Crossword Genius

Like rock, and into soft country music (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

pastorale

'country music' is the definition.
(song about country life)

'like rock and into soft' is the wordplay.
'like' becomes 'as'.
'rock' becomes 'tor' (tor is a kind of rock).
'and into' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'soft' becomes 'pale' (as in soft or pale colours).
'as'+'tor'='astor'
'astor' inserted into 'pale' is 'PASTORALE'.

(Other definitions for pastorale that I've seen before include "Composition about rural life" , "Simple play with a rural subject" , "What may feature actors" , "Some country music" , "play about 2 [ARCADIA]?" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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