Country Music

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Country music, also known as western music, is a type of popular music that originated from traditional southern folk music and has aspects of other types of popular music, such as rock and jazz.

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At first called hillbilly around 1920, the recording studios started recording an early form of this genre, and the music was aimed toward Caucasians living in rural areas. At first, the lyrics came from love songs and old folk songs. Blues-admirer Jimmie Rodgers introduced yodels into the genre.

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In 1939, radio broadcasts helped make it even more popular when they were able to get broadcast time. The radio show was named "The Grand Ole Opry." It was also around this time that elements from other genres, such as jazz, and other popular genres contributed to this newer genre. With the contribution of those elements, the instrumentation for this music genre was beginning to grow larger. Besides the fiddles and other string-based instruments, other instruments, like saxophones and drums, came into use.

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During World War II, this genre turned out to be the most popular, possibly because it covered the aspects of human life that we so often do not want to deal with. It was also around this time that it was decided that Nashville, Tennessee (in the United States of America) would be the center of this music genre.

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Then, when rock 'n roll came into being, the genre became known more as country and western instead of hillbilly. New forms of country were also beginning to take place, such as country rock. Today, all these forms of country are still popular, and there is even an country and western music event broadcasted on television. It seems that it will only evolve as time passes.

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