Country (music)

Country music
Stylistic origins	Appalachian folk blues Celtic folk old-time music
Cultural origins	1920s, Southern United States
Typical instruments	Singing acoustic guitar Drum kit fiddle bass guitar mandolin banjo double bass piano Electronic organ Dobro electric guitar steel guitar pedal steel guitar harmonica
Derivative forms	Rockabilly dansband roots rock Southern rock heartland rock
Subgenres
Bakersfield sound bluegrass bro-country close harmony honky tonk jug band progressive country 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 sertanejo Southern soul Tejano
Other topics
Country musicians list of years in country music
2017 in country music

Country music (frequently referred to as just country) is a musical genre that originated in the Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from genres such as folk music (especially Appalachian folk music) and blues.

Country music often consists of ballads and dance tunes with generally simple forms and harmonies accompanied by mostly string instruments such as banjos, electric and acoustic guitars, steel guitars (such as pedal steels and dobros), and fiddles as well as harmonicas.Blues modes have been used extensively throughout its recorded history.

According to Lindsey Starnes, the term country music gained popularity in the 1940s in preference to the earlier term hillbilly music; it came to encompass Western music, which evolved parallel to hillbilly music from similar roots, in the mid-20th century. In 2009 country music was the most listened to rush hour radio genre during the evening commute, and second most popular in the morning commute in the United States.

The term country music is used today to describe many styles and subgenres. The origins of country music are the folk music of working-class Americans, who blended popular songs, Irish and Celtic fiddle tunes, traditional English ballads, and cowboy songs, and various musical traditions from European immigrant communities.

Immigrants to the Southern Appalachian Mountains of North America brought the music and instruments of Europe along with them for nearly 300 years. Country music was "introduced to the world as a Southern phenomenon."

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Wikipedia