom Petty used the stage of the Beacon Theater in New York City to voice his displeasure of what country music has evolved into when he called the country music of today "bad rock with a fiddle". Rather than backing down from those comments in a recent interview, Petty took the opportunity to elaborate his point.

During an interview with Rolling Stone that was published Monday (August 5th), the southern rock legend very specifically points out what is missing in the modern era of country music, a genre he admits had a huge influence on him and his band, the Heartbreakers.

In the interview, Petty tells RS:

"I hate to generalize on a whole genre of music, but it does seem to be missing that magic element that it used to have. I'm sure there are people playing country that are doing it well, but they're just not getting the attention that the sh***ier stuff gets."

Without specifically mentioning any of today's country artists, Petty went on to point out who the new crop of performers don't remind him of:

"I don't really see a George Jones or a Buck Owens or any anything that fresh coming up. I'm sure there must be somebody doing it, but most of that music reminds me of rock in the middle 80s where it became incredibly generic and relied on videos."

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers are currently finishing up his 13th CD, which should be out early next year. In the Rolling Stone interview, he calls the new project "Unlike anything we've ever done".

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