East Tennessee

==Music==
{{Main|Music of East Tennessee}}
[[File:Maynardville-musicians-tn1.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|Musicians performing on the streets of [[Maynardville, Tennessee|Maynardville]], {{circa|1935}}]]
[[Appalachian music]] has evolved from a blend of English and Scottish ballads, Irish and Scottish fiddle tunes, African-American blues, and religious music.  In 1916 and 1917, British folklorist [[Cecil Sharp]] visited [[Flag Pond, Tennessee|Flag Pond]], [[Sevierville, Tennessee|Sevierville]], [[Harrogate, Tennessee|Harrogate]], and other rural areas in the region where he transcribed dozens of examples of "Old World" ballads that had been passed down generation to generation from the region's early English settlers.<ref>Cecil Sharp, Maud Karpeles (ed.), ''English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians'' (London: Oxford University Press, 1932), pp. 26, 77, 115, 183, 244, 310, etc.</ref> [[Uncle Am Stuart]], [[Charlie Bowman]], [[Clarence Ashley]], [[G. B. Grayson]], and [[Theron Hale]] were among the most successful early musicians from East Tennessee.

In 1927, the [[Victor Talking Machine Company]] conducted a [[Bristol sessions|series of recording sessions]] in [[Bristol, Tennessee|Bristol]] that saw the rise of musicians such as [[Jimmie Rodgers (country singer)|Jimmie Rodgers]] and the [[Carter Family]].  Subsequent recording sessions, such as the [[Johnson City sessions]] in 1928 and the Knoxville St. James Sessions in 1930 proved lucrative, but by the late 1930s, the success of the [[Grand Ole Opry]] had lured much of the region's talent to Nashville.  In the 1940s, the Grand Ole Opry and associated music labels began using "[[Country music|country]]" instead of "hillbilly" for their genre, hoping to attract a wider audience.<ref name=apphandbook />

[[Union County, Tennessee|Union County]] would prove influential to later developments in country music with musicians [[Roy Acuff]], [[Chet Atkins]], and [[Carl Smith (musician)|Carl Smith]] who were born in the county assisted with the international breakthrough of the genre, and the development of the [[Nashville sound]] and [[rockabilly]].<ref name="whitelightning">{{cite web |title=White Lightning Guide |url=https://www.tnvacation.com/sites/default/files/trail/pdf/WhiteLightning_Guide_Updated.pdf |website=Tennessee Department of Tourism Development |access-date=January 2, 2022}}</ref>