Personally when I listen to country I go straight for the late 60's early 70's stuff! Don't care for the latter music its much to slick and even Auto Tuned at this point. Earlier than the 60's while still good tends to go more bluegrass/folk which is fine but I'll take the 70's over the top hair/outfits not to mention the music!
Slim Whitman (the king of country)
Conway Twitty
Boxcar Willie
Dolly Parton
Glen Campbell
George Jones
the staler brothers
jimmy dean
Loretta lynn
You really cant go wrong with any of these if this is the type of country youre after! Slim Whitman has had just as much impact on shaping who I am as far as my musical tastes as any "pop or rock" musician and I highly recommend you check him out. (even though Lawrence will disagree! LOL)