Country music
genre of American popular music
Country music, also known as country and western or simply country, is a music genre originating from the United States. It is known for its ballads and dance tunes, identifiable by both traditional lyrics and harmonies accompanied by banjos, mandolins, fiddles, harmonicas, and many types of guitar; either acoustic, electric, steel, or resonator guitars. Once called hillbilly music, the term country music was popularized in the 1940s.
Country music was first developed in the South, and then spread throughout the Piedmont, from Louisiana along the Appalachian Mountains to New York. The music is believed to be derived from British folk music, brought to the United States during early waves of immigration. Rooted in American folk music, such as old-time and Southern Appalachian music, many traditions blended to form country music. In particular, this included cowboy and vaquero Western music and African-American traditional folk songs and spirituals. Mexican, Irish, and Gospel music have had a formative influence on the genre, as have Polynesian Hawaiian music and the Southwestern styles of New Mexico and Tejano, in addition to blues modes from blues music.
Country music has remained an integral part of the American music scene, with a recent revitalization in interest since the early 2020s. In 2023, 45% of Americans reported listening to country music, an increase in the genre's popularity.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 19, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q83440. The Library of Congress control number is sh85033470. 1 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2023.
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This entry incorporates text from “Country music” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.