Its most notable members were Clayton McMichen (fiddle and vocal), Dan Hornsby (vocals), Riley Puckett (guitar and vocal) and Robert Lee Sweat (guitar). His band, the Skillet Lickers, was one of the most innovative and influential string bands of the 1920s and 1930s. James Gideon "Gid" Tanner (1885–1960) was an American old-time fiddler and one of the earliest stars of what would come to be known as country music. The first generation emerged in the 1920s, with Atlanta's music scene playing a major role in launching country's earliest recording artists. Before these, pioneer settlers, in the Great Smoky Mountains region, had developed a rich musical heritage. In addition, the Mountain City Fiddlers Convention, held in 1925, helped to inspire modern country music. Historians have also noted the influence of the less-known Johnson City sessions of 19, and the Knoxville sessions of 19. Since 2014, the city has been home to the Birthplace of Country Music Museum. Congress has formally recognized Bristol, Tennessee as the "Birthplace of Country Music", based on the historic Bristol recording sessions of 1927. In the Southwestern United States, it was the Rocky Mountains, American frontier, and Rio Grande that acted as a similar backdrop for Native American, Mexican, and cowboy ballads, which resulted in New Mexico music and the development of Western music, and its directly related Red Dirt, Texas country, and Tejano music styles. As the country expanded westward, the Mississippi River and Louisiana became a crossroads for country music, giving rise to Cajun music. Immigrants to the southern Appalachian Mountains, of the Southeastern United States, brought the folk music and instruments of Europe, Africa, and the Mediterranean Basin along with them for nearly 300 years, which developed into Appalachian music. Country music was "introduced to the world as a Southern phenomenon."
The main components of the modern country music style date back to music traditions throughout the Southern United States and Southwestern United States, while its place in American popular music was established in the 1920s during the early days of music recording. Main articles: Appalachian music, Blues, Celtic folk, Old-time music, and Western music (North America)
Blues modes have been used extensively throughout its recorded history. Its popularized roots originate in the Southern and Southwestern United States of the early 1920s.Ĭountry music often consists of ballads and dance tunes with generally simple forms, folk lyrics, and harmonies often accompanied by string instruments such as banjos, electric and acoustic guitars, steel guitars (such as pedal steels and dobros), and fiddles as well as harmonicas. Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated with blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, old-time, and American folk music forms including Appalachian, Cajun, Creole, and the cowboy Western music styles of New Mexico, Red Dirt, Tejano, and Texas country.