evidence: President Obama salutes country music (CBS/AP) President Obama turned the White House into a country music hall on Monday, filling the East Room with Dierks Bentley, Alison Krauss, Lyle Lovett, Kris Kristofferson, Darius Rucker, James Taylor, The Band Perry, Lauren Alaina and Micky. [...] The president told guests that country music tied together many threads of the nation's immigrant heritage, from the Irish fiddle, the German dulcimer, the Italian mandolin, the Spanish guitar and the West African banjo. [...] In 2009, first lady Michelle Obama created a White House music series that has celebrated jazz, country, classical, Motown and Latin music. She has also arranged salutes to Broadway, the music of the civil rights movement and to Judith Jamison, an Alvin Ailey dancer and artistic director.