Nevada Country

Robert Hilburn’s piece “Country Cashes In� (Dec. 27) was, as usual, well-written and straight to the point concerning the recent evolution of acceptance of country music in Las Vegas. It’s about time.

However, as a native Nevadan I feel it is important to note that much of Nevada has long been a stalwart bastion for country music and the cowboy-and-Western culture that finds its deepest emotions expressed in the lonely moan of a steel guitar and a blue yodel.

While Vegas has always catered to a more elegant crowd with money to burn, the Nevada I know and love is found behind the swinging doors of places with names like the Do Drop Inn and the open spaces and the lonesome highways north and east of Reno that go on forever, like an old Hank Williams song.

All poetry and sentimentality aside, there is more to Nevada than Las Vegas, and there is more to Nevada’s relationship with country music than what has recently transpired here.

JANA PENDRAGON

Long Beach