This guy hit the nail on the head. Their music is so cheesy. I don't think he was being a jerk. Country music has gone off the deep end. It isn't even a recognizable genre on the radio any more. I know things change. But this isn't change. This music is trying to be something besides what it is. Do they even have a steel guitar or fiddle in the band?
The singer should have a pleasant singing voice.The singer should be able to sing.The singer should be able to sing without yelling.The singer should be able to sing without pitch correction gadgets.Steel guitar and fiddle must be present.You must be able to hear them dominant in the mix.The drums should not be dominant in the mix.The drummer should stick to the groove without a bunch of happy handing.Absolutely no drum loops or hip hop beats.No guitar wanking.The guitar solo should resemble the melody line.Absolutely no distortion of any kind on any instrument.The beats used will be straight 8's, 2/4 shuffle, 4/4 shuffle or a waltz.No blinking lights on stage.This is a basic criteria for county music.
Anything else is simply not country music. It is some perverted interpretation on country music. If you mute the vocals of any genre you should be able to recognize what genre it is by listening to the music. If you were to do that with FLG, Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan, Brantley Gilbert, Lady A, Rascal Flatts or most of everything coming out of Nashville you would here Adult Contemporary Pop or Soft Rock. Just my opinion as a fan of many genres of music. I'm not saying FGL is bad I am only saying it is pop music.