Country (or country and western) has many sub-genres but in general it is music derived from elements of both American Folk music (much of which originally came from Europe) and The Blues.
Traditionally country, popular from the 1930’s onwards, features slow songs in 4/4 and 3/4. The lyrics are often sentimental and sung with a nasal tone, accompanied by an acoustic guitar.
Artists include:
Bluegrass, developed in Kentucky in the 1940’s and still prevalent today. This is more upbeat from country, featuring a picked Banjo style, fiddles and mandolins to create a bouncy rhythm. It has a “barn dance” feel to it.
It wasn’t until the 1950’s that the actual style became known as Bluegrass, named after Bill Monroe's band “the Bluegrass boys”. Bill Monroe became know as the farther of bluegrass.
Artists include:
With the huge success of Garth Brooks in the 1990’s, country music began to become more mainstream and started having success in pop charts. Country began to merge with commercial pop and rock styles and became known as “new country”.
Familiar elements of country were combined with a punchier rhythm section, more use of keyboards, very commercial hooks and production values and often features dance remixes.
Artists include:
Country rock was a phenomenon which began in the 1970’s and was born of rock artists who were inspired by country music. The music had some traits of soft rock combined with the gentle qualities of country. The Eagles were the epitome of this sub-genre, which lasted through the 1980’s.
Artists include: