| • Science | • People | • Locations | • Timeline |
| Country | |
|---|---|
| Stylistic origins: | Spirituals, Appalachian folk music and blues |
| Cultural origins: | early 20th century Appalachia, esp. Kentucky |
| Typical instruments: | Guitar - Steel guitar - Dobro - Harmonica - Bass - Fiddle - Drums - MandolinA mandolin is a stringed musical instrument. Mandolins have 8 strings, in 4 pairs (or courses . Each pair of strings is tuned in unison, and are a fifth apart from adjacent pairs, giving an identical tuning to a violin (G-D-A-E low-to-high). Unlike a viol - BanjoString instruments The banjo is a string instrument, derived from "banjar," an African string instrument. Some etymologists derive it from a dialectal pronunciation of "bandore", though recent research suggests that it may come from a Senegambian term for |
| Mainstream popularity: | Much, worldwide, especially the Nashville Sound |
| Derivative forms: | BluegrassBluegrass music is a form of American roots music with its own roots in the English, Irish traditional music and Scottish traditional music of immigrants from the British Isles (particularly the Scotch-Irish immigrants of Appalachia), as well as the music |
| Subgenres | |
| Bakersfield Sound - BluegrassBluegrass music is a form of American roots music with its own roots in the English, Irish traditional music and Scottish traditional music of immigrants from the British Isles (particularly the Scotch-Irish immigrants of Appalachia), as well as the music - Close harmonyClose harmony is usually best heard than described. The concept here is to generate chords typically within one octave, as in Glenn Miller's "Moonlight Serenade" using the full range of single reed wind instruments (soprano and bass clarinets, soprano, te - Country bluesCountry blues refers to all the acoustic, guitar-driven forms of the blues. After blues' birth in the southern United States, it quickly spread throughout the country (and elsewhere), giving birth to a host of regional styles. These include Memphis, Detro - Honky tonkHonky tonk was originally the name of a type of bar common throughout the southern United States, also Honkatonk or Honkey-tonk . Honky tonks were also known as Tonks or Tunks . These were usually establishments selling alcohol to a working-class clientel - Jug band - Lubbock Sound - Nashville Sound - Outlaw country | |
| Fusion | |
| Alternative country - Country rock - Psychobilly - Rockabilly | |
| Other topics | |
| Musicians | |
Country music, once known as Country and Western music, is a popular musical form developed in the southern United States, with roots in traditional folk music, spirituals, and the blues.
Vernon Dalhart was the first country singer to have a nation-wide hit (May, 1924, with "The Wreck Of Old '97" (see External Links below). Other important early recording artists were Riley Puckett, Don Richardson, Fiddling John Carson, Ernest Stoneman, Charlie Poole and the North Carolina Ramblers, and The Skillet Lickers.Some trace the origins of modern country music to two seminal influences and a remarkable coincidence. Jimmie Rodgers and the Carter Family are widely considered to be the founders of country music, and their songs were first captured at an historic recording session in Bristol, Tennessee on August 1, 1927, where Ralph Peer was the talent scout and sound recordist.
It is possible to categorise many country singers as being either from the Jimmie Rodgers strand or the Carter Family strand of country music.