Country music

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Country music

Stylistic origins

Appalachian folk
music, Maritime folk
music, Gospel, Anglo,
and Old-time
music

Cultural origins

Early 20th century Atlantic Canada
and the Southern United
States

Typical instruments

Guitar - Bass - Dobro - Steel Guitar - Pedal steel
guitar - Mandolin
- Banjo - Double Bass - Fiddle - Piano - electronic
keyboard - Drums - Harmonica - Vocals

Mainstream popularity

1920s–present
High in Australia, Canada and the US,
Medium in United Kingdom, Ireland, Scandinavia and
New
Zealand

Low in Asia, Africa, Latin America and
mainland Europe.

Derivative forms

Rock and Roll, Dansband, Roots rock, Southern rock, Heartland
rock

Subgenres

Bakersfield
sound - Bluegrass - Close harmony - Honky tonk - Jug band - Lubbock sound - Nashville sound -
Neotraditional
country - Outlaw
country - Red Dirt - Western swing - Texas
country

Fusion genres

Alternative
country - Country
rock - Psychobilly - Rockabilly - Gothabilly - Cowpunk - Country-rap - Country pop - Country soul - Southern soul

Other topics

Country
musicians - List of
years in country music

Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum
logo

Country music (or country and Western) is a blend of
traditional and popular musical forms
traditionally found in the Southern United
States and the Canadian Maritimes that
evolved rapidly beginning in the 1920s.[1]
Distinctive variations of the genre have also emerged elsewhere including Australian country
music.

The term country music gained popularity in the 1940s when the earlier
term hillbilly music
came to be seen as denigrating. Country music was widely embraced in the
1970s, while country and Western has declined in use since that time,
except in the United
Kingdom and Ireland,
where it is still commonly used.[1]
However, in the Southwestern
United States a different mix of ethnic groups created
the music that became the Western
music of the term country and Western. The term country music
is used today to describe many styles and
subgenres.

Country music has produced two of the top selling solo artists of all time.
Elvis Presley, who was
known early on as “the Hillbilly Cat” and was a regular on the radio program
Louisiana
Hayride,[2]
went on to become a defining figure in the emergence of rock and roll. With 129.5
million albums sold, Presley is the top-domestic-selling solo artist in U.S.
history. Contemporary musician Garth Brooks, with 128
million albums sold, is the second best-selling solo artist in U.S. history.[3]

While album sales of most musical genres have declined since about 2005,
country music experienced one of its best years in 2006, when, during the first
six months, U.S. sales of country albums increased by 17.7 percent to 36
million. Moreover, country music listening nationwide has remained steady for
almost a decade, reaching 77.3 million adults every week, according to the
radio-ratings agency Arbitron, Inc.[4][5]

Contents

1 Early
history

2 1920s

3 1930s–1940s

4 Singing cowboys and Western
swing

4.1 Changing
instrumentation

4.2 Hillbilly
boogie

4.3 Bluegrass, folk and
gospel

4.4 Honky
tonk

5 1950s–1960s

5.1 Rockabilly

5.2 The Nashville and
countrypolitan sounds

5.3 Country soul -
crossover

5.4 The Bakersfield
sound

5.5 Country
rock

6 1970s–1980s

6.1 Outlaw
country

6.2 Country
pop

6.3 Neocountry

6.4 Truck driving
country

6.5 Neotraditionalist
movement

7 1990s

7.1 Alternative
country

8 2000s

9 Country music outside the
United States

9.1 Canada

9.2 Australia

9.3 Other international
country music

10 Performers and
shows

10.1 US cable
television

10.2 Canadian
television

10.3 Australian cable
television

11 See also

12 Notes

13 Further
reading

14 External
links

[edit]
Early history

Immigrants to the Maritime Provinces
and Southern Appalachian
Mountains of North America brought the music and instruments of the Old
World along with them for nearly 300 years. They brought some of their most
important valuables with them, and to most of them this was an instrument:
“Early Scottish settlers enjoyed the fiddle because it could be played to sound
sad and mournful or bright and bouncy”[6]
The Irish fiddle, the German
derived dulcimer, the
Italian mandolin, the
Spanish guitar, and the West
African banjo[7]
were the most common musical instruments. The interactions among musicians from
different ethnic groups produced music unique to this region of North America. Appalachian string
bands of the early 20th century primarily consisted of the fiddle, guitar,
and banjo.[8]
This early country music along with early recorded country music is often
referred to as old-time
music.

According to Bill
Malone in Country Music U.S.A, country music was “introduced to the
world as a southern phenomenon."[9]
In the South, folk music was a combination of cultural strains, combining
musical traditions of a variety of ethnic groups in the region. For example,
some instrumental pieces from Anglo-British and Irish immigrants were the basis
of folk songs and ballads that form what is now known as old
time music, from which country music descended. It is commonly thought that
British and Irish folk music influenced the development of old time music.
British and Irish arrivals to the Southern U.S. included immigrants from
Scotland, Wales, Ireland, and England.

Often, when many people think or hear country music, they think of it as a
creation of European-Americans. However, a great deal of style—and of course,
the banjo, a major instrument in most early American folk songs—came from
African Americans. One of the reasons country music was created by
African-Americans, as well as European-Americans, is because blacks and whites
in rural communities in the south often worked and played together, just as
recollected by DeFord
Bailey[10]
in the PBS documentary, DeFord Bailey: A Legend Lost.[11]

Throughout the 19th century, several immigrant
groups from Europe, most
notably from Ireland, Germany, Spain, and Italy moved to Texas. These groups interacted
with Mexican and Native
American, and U.S. communities that were already established in Texas. As a
result of this cohabitation and extended contact, Texas has developed unique
cultural traits that are rooted in the culture of all of its founding
communities.[12]

[edit]
1920s

Local performers from Atlanta and Fort Worth were being played on radio
stations in 1922. Along with local performers, barn-dance programs became
popular among radio stations as well. Some record companies in Georgia turned
away early artists such as Fiddlin' John Carson; while others realized that his
music would fit perfectly with the lifestyle of the countries agricultural
employees.[13]
The first commercial recording of what was considered country music was "Sallie
Gooden" by fiddlist A.C. (Eck) Robertson in
1922 for Victor Records. Columbia Records began
issuing records with "hillbilly" music (series 15000D "Old Familiar Tunes") as
early as 1924.[14]

Vernon
Dalhart

A year earlier on June 14, 1923, Fiddlin' John
Carson recorded "Little
Log Cabin in the Lane" for Okeh Records.[15]
Vernon Dalhart was the
first country singer to have a nationwide hit in May 1924 with "Wreck of the Old
'97".[16][17]
The flip side of the record was "Lonesome Road Blues," which also became very
popular.[18]
In April 1924, "Aunt" Samantha Bumgarner
and Eva Davis became the first female musicians to record and release country
songs.[19]

Many "hillbilly" musicians, such as Cliff Carlisle, recorded
blues songs throughout the decade[20]
and into the 30s. Other important early recording artists were Riley Puckett, Don
Richardson, Fiddlin' John
Carson, Uncle Dave
Macon, Al Hopkins,
Ernest V. Stoneman, Charlie
Poole and the North Carolina Ramblers and The Skillet Lickers.[21]
The steel guitar entered
country music as early as 1922, when Jimmie Tarlton met famed Hawaiian guitarist
Frank Ferera on the West
Coast.[22]

Jimmie
Rodgers and the Carter
Family are widely considered to be important early country musicians. Their
songs were first captured at a historic recording
session in Bristol on August 1,
1927, where Ralph Peer was
the talent scout and sound recordist.[23][24]
A scene in the movie O Brother,
Where Art Thou? (film) depicts a similar occurrence in the same
timeframe.

Rodgers fused hillbilly country, gospel, jazz, blues, pop, cowboy, and folk;
and many of his best songs were his compositions, including “Blue Yodel”,[25]
which sold over a million records and established Rodgers as the premier singer
of early country music.[26][27]

Beginning in 1927, and for the next 17 years the Carters recorded some 300
old-time ballads, traditional tunes, country songs and Gospel hymns, all
representative of America's southeastern folklore and heritage.[28]

[edit]
1930s–1940s

One effect of the Great Depression was to
reduce the number of records that could be sold. Radio, and broadcasting, became
a popular source of entertainment, and "barn dance" shows featuring country
music were started all over the South, as far north as Chicago, and as far west
as California.

Roy Acuff

The most important was the Grand Ole Opry, aired
starting in 1925 by WSM-AM in Nashville to the
present day. Some of the early stars on the Opry were Uncle Dave Macon, Roy Acuff and African American
harmonica player DeFord Bailey. WSM's 50,000 watt signal (1934) could often be
heard across the country,[29]

Many musicians performed and recorded songs in any number of styles. Moon Mullican, for
example, played Western swing, but also recorded songs that can be called
rockabilly. Bill Haley
sang cowboy songs, and was at one time a cowboy yodeler. Haley became most
famous as an early player of rock n roll, adding Jimmie
Rodgers-stylings to his environment, thus creating a sound that was very
much his own. Between 1947 and 1949, country crooner Eddy Arnold placed eight
songs in the top 10.[30]

[edit]
Singing cowboys and
Western swing

Main article: Western music
(North America)

During the 1930s and 1940s, cowboy songs, or Western music, which had been
recorded since the 1920s, were popularized by films made in Hollywood. Some of
the popular singing cowboys from the
era were Gene Autry, the
Sons of the
Pioneers and Roy
Rogers.[31]

And it wasn't only cowboys; cowgirls contributed to the sound in various
family groups. Patsy
Montana opened the door for female artists with her history making song "I
Want To Be a Cowboy's Sweetheart". This would begin a movement toward
opportunities for women to have successful solo careers.

Bob Wills was another
country musician from the Lower Great Plains who had become very popular as the
leader of a “hot string band,” and who also appeared in Hollywood Westerns. His
mix of country and jazz, which
started out as dance hall music, would become known as Western swing. Spade Cooley and Tex Williams also had very
popular bands and appeared in films. At its height, Western swing rivaled the
popularity of other big band
jazz.

[edit]
Changing
instrumentation

Drums were scorned by early country musicians as being "too loud" and "not
pure," but by 1935 Western swing big band leader Bob Wills had
added drums to the Texas Playboys. In the mid 1940s, the Grand Ole Opry did not
want the Playboys’ drummer to appear on stage. Although drums were commonly used
by rockabilly groups by 1955, the less-conservative-than-the-Grand Ole Opry
Louisiana
Hayride kept its infrequently used drummer back stage as late as 1956.
By the early 1960s, however, it was rare that a country band didn't have a
drummer.[32]

Bob Wills was one of the first country musicians known to have added an
electric guitar to his band, in 1938.[33]
A decade later (1948) Arthur
Smith achieved top 10 US country chart success with his MGM Records
recording of "Guitar Boogie",
which crossed over to the US pop chart, introducing many people to the potential
of the electric guitar. For several decades Nashville session players preferred
the warm tones of the Gibson and Gretsch archtop electrics, but a “hot” Fender
style, utilizing guitars which became available beginning in the early 1950s,
eventually prevailed as the signature guitar sound of country.[32][34]

[edit]
Hillbilly boogie

Country musicians began recording boogie in 1939, shortly
after it had been played at Carnegie Hall, when Johnny Barfield recorded
"Boogie Woogie." The trickle of what was initially called hillbilly boogie, or
okie boogie (later to be renamed country boogie), became a flood beginning in
late 1945. One notable release from this period was the Delmore Brothers'
"Freight Train Boogie," considered to be part of the combined evolution of
country music and blues towards rockabilly. In 1948, Arthur
"Guitar Boogie" Smith achieved top ten US country chart success with his MGM
Records recordings of "Guitar Boogie" and
"Banjo Boogie," with the former crossing over to the US pop charts.[35]
Other country boogie artists included Merrill Moore and Tennessee Ernie
Ford. The hillbilly boogie period lasted into the 1950s and remains one of
many subgenres of country into the 21st century.

[edit]
Bluegrass, folk and
gospel

Red Foley

By the end of World War
II, "mountaineer" string band music known as bluegrass had emerged
when Bill Monroe joined
with Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs, introduced by
Roy Acuff at the Grand Ole Opry. Gospel music, too, remained a popular component
of country music. Red
Foley, the biggest country star following World War II, had one of the first
million-selling gospel hits ("Peace In The
Valley") and also sang boogie, blues and rockabilly.

In the post-war period, country music was called "folk" in the trades, and
"hillbilly" within the industry. [36]
In 1944, The Billboard
replaced the term "hillbilly" with "folk songs and blues," and switched to
"country" or "country and Western" in 1949.[37][38]

[edit]
Honky tonk

Another type of stripped down and raw music with a variety of moods and a
basic ensemble of guitar, bass, dobro or steel guitar (and later) drums became
popular, especially among poor white southerners. It became known as honky tonk
and had its roots in Texas. Bob
Wills and His Texas Playboys personified this music which has been described
as "a little bit of this, and a little bit of that, a little bit of black and a
little bit of white...just loud enough to keep you from thinking too much and to
go right on ordering the whiskey."[39]
East Texan Al Dexter had a
hit with "Honky Tonk Blues," and seven years later "Pistol Packin'
Mama".[40]
These "honky tonk" songs associated barrooms, were performed by the likes of Ernest Tubb, Ted Daffan, Floyd Tillman, and the Maddox Brothers and
Rose, Lefty
Frizzell and Hank
Williams, would later be called "traditional" country. Williams' influence
in particular would prove to be enormous, inspiring many of the pioneers of rock
and roll, such as Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis, as well
as Chuck Berry and Ike Turner, while providing a
framework for emerging honky tonk talents like George Jones. Webb Pierce was the
top-charting country artist of the 1950s, with 13 of his singles spending 113
weeks at number one. He charted 48 singles during the decade; 31 reached the top
ten and 26 reached the top four.

[edit]
1950s–1960s

See also: 1950s in music and
1960s in music

By the early 1950s a blend of Western swing, country boogie, and honky tonk
was played by most country bands, but a new style was about to become
popular.[41]

[edit]
Rockabilly

Main article: Rockabilly

Rockabilly was most popular with country fans in the 1950s, and 1956 could be
called the year of rockabilly in country music.
Rockabilly was a mixture of rock-and-roll and hillbilly music. During this
period Elvis Presley converted over to country music. He played a huge role in
the music industry during this time. The number two, three and four songs on
Billboard's
charts for that year were Elvis Presley, "Heartbreak Hotel"; Johnny Cash, "I Walk the Line"; and Carl Perkins, "Blue Suede Shoes".[42]

Johnny
Cash

Cash and Presley placed songs in the top 5 in 1958 with No. 3 "Guess Things
Happen That Way/Come In, Stranger" by Cash, and No. 5 by Presley "Don't/I Beg Of
You."[43]
Presley acknowledged the influence of rhythm and blues artists and his style,
saying "The colored folk been singin' and playin' it just the way I'm doin' it
now, man for more years than I know." But he also said, "My stuff is just
hopped-up country."[39]
Within a few years, many rockabilly musicians returned to a more mainstream
style or had defined their own unique style.

Country music gained national television exposure through Ozark Jubilee on
ABC-TV and radio from 1955–1960 from Springfield,
Missouri. The program showcased top stars including several rockabilly
artists, some from the Ozarks. As Webb Pierce put it in
1956, "Once upon a time, it was almost impossible to sell country music in a
place like New York City. Nowadays, television takes us everywhere, and country
music records and sheet music sell as well in large cities as anywhere
else."[44]

The late 1950s saw the emergence of the Lubbock sound, but by the
end of the decade, backlash as well as traditional artists such as Ray Price, Marty Robbins, and Johnny Horton began to
shift the industry away from the rock n' roll influences of the mid-50s.

[edit]
The Nashville
and countrypolitan sounds

Main article: Nashville sound

Beginning in the mid 1950s, and reaching its peak during the early 1960s, the
Nashville sound turned country music into a multimillion-dollar industry
centered in Nashville,
Tennessee. Under the direction of producers such as Chet Atkins, Owen Bradley, and later Billy Sherrill, the sound
brought country music to a diverse audience and helped revive country as it
emerged from a commercially fallow period.[45]

Jim Reeves

This subgenre was notable for borrowing from 1950s pop stylings: a prominent
and "smooth" vocal, backed by a string section and vocal chorus. Instrumental
soloing was de-emphasized in favor of trademark "licks". Leading artists in this
genre included Patsy
Cline, Jim Reeves and
Eddy Arnold. The "slip
note" piano style of session musician Floyd Cramer was an
important component of this style.

Nashville's pop song structure became more pronounced and it morphed into
what was called countrypolitan.
Countrypolitan was aimed straight at mainstream markets and it sold well
throughout the later 1960s into the early 1970s. Top artists included Tammy Wynette and Charlie Rich.

[edit]
Country soul -
crossover

Main article: Country
soul

In 1962, Ray Charles
surprised the pop world by turning his attention to country and western music,
topping the charts and rating number three for the year on Billboard's
pop chart[46]
with the "I
Can't Stop Loving You" single, and recording the landmark album Modern
Sounds in Country and Western Music.

[edit]
The Bakersfield
sound

Main article: Bakersfield
sound

Another genre of country music grew out of hardcore honky tonk with elements
of Western swing and
originated 112 miles (180 km) north-northwest of Los Angeles in Bakersfield,
California. Influenced by one-time West Coast residents Bob Wills and Lefty Frizzell, by 1966
it was known as the Bakersfield sound. It
relied on electric instruments and amplification, in particular the Telecaster electric guitar,
more than other subgenres of country of the era, and can be described as having
a sharp, hard, driving, no-frills, edgy flavor. Leading practitioners of this
style were Buck Owens, Merle Haggard, Tommy
Collins, Dwight
Yoakam and Wynn
Stewart, each of whom had his own style.[47][48]

[edit]
Country rock

Main article: Country rock

The late 1960s in American music produced a unique blend as a result of
traditionalist backlash within separate genres. In the aftermath of the British Invasion, many
desired a return to the "old values" of rock n' roll. At the same time there was
a lack of enthusiasm in the country sector for Nashville-produced music. What
resulted was a crossbred genre known as country rock.

Gram Parsons influenced rock
musicians from The
Rolling Stones to The
Byrds in the late 1960s

Early innovators in this new style of music in the 60s and 70s included rock
n' roll icon band The Byrds
and its spin-off The Flying
Burrito Brothers (both featuring Gram Parsons), guitarist Clarence White, Michael Nesmith (Monkees and First National
Band), the Grateful Dead, Neil Young, Commander
Cody, The Allman Brothers,
The Marshall
Tucker Band, Poco, Buffalo Springfield,
and The Eagles among many. The Rolling Stones
also got into the act with songs like "Honky Tonk Women" and
"Dead
Flowers".

Described by Allmusic as
the "father of country-rock",[49]
Gram Parsons' work in the early '70s was acclaimed for its purity and for his
appreciation for aspects of traditional country music.[50]
Though his career was cut tragically short by his 1973 death, his legacy was
carried on by his mentee and duet partner Emmylou Harris; Harris
would release her debut solo in 1975, an amalgamation of country, rock and roll,
folk, blues and pop.

Subsequent to the initial blending of the two polar opposite genres, other
offspring soon resulted, including Southern rock, heartland rock and in
more recent years, alternative
country.

In the decades that followed, artists such as Juice Newton, Alabama, Hank Williams, Jr.,
Gary Allan, Shania Twain, Brooks & Dunn, Faith Hill, Garth Brooks, Dwight Yoakam, Steve Earle, Dolly Parton, Rosanne Cash and Linda Ronstadt moved
country further towards rock influence.

[edit]
1970s–1980s

[edit]
Outlaw country

Main article: Outlaw country

Derived from the traditional and honky tonk sounds of the late 1950s and
1960s, including Ray Price (whose
band, the "Cherokee Cowboys", included Willie Nelson and Roger Miller) and mixed
with the anger of an alienated subculture of the nation during the period,
outlaw country revolutionized the genre of country music.

Willie
Nelson

"After I left Nashville (the early 70s), I wanted to relax and play the music
that I wanted to play, and just stay around Texas, maybe Oklahoma. Waylon and I
had that outlaw image going, and when it caught on at colleges and we started
selling records, we were O.K. The whole outlaw thing, it had nothing to do with
the music, it was something that got written in an article, and the young people
said, 'Well, that's pretty cool.' And started listening." (Willie Nelson)[51]

The term outlaw country is traditionally associated with Hank Williams, Jr, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, David Allan Coe, John Prine, Billy Joe Shaver, Gary Stewart, Townes Van Zandt and
with a few female vocalists such as Jessi Colter and Sammi Smith. It was
encapsulated in the 1976 album Wanted! The
Outlaws. A related subgenre is Red Dirt.

[edit]
Country pop

Main article: Country pop

Country pop or soft pop, with roots in both the countrypolitan sound and
in soft rock, is a subgenre
that first emerged in the 1970s. Although the term first referred to country
music songs and artists that crossed over to top 40 radio, country pop acts are
now more likely to cross over to adult contemporary
music. It started with pop music singers like Michael Nesmith, The Bellamy
Brothers, Glen
Campbell, John
Denver, Olivia
Newton-John, Marie
Osmond, B. J. Thomas
and Anne Murray having
hits on the country charts. Campbell's "Rhinestone Cowboy" was one of the
biggest crossover hits in country music history.

Lynn Anderson in
concert

In 1974, Newton-John, an Australian pop singer, won the "Best Female Country
Vocal Performance" as well as the Country Music Association's most coveted award
for females, "Female Vocalist of the Year". In the same year, a group of
artists, troubled by this trend, formed the short-lived Association
of Country Entertainers. The debate raged into 1975, and reached its apex at
that year's Country Music Association Awards when reigning Entertainer of the
Year Charlie Rich (who
himself had a series of crossover hits) presented the award to his successor,
John Denver. As he read Denver's name, Rich set fire to the envelope with a
cigarette lighter. The action was taken as a protest against the increasing pop
style in country music.

During the mid-1970s, Dolly Parton, a highly
successful mainstream country artist since the late '60s, mounted a high profile
campaign to crossover to pop music, culminating in her 1977 hit "Here You Come
Again", which topped the U.S. country singles chart, and also reached No. 3 on
the pop singles charts. Parton's male counterpart, Kenny Rogers came from the
opposite direction, aiming his music at the country charts, after a successful
career in pop, rock and folk music, achieving success the same year with
"Lucille", which topped the country charts and reached No. 5 on the U.S. pop
singles charts. Parton and Rogers would both continue to have success on both
country and pop charts simultaneously, well into the 1980s. Artists like Crystal Gayle, Ronnie Milsap and Barbara Mandrell would
also find success on the pop charts with their records as well.

Dolly
Parton

In 1975, author Paul Hemphill stated in the Saturday Evening Post,
“Country music isn’t really country anymore; it is a hybrid of nearly every form
of popular music in America.”[52]

During the early 1980s, country artists continued to see their records
perform well on the pop charts. Willie Nelson and Juice Newton each had two
songs in the top 5 of the Billboard Hot 100 in the early eighties: Nelson
charted "Always On My Mind" (No. 5, 1982) and "To All The Girls I've Loved
Before" (No. 5, 1984), and Newton achieved success with "Queen of Hearts" (No.
2, 1981) and "Angel of the Morning" (No. 4, 1981). Four country songs topped the
Billboard Hot 100 in the 1980s: "Lady" by Kenny Rogers, from the late
fall of 1980; "9 to 5" by Dolly Parton, "I Love a
Rainy Night" by Eddie
Rabbitt (these two back-to-back at the top in early 1981); and "Islands in
the Stream", a duet by Dolly
Parton and Kenny
Rogers in 1983, a pop-country crossover hit written by Barry, Robin, and
Maurice Gibb of the Bee
Gees. Newton's "Queen of Hearts" almost reached No. 1, but was kept out of
the spot by the pop ballad juggernaut "Endless Love" by Diana Ross and Lionel Richie. [53]
Although there were few crossover hits in the latter half of the 1980s, one song
— Roy Orbison's "You Got It", from 1989 — made
the top 10 of both the Billboard Hot Country Singles"
and Hot 100 charts.[54][55]

The record-setting, multi-platinum group, Alabama, was named Artist of the
Decade for the 1980s by the Academy of Country Music.

[edit]
Neocountry

In 1980, a style of "neocountry disco music" was popularized by the film
Urban Cowboy,[56]
which also included more traditional songs such as "The Devil
Went Down to Georgia" by the Charlie Daniels
Band.[57]
A related subgenre is Texas country
music.

Sales in record stores rocketed to $250 million in 1981; by 1984, 900 radio
stations began programming country or neocountry pop full time. As with most
sudden trends, however, by 1984 sales had dropped below 1979 figures.[56]

[edit]
Truck driving
country

Truck driving country music is a genre of country music[58]
and is a fusion of honky tonk, country-rock and Bakersfield Sound.[59]
It has the tempo of
country-rock and the emotion of honky-tonk,[59]
and its lyrics focus on a truck driver's lifestyle.[60]
Truck driving country songs often deal with trucks and love.[59]
Well-known artists who sing truck driving country include Dave Dudley, Red Sovine, Dick Curless, Red Simpson, Colonel
Robert Morris, and Waylon
Speed.[59]
Dudley is known as the father of truck driving country.[60][61]

[edit]
Neotraditionalist
movement

Main article: Neotraditionalist
country

During the mid-1980s, a group of new artists began to emerge who rejected the
more polished country-pop sound that had been prominent on radio and the charts,
in favor of more, traditional, "back-to-basics" production. Led by Randy Travis, whose 1986
debut album Storms of
Life, sold four million copies and was Billboard's year-end top country
album of 1987, many of the artists during the latter half of the '80s drew on
traditional honky tonk, bluegrass, folk and western swing. Artists who typified
this sound included Travis
Tritt, Ricky Skaggs,
Kathy Mattea, George Strait and The Judds.

[edit]
1990s

Garth
Brooks

With his debut on the national country music scene in 1989, singer and
songwriter Clint Black
would usher in a new sound that would define much of country music for the 1990s
and beyond.[citation
needed]

In the 1990s, country music became a worldwide phenomenon thanks to Billy Ray Cyrus and Garth Brooks.[62][63][64]
The latter enjoyed one of the most successful careers in popular music history,
breaking records for both sales and concert attendance throughout the decade.
The RIAA has certified his recordings
at a combined (128× platinum), denoting
roughly 113 million U.S. shipments.[65]

Mindy McCready, Jo Dee Messina, and the
Dixie Chicks all
released platinum selling
albums in the 90s.

In the mid 1990s, country western music was influenced by the popularity of
line dancing. This
influence was so great that Chet Atkins was quoted as
saying "The music has gotten pretty bad, I think. It's all that damn line
dancing."[66]
By the end of the decade, however, at least one line dance choreographer
complained that good country line dance music was no longer being released.

[edit]
Alternative country

Main article: Alternative
country

In the 1990s, alternative country came to refer to a diverse group of
musicians and singers operating outside the traditions and industry of
mainstream country music. In general, they eschewed the high production values
and pop outlook of the Nashville-dominated industry, to produce music with a lo-fi sound, frequently infused
with a strong punk and alternative aesthetic,
bending the traditional rules of country music. Lyrics were often bleak, gothic
or socially aware. Other initiators include Old 97's, Lyle Lovett, Steve Earle, Uncle Tupelo, Son Volt, Ryan Adams, and Drive-By Truckers.

[edit]
2000s

Carrie
Underwood

Several rock and pop stars have ventured into country music. In 2000, Richard Marx made a brief
cross-over with his Days In
Avalon album, which features five country songs and several singers and
musicians. Alison
Krauss sang background vocals to Marx's single "Straight From My Heart."
Also, Bon Jovi had a hit
single, "Who
Says You Can't Go Home", with Jennifer Nettles of Sugarland. Other rock stars
who featured a country song on their albums were Don Henley and Poison.

One infrequent, but consistent theme in modern country music is that of
proud, stubborn individualism. "Country
Boy Can Survive" and "Copperhead Road"[67]
are two of the more serious songs along those lines; while "Some Girls Do"[68]
and "Redneck Woman"[69]
are more light-hearted variations on the theme.

In 2005, country singer Carrie Underwood rose
to fame as the winner of the fourth season of American Idol and
became a multi-platinum selling recording artist and multiple Grammy Award
winner. Underwood also made history by becoming the seventh woman to win
Entertainer Of The Year for the Academy of
Country Music Awards, and the first woman in history to win Entertainer of
the Year for the Academy of
Country Music Awards twice, as well as twice consecutively. Underwood's
debut album, "Some
Hearts", was not only the fastest-selling debut album by any country artist
in history, but was ranked by Billboard.com as the #1
Country Album of the 2000-2009 decade.

In 2008, Taylor Swift
rose as a major country-pop artist, with her single "Love
Story" becoming the first country song to reach No. 1 one on the Nielsen BDS
CHR/Top 40 chart. Another of her singles, "You Belong with Me",
also reached No. 1, making Swift the only country artist to have two No. 1
singles atop the chart. Both "Love Story" and "You Belong with Me" became the
best-selling country song of all time, with "Love Story" in the first position
with a domestic total of 4.4 million digital copies sold, and "You Belong with
Me" in the second with 3.4 million sales, respectively. In 2010, Swift's
sophomore album "Fearless"
was awarded the Grammy
Award for Album of the Year, becoming the first album in history to win the
American Music
Award (AMA), Academy of
Country Music Award (ACM), Country
Music Association Award (CMA), and the Grammy
Award for Album of the Year in the same year.

In the same year, Hootie & the
Blowfish vocalist Darius Rucker released his
second solo album and country music debut, Learn to Live. The
first three singles from that album all debuted at No. 1, making Rucker the
first solo artist to debut with three No. 1 hits in over a decade. He is also
the first African
American with a No. 1 country hit since Charley Pride in 1983.

In 2009, George
Strait was named Artist of the Decade by the Academy of Country Music.

[edit]
Country music
outside the United States

[edit]
Canada

This section does not cite any
references or
sources.
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable
sources. Unsourced material may be challenged
and removed.
(July 2008)

Main articles: Canadian
Country Music Association and Canadian
Country Music Hall of Fame

Outside of the US, Canada has the largest country music fan and artist base.
Mainstream country music is culturally ingrained in the Maritimes and the prairie provinces:
areas with large numbers of rural residents. Canadian country music originated
in Atlantic Canada in the form of British and Irish folk music popular amongst
Irish and Scottish immigrants to Canada's Maritime Provinces (Nova Scotia, New
Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island). Like the southern United States and
Appalachia, all three regions are of heavy British Isles stock and rural; as
such, The development of country music in the Maritimes mirrored the development
of country music in the US south and Appalachia.

Don Messer's
Jubilee was a Halifax, Nova Scotia based country/folk variety television
show that was broadcast nationally from 1957 to 1969. It out drew the Ed
Sullivan Show from the United States and became the #1 rated television show in
Canada throughout much of the 1960s. Don Messer's Jubilee followed a consistent
format throughout its years, beginning with a tune named "Goin' to the Barndance
Tonight", followed by fiddle tunes by Messer, songs from some of his "Islanders"
including singers Marg Osburne and Charlie Chamberlain, the featured guest
performance, and a closing hymn. It ended with "Till We Meet Again".

The guest performance slot gave national exposure to numerous Canadian folk
musicians, including Stompin' Tom Connors and Catherine McKinnon. Some Maritime
country performers went on to further fame beyond Canada. Hank Snow, Wilf Carter
(also known as Montana Slim), and Anne Murray are the three most notable.

The cancellation of the show by the public broadcaster in 1969 caused a
nationwide protest, including the raising of questions in the Canadian
parliament.

Despite country's roots in the Maritimes, many traditional country artists
are present in Eastern and Western Canada. They make common use of fiddle and
pedal steel guitar styles. Some notable Canadian country artists include: Shania Twain, Blue Rodeo, Marg Osburne, Hank Snow, Johnny Mooring, Don Messer, Doc Walker, Emerson Drive, Paul Brandt, The Wilkinsons, Wilf Carter, Michelle Wright, Corb
Lund and the Hurtin' Albertans, Stompin' Tom
Connors, Terri Clark,
Crystal Shawanda, Shane Yellowbird, The Road Hammers, Anne Murray, and Prairie Oyster.

[edit]
Australia

Main article: Australian country
music

Olivia Newton-John
singing in Sydney in 2008.

Australian
country music has a long tradition. Influenced by American country music it
has developed a distinct style, shaped by British and Irish folk ballads and
Australian bush balladeers like Henry Lawson and Banjo Paterson. Country
instruments, including the guitar, banjo, fiddle and harmonica create the
distinctive sound of country music in Australia and accompany songs with strong
storyline and memorable chorus.

Folk songs sung in Australia between the 1780s and 1920s based around such
themes as the struggle against government tyranny, or the lives of bushrangers, swagmen, drovers, stockmen and shearers continue to influence
the genre. This strain of Australian country, with lyrics focusing on Australian
subjects, is generally known as "bush music" or "bush band music". Waltzing Matilda, often
regarded as Australia's unofficial National anthem, is a
quintessential Australian country song, influenced more by British and Irish
folk ballads than by American Country and Western music. The lyrics were
composed by the poet Banjo
Paterson in 1895. Other popular songs from this tradition include The Wild Colonial
Boy, Click Go The Shears,
The
Queensland Drover and The
Dying Stockman. Later themes which endure to the present include the
experiences of war, of droughts and flooding rains, of Aboriginality and
of the railways and trucking routes which link Australia's vast distances.[70][71]

Pioneers of a more Americanised popular country music in Australia included
Tex Morton (known as
The Father of Australian Country Music) in the 1930s and other early
stars like Buddy
Williams, Shirley
Thoms and Smoky
Dawson. In 1952, Dawson began a radio show, and went on to national stardom
as a singing cowboy of radio, TV and film.

Slim Dusty (1927–2003)
was known as the King of Australian Country Music, and helped to
popularise the Australian bush ballad. His successful
career spanned almost six decades and his 1957 hit "A Pub With No Beer"
was the biggest-selling record by an Australian to that time, and with over
seven million record sales in Australia he is the most successful artist in
Australian musical history[72]
Dusty recorded and released his one-hundredth album in the year 2000 and was
given the honour of singing Waltzing Matilda in
the closing ceremony of the Sydney 2000 Olympic
Games. Dusty's wife Joy
McKean penned several of his most popular songs.

Chad Morgan, who began
recording in the 1950s has represented a vaudeville style of comic Australian
country; Frank Ifield
achieved considerable success in the early 1960s, especially in the UK Singles
Charts and Reg Lindsay
was one of the first Australians to perform at Nashville's Grand Ole Opry in
1974.[73]
Eric Bogle's 1972 folk
lament to the Gallipoli campaign
"And The
Band Played Waltzing Matilda" recalled the British and Irish origins of
Australian folk-country. Singer-songwriter Paul Kelly whose
music style straddles folk, rock, and country is often described as the poet
laureate of Australian music.[74]

By the 1990s, Country music had attained cross-over success in the pop charts
with artists like James
Blundell and James
Reyne singing "Way Out
West", and country star Kasey Chambers winning
the ARIA for Best Female
Artist in 2003. The cross-over influence of Australian country is also evident
in the music of successful contemporary bands The Waifs and The John Butler
Trio. Nick Cave has
been heavily influenced by the country artist Johnny Cash. In 2000, Cash,
covered Cave's "The Mercy Seat" on
the album American III: Solitary Man, seemingly repaying Cave for the
compliment he paid by covering Cash's "The Singer" (originally "The Folk
Singer") on his Kicking Against the Pricks album. Subsequently, Cave cut
a duet with Cash on a version of Hank Williams' "I'm So
Lonesome I Could Cry" for Cash's American
IV: The Man Comes Around album (2002).[75]

Keith
Urban.

Popular contemporary performers of Australian country music include: John Williamson
(who wrote the iconic "True
Blue"), Lee
Kernaghan (whose hits include "Boys
From the Bush" and "the
Outback Club"), Gina
Jeffreys and Sara
Storer. In the USA, Olivia Newton John,
Sherrié Austin
and Keith Urban have
attained great success.

Ruby Hunter and Archie Roach at the 2009 Tamworth
Country Music Festival. Country music has been a particularly popular form
of musical and political expression among Indigenous
Australians.

Country music has also been a particularly popular form of musical expression
among Indigenous
Australians. Troy
Cassar-Daley is among Australia's successful contemporary indigenous
performers Aboriginal artists and Kev Carmody and Archie Roach employ a
combination of folk-rock and country music to sing about Aboriginal rights
issues.[76]

The Tamworth
Country Music Festival began in 1973 and now attracts up to a 100,000
visitors annually. Held in Tamworth, New
South Wales (Country music capital of Australia), it celebrates the culture
and heritage of Australian country music. During the festival the CMAA
holds the Country
Music Awards of Australia ceremony awarding the Golden Guitar
trophies.

Other significant country music festivals include the Whittlesea Country
Music Festival (near Melbourne) and Boyup Brook
Country Music Festival (Western Australia) in
February; the Bamera Country Music Festival in June (South Australia), the
National Country Muster held in Gympie during August, Mildura
Country Music Festival for "independent" performers during October and the
Canberra
Country Music Festival held in the national capital during November. Some
festivals are quite unique in their location: Grabine State Park in New South Wales promotes
Australian country through the Grabine Music Muster Festival; Marilyns Country
Music Festival is a unique event held in South Australia's Smoky Bay in
September and is the only music festival in the world using an oyster barge as a
stage.

Country HQ showcases new talent on the rise in the country music scene
downunder. CMC (the Country Music
Channel), a 24 hour music channel dedicated to non-stop country music, can
be viewed on pay tv and features once a year
the Golden Guitar Awards, CMAs and CCMAs alongside international shows such as
The Wilkinsons, The Road Hammers, and Country Music Across America.

[edit]
Other international
country music

Tom Roland, from the Country Music
Association International, explains Country Music’s global popularity: “In
this respect, at least, Country Music listeners around the globe have something
in common with those in the United States. In Germany, for instance, Rohrbach
identifies three general groups that gravitate to the genre: people intrigued
with the American cowboy icon, middle-aged fans who seek an alternative to
harder rock music and younger listeners drawn to the pop-influenced sound that
underscores many current Country hits.”[77]

One of the first Americans to perform country music abroad was George Hamilton IV.
He was the first country musician to perform in the Soviet Union; he also toured
in Australia and the Middle East. He was deemed the "International Ambassador of
Country Music" for his contributions to the globalization of country music.[78]
Johnny Cash, Emmylou Harris, Keith Urban, and Dwight Yoakam have also made
numerous international tours.[77]

The Country
Music Association undertakes various initiatives to promote country music
internationally.[77]

In the United Kingdom, a country-derived genre known as skiffle peaked in the 1950s
thanks to the efforts of Lonnie Donegan; though
the genre as a whole was very short-lived, most of the bands involved with the
British Invasion
began their careers as skiffle musicians.

In South America, on the last weekend of September, the yearly "San Pedro
Country Music Festival"[79]
takes places in the town of San Pedro,
Argentina. The festival features bands from different places of Argentina, as well as
international artist from Brazil, Uruguay, Chile, Peru and the United States.

In Ireland TG4 began a quest
for Ireland's next country star called Glór Tíre,
translated as Country Voice, it is now in its 6th season and is one of TG4 most
watched TV shows. A recent success in the Irish arena has been Crystal Swing.

In Sweden there was a group
called Rednex which combined
country music with electro-pop. Rednex had a worldwide hit with their version of
the traditional Southern tune "Cotton-Eyed Joe".

Rhodesia during the 1970s
had an active country and western music scene. Many songs combined country
ballads with patriotic or military inspired lyrics. For example, Clem Tholet's Rhodesians
Never Die rose to the top of the Rhodesian pop charts.

[edit]
Performers and shows

Main articles: List of
country music performers, List of
country performers by era, and List
of country television and radio shows

[edit]
US cable television

Four U.S. cable networks are at least partly devoted to the genre: CMT and CMT Pure Country (both
owned by Viacom), Rural Free Delivery
TV (owned by Rural Media Group) and GAC (owned by The E. W. Scripps
Company). The first American country music video cable channel was The Nashville
Network, launched in the early 1980s. In 2000, the channel was renamed and
reformatted as The National Network, a general-interest network, and
eventually became Spike TV.

[edit]
Canadian television

Only one television channel is currently dedicated to country music in Canada
and that is CMT (Canada)
owned by Corus
Entertainment (90%) and Viacom (10%). But in the past the show Don Messer's
Jubilee had great impact on country music in Canada in fact it is the program
that launched Anne Murray's career.

[edit]
Australian cable
television

The only network dedicated to Country Music in Australia is the Country Music
Channel owned by XYZnetworks.

[edit]
See also

Country music
portal

Academy of
Country Music

Australian
country music

Canadian
Country Music Association

Country and
Western dance

Country
Music Association

Country Music
Hall of Fame

Country and
Irish

Grand Ole
Opry

Great
American Country

List
of Billboard Hot Country Songs chart achievements

List of
country genres

Música
sertaneja

Southern
Culture

Tejano: country music
performed in Spanish to a polka beat

Western
Music Association

Western
music (North America)

WSM Radio

[edit]
Notes

^ a
b
Peterson, Richard A. (1999). Creating Country Music: Fabricating
Authenticity, p. 9. ISBN
0-226-66285-3.

^ Jim-reeves.com Jim-reeves.com

^ Acountry.com "The Academy of Country Music also honored Garth
Brooks with the first-ever Crystal Milestone Award. The award is given to an
artist or industry leader to commemorate a specific, remarkable achievement.
With 128 million unit sales, Brooks has been certified the second best
top-selling solo recording artist in U.S. history."

^ Roughstock.com Roughstock.com

^ Duhigg, Charles; Boucher, Geoff (2006-08-21). "L.A. radio loses its twang / Last country station switches to
pop format to attract more Hispanic adult women". The San Francisco
Chronicle. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/08/21/MNGEJKM7F11.DTL&feed=rss.news.

^ Gish,
D.L. Country Music. North Mankato, MN: Smart Apple Media, 2002.Print.

^ "Bluegrassbanjo.org". Bluegrassbanjo.org. http://bluegrassbanjo.org/banhist.html. Retrieved 2011-02-01.

^ "Shoppbs.org". Shoppbs.org. 2009-02-16.
http://www.shoppbs.org/sm-pbs-the-appalachians-dvd--pi-2048969.html#Details. Retrieved 2011-02-01.

^ Malone,
Bill. Country Music U.S.A. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2002.
Print.

^ "PBS.org". PBS.org. http://www.pbs.org/deford/music/influences.html. Retrieved 2011-02-01.

^ "PBS.org". PBS.org.
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^ "Texas Handbook on Line". Tshaonline.org. http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/CC/xbc3.html. Retrieved 2011-02-01.

^
Richard, Crawford,. America's musical life a history. New York: Norton, 2001.
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^ 78discography.com The Online Discography Project.

^ "Our Georgia
History". Our Georgia History. http://ourgeorgiahistory.com/chronpop/215. Retrieved 2011-02-01.

^ "Blue Ridge Institute & Museum".
Blueridgeinstitute.org. http://www.blueridgeinstitute.org/ballads/old97song.html. Retrieved 2011-02-01.

^ "Blue
Ridge Institute & Museum". Blueridgeinstitute.org. 1903-09-27. http://www.blueridgeinstitute.org/ballads/old97.html. Retrieved 2011-02-01.

^
Cohn, Lawrence; Aldin, Mary Katherine; Bastin,
Bruce. Nothing but the Blues: The Music and the Musicians. Abbeville
Press. p. 238.

^ Thesylvaherald.com[dead
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^
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University Press. pages 14, 15, 25, 31, 45, 59, 73, 107, 157, 161, 165,167,
225. ISBN 978019532506.

^ Billy Abbott (1924-03-07). "Southernmusic.net". Southernmusic.net.
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^ Cohn,
Lawrence: "Nothing But the Blues" chapter titles "A Lighter Shade of Blue -
White Country Blues" by Charles Wolfe page 247, 1993

^
Country Music Originals - The Legends and the Lost. Tony Russell. 2007. Oxford
University Press. page 68. ISBN 978019532506

^
David Sanjek, "All the Memories Money Can Buy: Marketing Authenticity and
Manufacturing Authorship," p. 155–172 in Eric Weisbard, ed., This is
Pop, Harvard
University Press, 2004. ISBN
0-674-01321-2 (cloth), ISBN
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^ "LPdiscography.com". LPdiscography.com.
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^ Alamhof.org[dead
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^
Nothing But the Blues 1993, White Country Blues by Charles Wolfe page 233

^ Southernmusic.net, The Carter Family.

^ code:v_farquharson@kshira_interactive and
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^ Billboard.com Billboard.com

^ NAME:. "Roughstock's History of Country Music - Cowboy Music".
Roughstock.com. http://www.roughstock.com/history/cowboy.html. Retrieved 2011-02-01.

^ a
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Instruments | Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum|Nashville,
Tennessee

^ Takecountryback.com, Merle Haggard - Bob Wills

^ Empsfm.org , exhibitions - online features

^ Oldies.com, Arthur Smith Biography.

^
Country Music Goes To War By Charles K. Wolfe, James Edward Akenson. 2005.
University Press of Kentucky. page = 55. ISBN
0813123089 Google Books

^ Long
Steel Rail: The Railroad in American Folksong. By Norm Cohen, David Cohen. University of
Illinois Press. 2000. page 31. ISBN
0252068815, 9780252068812

^ Google Books. Books.google.com.
http://books.google.com/books?id=AY7St4-8x10C&pg=PA30&lpg=PA30&dq=john+carson+Hallelujah++i'm+A+Bum&source=web&ots=OcYOjz7qCb&sig=kLd6WRJivF5Vdc3wo_dWBss7zPI&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=8&ct=result#PPA31,M1. Retrieved 2011-02-01.

^ a
b
Workin' Man Blues - Country Music in California. Gerald W. Haslan. University
of California Press. 1999. page 135. ISBN
0-520-21800-0.

^ Go,
Cat, Go! by Carl Perkins and David McGee 1996 pages 23–24 Hyperion Press ISBN
0-7868-6073-1

^ Go Cat
Go! Rockabilly Music and Its Making. Craig Morrison. 1996. University of
Illinois. page 28. ISBN
0-252-02207-6

^ "Billboard.com". Billboard.com. http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/charts/yearend_chart_display.jsp?f=Hot+Country+Songs&g=Year-end+Singles&year=1956. Retrieved 2011-02-01.

^ Billboard.com Billboard.com

^
Shulman, Art "Dynamo - Country Style" (1956), TV Guide, p, 28

^ "Rockhall.com". Rockhall.com. http://www.rockhall.com/inductee/floyd-cramer. Retrieved 2011-02-01.

^ "Billboard.com". Billboard.com. http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/charts/yearend_chart_display.jsp?f=The+Billboard+Hot+100&g=Year-end+Singles&year=1962. Retrieved 2011-02-01.

^ "Merle Haggard : Biography". CMT.com. 1937-04-06. http://www.cmt.com/artists/az/haggard_merle/bio.jhtml. Retrieved 2011-02-01.

^ Buckowens.com, Buck Owen's Crystal Palace: About Buck

^ Allmusic.com, Gram Parsons: Overview

^ Rollingstone.com[dead
link]

^ The
Roots of Country Music" Collectors Edition by Life September 1, 1994 page
72

^
Hemphill, Paul. "Nashville--Where It All Started." Saturday Evening Post 247.3
(1975): 44-86. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 1 Feb. 2010.

^ Billboard.com, Historical Music Charts Archive.

^
Whitburn, Joel, "Top Country Songs: 1944-2008," 2009.

^
Whitburn, Joel, "Top Pop Singles: 1955-2006," 2007

^ a
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of California Press. 1999. page 259. ISBN
0-520-21800-0.

^ Lyricsoncall.com Lyricsoncall.com

^
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covers the Country landscape: outlaw, honkey tonk, country-rock, Bakersfield
sound, country comedy, truck driving country and more."

^ a
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"Truck Driving Country Music". All Media Guide LLC. http://www.starpulse.com/Genre/MusicGenres.html?Genre=CTRY&ID=D4307&Lvl=4. Retrieved 2009-02-24.

^ a
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^
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^
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1992-09-27. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=TjQfAAAAIBAJ&sjid=B88EAAAAIBAJ&pg=4760,3698051&dq=billy+ray+cyrus+country+worldwide&hl=en. Retrieved 2010-07-26.

^
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^ "RIAA.com". RIAA.com. http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?table=SEARCH_RESULTS. Retrieved 2011-02-01.

^ The
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^ "Steveearle.net". Steveearle.net. 2001-02-19. http://steveearle.net/lyrics/ly-coppe.php. Retrieved 2011-02-01.

^ "Cowboylyrics.com". Cowboylyrics.com.
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^ "Lyricstop.com". Lyricstop.com. http://www.lyricstop.com/r/redneckwoman-gretchenwilson.html. Retrieved 2011-02-01.

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^ Dave"
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^ Duncan, Jamie (2008-08-06). "Reg Lindsay, country great, takes final bow - Local News - News
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^ a
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^ Lib.unc.edu “Country Music Figures Donate Papers, Give
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[edit]
Further reading

In The Country of Country: A Journey to the Roots of American
Music,
Nicholas Dawidoff, Vintage Books, 1998, ISBN
0-375-70082-X

Are You Ready for the Country: Elvis, Dylan, Parsons and the Roots of
Country Rock,
Peter Dogget, Penguin Books, 2001, ISBN
0-14-026108-7

Roadkill on the Three-Chord Highway,
Colin Escott, Routledge,
2002, ISBN
0-415-93783-3

Guitars & Cadillacs,
Sabine Keevil, Thinking Dog Publishing,
2002, ISBN
0-9689973-0-9

Proud to Be an Okie: Cultural Politics, Country Music, and Migration to
Southern California,
Peter La Chapelle, University of California Press,
2007, ISBN
0-52-024889-9

Creating Country Music: Fabricating Authenticity,
Richard A.
Peterson, University of Chicago Press, 1999, ISBN
0226662853

The Best of Country: The Official CD Guide,
Stacy Harris,
CollinsPublishers, 1993, ISBN
0-00-255335-X

Country Music USA,
Bill C. Malone, University of
Texas Press, 1985, ISBN
0-292-71096-8, second Rev ed, 2002, ISBN
0-292-75262-8

Don't Get Above Your Raisin': Country Music and the Southern Working
Class (Music in American Life),
Bill C. Malone, University of
Illinois Press, 2002, ISBN
0-252-02678-0

Stamper, Pete (1999). It All Happened In
Renfro Valley. University of
Kentucky Press. ISBN 978-0813109756.

[edit]
External links

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Nashville
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TIME Archive of country music's progression

Xroad.virginia.edu, alt country from American Studies at the
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Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Country_music"

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