Country music

====Rockabilly====
{{Main|Rockabilly}}
[[File:Johnny Cash Promotional Photo.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[Johnny Cash]]]]
Rockabilly was most popular with country fans in the 1950s; one of the first rock and roll superstars was former western yodeler [[Bill Haley]], who repurposed his Four Aces of Western Swing into a rockabilly band in the early 1950s and renamed it the [[Bill Haley & His Comets|Comets]]. Bill Haley & His Comets are credited with two of the first successful rock and roll records, "[[Crazy Man, Crazy]]" of 1953 and "[[Rock Around the Clock]]" in 1954.<ref>[http://www.rockabillyhall.com/BillHaley.html Bill Haley's biography] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100527231722/http://www.rockabillyhall.com/BillHaley.html |date=May 27, 2010 }} at the Rockabilly Hall of Fame. Retrieved June 20, 2020.</ref>

1956 could be called the year of [[rockabilly]] in country music. Rockabilly was an early form of [[rock and roll]], an upbeat combination of [[blues]] and country music.{{sfn |Gilliland |1969 |loc=shows 7–8}} The number two, three and four songs on ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard's]]'' charts for that year were [[Elvis Presley]], "[[Heartbreak Hotel]]"; [[Johnny Cash]], "[[I Walk the Line]]"; and [[Carl Perkins]], "[[Blue Suede Shoes]]". Reflecting this success, George Jones released a rockabilly record that year under the pseudonym "Thumper Jones", wanting to capitalize on the popularity of rockabilly without alienating his traditional country base.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/charts/yearend_chart_display.jsp?f=Hot+Country+Songs&g=Year-end+Singles&year=1956 |title=Hot Country Songs 1956 |magazine=Billboard |access-date=February 1, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061020160136/http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/charts/yearend_chart_display.jsp?f=Hot%2BCountry%2BSongs&g=Year-end%2BSingles&year=1956 |archive-date=October 20, 2006 }}</ref> Cash and Presley placed songs in the top 5 in 1958 with No. 3 "Guess Things Happen That Way/Come In, Stranger" by Cash, and No. 5 by Presley "Don't/I Beg of You."<ref>[http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/charts/yearend_chart_display.jsp?f=Hot+Country+Songs&g=Year-end+Singles&year=1958 Billboard.com] ''Billboard.com''  {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121105115329/http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/charts/yearend_chart_display.jsp?f=Hot%20Country%20Songs&g=Year-end%20Singles&year=1958 |date=November 5, 2012 }}</ref> Presley acknowledged the influence of [[rhythm and blues]] artists and his style, saying "The colored folk been singin' and playin' it just the way I'm doin' it now, man for more years than I know." Within a few years, many rockabilly musicians returned to a more mainstream style or had defined their own unique style.

Country music gained national television exposure through ''[[Ozark Jubilee]]'' on ABC-TV and radio from 1955 to 1960 from [[Springfield, Missouri]]. The program showcased top stars including several rockabilly artists, some from the [[Ozarks]]. As Webb Pierce put it in 1956, "Once upon a time, it was almost impossible to sell country music in a place like New York City. Nowadays, television takes us everywhere, and country music records and sheet music sell as well in large cities as anywhere else."<ref>Shulman, Art "Dynamo – Country Style" (1956), ''TV Guide'', p, 28</ref>
 
The [[Country Music Association]] was founded in 1958, in part because numerous country musicians were appalled by the increased influence of rock and roll on country music.<ref name="RollingstoneDeath">{{cite news |last=Moore |first=Bobby |title=Mac Wiseman, Bluegrass Icon, Dead at 93 |url=https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-xB7o4kknsiGkHegNeyZ-Q/ |access-date=February 25, 2019 |magazine=Rolling Stone |date=February 25, 2019}}</ref>