Like the laconic wit of the ancient Spartans, American country music and its aesthetic often inspire confusion. The reason for the fringe, stylized leaves, flowers, and animals on the boots, hats, guitars, and epaulettes is at best unclear, and at worst, as my mother would say, tacky. And why would anyone want to sound like that on purpose? The twang, the drawl, the vowels that draw out complicated diphthongs for no apparent reason seem to be a willful commitment to the opposite of smart.