OK a little tldr here... I've been on a kick lately, converting all our cassettes to digital and getting rid of the tapes/clutter. My wife is the "new" country fan (unlike "old" country, which is me), so I've been transferring all her tapes first just to get them out of the way. (Not just country btw, sitting through 3 Bryan Adams tapes and Miami Sound Machine will make just about anybodyslit their writsts...).
Skipping the whole cosmopolitan,urbanization phase (which was mainly older artists trying to stay relevant, Ray Price, Oak Ridge Boys, etc...), the mid to late 80's was actually a pretty decent period, a lot of new traditionalists like Randy Travis, Dwight Yoakam, Marty Stuart, k.d. lang, Lyle Lovett, Clint Black. Ricky Skaggs, Patty Loveless, Suzy Bogguss, Hal Ketchum. Some of them may have pushed the boundaries, but in a good way (jazz, punk even a little, but it was pure). Even Garth's first (technically 2nd) album was pretty neo-trad. But going through all my wife's tapes, it's pretty obvious to me when the shift occurred. Musically, 2 songs I think turned "country" music toward where it is now - "The Thunder Rolls" and Shania's "Any Man of Mine", 2 horrible rock songs masquerading as country.
Lyrically, it seems like in the mid late 80's, country music began softening, less getting drunk or getting divorced, more I got a good woman, working on a family, lots of "Amen"s and God start popping up in lyrics. Again with Garth, though, I think it was "Friends in Low Places". That set the bar, let's just party and have a good time. Then you had Rodeo, American Honky-Tonk Bar Assoc, Ain't Goin Down till the Sun Comes Up and all that other bullshit, and it's off to the races.
That's about the time I was done with country. I'll go see the Derailers or Dale Watson if I need a live fix, otherwise it's just vinyl and CDs for me. Couldn't tell you a thing about anybody nowadays, well, except this douche. He played at our annual company party in February, the only way he got people on the floor was when he did an Ac/DC cover, I assume he's the epitome of all the modern bullshit. Chas.... Christ.