That's cause they don't make songs like they used to. There's no country in country music these days. No redneck songs, no ****kicker stuff.
I don't know how racist he is (he has some songs where the theme is DEFINITELY racist) in comparison to what a charlatan he is - his goal is to write songs that make money, more or less. Nothing terribly wrong with that, but it leads him into some odd situations. His second album Requiem for a Harlequin is all spoken-word and isn't very countryish at all. Civil rights are also a prominent theme on the album. It's a pretty weird record. Of course, it wasn't long after this that he put out his Underground Album complete with a song called "****** ****er." Fancy. I think he avoided a racism charge by pointing out that his drummer was black or something. I like a lot of this outlaw country stuff these days, and some of the characters in it are ... I guess ... genuinely odd human beings.