Near Country exists along the margins to the centre of country music, with all that defies and defines it. Mixes weave through rockabilly, blues, americana, experimental folk, bluegrass, gospel, classic country, pop country, radical country, country rap, and more. The show follows threads of country music from its experimental, melded origins through to its variegated branches today. Sometimes that means approaching country, getting near to, gesturing towards the thing itself without getting there. The nearer, the more porous its borders become. A joke about the country’s borders writes itself. Industry, politics, culture posit a tight, rigid structure. And while to an extent that image maps to a reality in the genre, both an inclusive contemporary and historical perspective challenges the monolithic identity of country music.