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Country and western music is an American
popular-music style that was once confined to the rural South
and Southwest but is now commercially successful throughout
the United States. In its contemporary form, country and western
is a synthesis of two separate musical traditions: the styles
of the southeastern states, with their strong heritage from
the British Isles; and the music of the Southwest, especially
Texas. Both styles influenced and were influenced by the BLUES
and by black rural dance music.
The style called western swing--a blend of west Texas fiddle
music with jazz and pop music--began to be heard nationally
in the early 1930s. The best-known western swing musician
was Bob Wills, a mandolin and fiddle player who formed The
Texas Playboys in 1933. Bands like The Playboys on occasion
used horns and saxophones--rare instruments in rural music
although they were widely used in jazz. Such bands played
an important role in developing the eclectic country and western
idiom. Equally important were radio shows, records and movies,
which reached large, nonrural audiences throughout the country,
and made musicians such as Gene Autry, the "Singing Cowboy,"
and Roy Rogers into nationally famous names.
By the 1950s, country and western had become a significant
force in pop music. The GRAND OLE OPRY, a radio program originating
in Nashville, Tenn., quickly became a national institution.
The singer-songwriter Hank WILLIAMS wrote four million-seller
songs in 1950, seven in 1951, and four more in 1953. Although
the mass popularity of country music led to a dilution of
the style for a while, the growing interest in BLUEGRASS MUSIC,
an old country style, restored some authenticity to country
and western as well.
During the 1960s and '70s country music continued to infiltrate
other popular forms. The growth in importance of a country
music center in Austin, Tex.--in competition with the increasingly
conservative Nashville--was spurred by such singers as Willie
Nelson. He combined country music with elements of the prevailing
youth culture, a combination that resulted eventually in the
formation of a style known as country rock, whose most popular
practitioners include Emmylou Harris, joined in recent years
by such groups as Alabama. The 1960s also began the meteoric
rise into national celebrity of three talented women singer-songwriters.
Dolly Parton, Loretta Lynn, and Tammy Wynette have continued
to sing country and western for well over two decades. Others
who have maintained their popularity over many years include
Merle Haggard and George Jones, both of whom sing in traditional
country-western style.
In the mid-1980s two competing country music styles came into
prominence. Singers such as Kenny Rogers produced slick, bland,
pop-country music. Also popular, however, were traditionalists
such as Ricky Skaggs, John Anderson, and George Strait. A
new, more eclectic generation of country singer-composers
emerged in the late 1980s. The most traditional was Grammy
winner Randy Travis. Other successes included country-rock
singer Steve Earle and Rodney Crowell; the O'Kanes (Jamie
O'Hara and Kieran Kane), a country duo; and Nanci Griffith
and K.T. Oslin, two new women's voices.
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