A tip of the cowboy hat goes to our John Mac Ghlionn for his spot-on lament of the slow but inexorable decline of country music. Country may not be dead as a going concern, but it’s on life-support.

Ed Sheeran convinced a jury this year that he didn’t rip off Marvin Gaye’s `Let’s Get It On.’ By way of contrast, Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke earlier failed to establish that `Blurred Lines’ ...