Country Music Influence On American Culture

All over the world, people express their culture and their way of life in the form of music. In the early nineteen-hundreds America was beginning to form their own genre of music, which would come to be known as country music. When we think of country music, we often think of hillbillies, cowboys, a pair of boots and blue jeans, but it's much more than that. Country music is more than just songs; it's become a way of life in America. Country music was formed out of the genre of Appalachian folk music in the southern United States. Before the genre was referred to as country, it was originally called folk music. The term folk music came after other nicknames such as “old-time” or “oat tunes” (Peterson,1997). Appalachian folk music

Blues and bluegrass are some of the most common of these subgenres (Peterson, 1997). Country Blues usually have a mood of mourning the harsh times in life. Bluegrass is a mixture of country music from Kentucky and Tennessee, and has jazz influences from Southern areas like New Orleans, Louisiana. When you mix the two together, you have this upbeat tune with improvisation that usually contains banjos, or mandolins and drums. Bill Monroe introduced the subgenre of Bluegrass Country in the late forties early fifties in America. (Press, 2016) Country music started the early 19th century, but over time country music came to evolve into something that had ties in all music. From the late 18th century through the 19th and 20th century country music has become a vast and intricate multimillion dollar music genre. From the beginning of being played in small churches and dances to humongous concerts and having our homes sold on a worldly

More artists were being recognized for their use it and they will be coming household names just like the Beatles at the time. This was a big part of country history because never before was it this popular.

In the 1970s another subgenre of country was born in Texas, that would forever change country music. This genre is called progressive country and its birthplace was Austin TX. It was a combination of traditional country music mixed with the hippy culture of the 1960’s. The bar scene where this genre was born with a mix of a variety Cowboys, hippies, bikers, and college students. A few artists that came out of this scene were Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, and Kris Kristopherson, they were the ones who started the progressive country genre also known as the outlaw country