Country & Western Music

Country music emphasized simplified lyric and instrumentation with roots in Appalachian folk music jazz and blues. Western music is a blend of this style plus elements of ranchero and southwestern music of the border states, as well as polka and other folk styles of other cultures.

Country music is defined as “a style and genre of largely string-accompanied American popular music having roots in the folk music of the Southeast and cowboy music of the West, usually vocalized, generally simple in form and harmony, and typified by romantic or melancholy ballads accompanied by acoustic or electric ...

Western music is a form of country music composed by and about the people who settled and worked throughout the Western United States and Western Canada. Western music celebrates the lifestyle of the cowboy on the open ranges, Rocky Mountains, and prairies of Western North America.

Why is Bristol, Tennessee/Virginia known as the birthplace of country music? On October 12, 1998, the U.S. Congress designated Bristol as the “birthplace of country music”–click here to learn more.

Some common characteristics, which are not always present and are not only specific to this period, include:

• Fewer lyrical melodies than other periods.
• Dissonant Harmonies.
• Complex rhythms.
• Percussiveness.
• Greater use of percussion,brass,and woodwind.
• Uses synthetic and electronic sounds.

Country music rose from deep and intertwined roots – from fiddle tunes and hymns and from work songs and ballads; from smoky saloons and secluded Appalachian hollows; from barrios along the southern border and the wide-open spaces of the American West.

Synonyms of country music (noun folk-style music)

• C & W.
• country and western.
• hillbilly music.
• old-time country rock.
• western swing.

The virtuosic musicianship and heartfelt lyrics resonated with people from all walks of life, capturing the essence of the American spirit. Over time, country music underwent a transformation, with the emergence of subgenres like honky-tonk, outlaw country, and contemporary pop-infused bro country.

Western music is music composed/created in Europe, the United States, and societies that were shaped by European immigrants. It has taken many forms over the years and the time that it was written determines how the music sounds.

Western music developed based on the music of the Greeks and Romans. There are six historical eras in Western culture: the Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and Modern. Over time, Western music generally grew more complex, elaborate, and diverse.

The great majority of musical instruments fall readily into one of six major categories: bowed strings, woodwind, brass, percussion, keyboard, and the guitar family, the first four of which form the basis of the modern symphony orchestra.

The four families of Western instruments are strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion.