This seems like the correct answer to me. However, I reject the premise that seems to be present in most of the posts on this thread that mainstream country used to be really good and lost its way somewhere in the 90s/2000s. The Nashville machine and country radio are doing the same thing they have always done . . . market to America's rubes. And guess what, rubes often have bad taste.
And so much really good country music made over the years was so different from the Nashville sound of the day that it had to be classed as some sub-genre to differentiate it (Bakersfield country; cosmic country; outlaw country, neo-traditional, Americana, etc.).
Guys like Guy Clark, Lyle Lovett, and Townes never had commercial success. Even most of Willie's best albums (with some exceptions like Redheaded Stranger) were commercial flops. The country crowd was too busy listening to Kenny Rogers and Glen Campbell. There are obvious exceptions (I know Dwight, Buck, Dolly, Loretta, and other greats all had commercial success among the mainstream country masses), but most country fans have had bad taste for many decades.