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NEW YORK (Billboard) - Throughout country music's commercial history, which dates back to the mid-1920s, the debate over style has bloomed perennially.

A case study of that ongoing discussion practically leaps off the Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart this week. Two of the three fastest-rising titles on the list are traditional country ballads belonging to newcomer Gretchen Wilson and reliably traditional superstar Alan Jackson.

Invariably, the country charts are dotted with an amalgam of styles, including the more traditional fare found in Wilson's piercing anthem of self-control, "When I Think About Cheatin'," and the melismatic widower's grief expressed in Jackson's "Monday Morning Church" (with prominent backing vocals by traditionalist songstress Patty Loveless).

Owing much to her meteoric rise to stardom this year and a bone-chilling performance of the song at the Nov. 9 Country Music Assn. Awards, Wilson's song collects Airpower stripes and rises from No. 21 to No. 17 in its sixth chart week. Concurrently, Jackson's single (which also gained important exposure on the CMA show) hops 16-11 after eight weeks on the list.

Alongside Keith Urban's six-week chart run with the progressive country rocker "You're My Better Half" (19-16), the two ballads are the youngest titles to populate the top 20, where the average chart stay this week is more than 17 weeks.

How is it possible that these two stylistic throwbacks -- often characterized by modern-day purists as an under-appreciated, underdog brand of country -- are not only playing alongside the format's more progressive sounds but also thriving and beating chart odds?

The answer is fairly straightforward if you ask WSM-FM Nashville program director John Sebastian. "It doesn't matter to the country listener whether a song is pop or traditional or rock-leaning. They respond to great songs," he says.

While that may be true, many in the country industry and a significant number of fans do plenty of hand-wringing over the continued relevance of the style they love. Sebastian adds, "We in the (business) get too wrapped up in overanalyzing whether a song is 'too this' or 'too that,' and (we) often forget to just listen to the song and feel it like regular folks" do.

The sanctity of country's most revered traditions will no doubt continue to be hashed and rehashed along Nashville's Music Row. But the vitality with which these two singles are sprinting up the chart shows that those cherished traditions are just fine, thank you.

Reuters/Billboard

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