Don't let Austin's city aesthetics fool you — there's still plenty of space for country music in this growing town. In addition to settling into its role as the host of the CMT Music Awards and spawning burgeoning stars like Dylan Gossett, Austin is becoming even more of a country music hub with the addition of Audacy's new 95.9 Texas Country radio station.

Austinites may have known the station as The New Hot 95.9, which focused on "throwbacks," often in hip-hop and R&B. But new things are coming over the airwaves: "a blend of classic Country and contemporary artists from the Texas music scene, including George Strait, Willie Nelson, Waylon & the Boys, Aaron Watson, Cody Johnson, Kacey Musgraves, and Cody Jinks," according to a press release.

Audacy (not to be confused with audio editing software Audacity) is a multi-platform audio content and entertainment company that operates more than 150 radio stations including FM stations Mix 94.7 and Majic 95.5, both based in Austin. Other local stations on AM or online include Talk 1370 and Lampasas Real Country.

“We’re delighted to launch Austin’s 95.9 Texas Country and continue delivering this wildly popular format to listeners on the FM dial,” said Doug Abernethy, regional president at Audacy, in a press release. “This station will offer the perfect blend of genre classics and the music shaping the Country music industry today.”

The country genre is at the center of a hot, ongoing debate in music, especially as artists like Lil Nas X and Beyoncé continue to challenge expectations of how a country artists looks, acts, or sounds. Some of these expectations are, let's say, lacking nuance — Black artists have been playing country music since before radio stations and record labels invented the category. The sonic markers may be different now, but no genre is a monolith.

However, those expectations still affect the industry and its consumers. Audacy's above examples are looking ... pretty homogenous. Without shade to these artists — many of whom have diverged from the country mainstream both artistically and socially, and were even pegged as "outlaws" because of it — it'll be interesting to see how 95.9 Texas Country defines its borders through airplay.

More on that, including announcements about staff and programming, is coming soon.

Listeners can tune in on air and nationwide on the Audacy app and website, or via KKMJ-HD3.