Country music

===First generation (1920s)===
[[File:Vernon Dalhart 01.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[Vernon Dalhart]] was the first country star to have a major hit record]]

The first commercial recordings of what was considered instrumental music in the traditional country style were "[[The Arkansas Traveler (song)|Arkansas Traveler]]" and "[[Turkey in the Straw]]" by fiddlers Henry Gilliland & [[Eck Robertson|A.C. (Eck) Robertson]] on June 30, 1922, for Victor Records and released in April 1923.<ref>{{cite book| last = Russell| first = Tony| title = Country Music Records: A Discography, 1921–1942| date = October 7, 2004| publisher = Oxford University Press on Demand| isbn = 978-0-19-513989-1| url = https://archive.org/details/countrymusicreco00tony}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://victor.library.ucsb.edu/index.php |title=Encyclopedic Dictionary of Victor Recordings |publisher=Victor.library.ucsb.edu |access-date=May 13, 2014}}</ref> [[Columbia Records]] began issuing records with "hillbilly" music (series 15000D "Old Familiar Tunes") as early as 1924.<ref name="78discography.com"/>
[[File:Carter Family 1927.jpg|thumb|upright|The Carter Family are a dynasty of country music and began with (left to right) [[A.P. Carter]], wife [[Sara Carter]] and [[Maybelle Carter]]]]
The first commercial recording of what is widely considered to be the first country song featuring vocals and lyrics was [[Fiddlin' John Carson]] with "[[The Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane|Little Log Cabin in the Lane]]" for [[Okeh Records]] on June 14, 1923.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MYMQl9dsKJEC&q=first+country+song+carson+cabin&pg=PA12|title=The First Generation of Country Music Stars: Biographies of 50 Artists Born Before 1940|first=David|last=Dicaire|date=July 5, 2007|publisher=McFarland|via=Google Books|isbn=9780786485581}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://ourgeorgiahistory.com/chronpop/215 |title=Our Georgia History |publisher=Our Georgia History |access-date=February 1, 2011 |archive-date=November 21, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081121232820/http://www.ourgeorgiahistory.com/chronpop/215 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

[[Vernon Dalhart]] was the first country singer to have a nationwide hit in May 1924 with "[[Wreck of the Old 97]]".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.blueridgeinstitute.org/ballads/old97song.html |title=Blue Ridge Institute & Museum |publisher=Blueridgeinstitute.org |access-date=February 1, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101206151824/http://blueridgeinstitute.org/ballads/old97song.html |archive-date=December 6, 2010 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.blueridgeinstitute.org/ballads/old97.html |title=Blue Ridge Institute & Museum |publisher=Blueridgeinstitute.org |date=September 27, 1903 |access-date=February 1, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101209090006/http://www.blueridgeinstitute.org/ballads/old97.html |archive-date=December 9, 2010 }}</ref> The flip side of the record was "Lonesome Road Blues", which also became very popular.<ref name="cohn">{{cite book| last=Cohn| first=Lawrence| title=Nothing but the Blues: The Music and the Musicians| date=September 1993| author2=Aldin, Mary Katherine| author3=Bastin, Bruce| publisher=Abbeville Press| isbn=978-1-55859-271-1| page=[https://archive.org/details/nothingbutbluesm00cohn/page/238 238]| url=https://archive.org/details/nothingbutbluesm00cohn/page/238}}</ref> In April 1924, "Aunt" [[Samantha Bumgarner]] and Eva Davis became the first female musicians to record and release country songs.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thesylvaherald.com/history/article_9fe40004-6c2f-11e9-b7b3-7b2963f81bf0.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20060509040132/http://www.thesylvaherald.com/B-Full-Sam-workout022201.htm|title=Samantha Bumgarner was a musical pioneer|work=The Sylva Herald|date=May 9, 2006|archive-date=May 9, 2006|access-date=February 15, 2022|url-status=live}}</ref> The record 129-D produced by Columbia features Samantha playing fiddle and singing Big-Eyed Rabbit while Eva Davis plays banjo. The other side features Eva Davis playing banjo while singing Wild Bill Jones. Many of the early country musicians, such as the [[yodel]]er [[Cliff Carlisle]], recorded blues songs into the 1930s.<ref name="Russell 163, 165, 167">{{cite book| last = Russell| first = Tony| title = Country Music Originals: The Legends and the Lost| date = November 15, 2007| publisher = Oxford University Press, USA| isbn = 978-0-19-532509-6| pages = [https://archive.org/details/countrymusicorig00russ/page/163, 165, 167, 225]| url = https://archive.org/details/countrymusicorig00russ/page/162}}</ref> Other important early recording artists were [[Riley Puckett]], [[Don Richardson (musician)|Don Richardson]], [[Fiddlin' John Carson]], [[Uncle Dave Macon]], [[Al Hopkins]], [[Ernest Stoneman|Ernest V. Stoneman]], [[Blind Alfred Reed]], [[Charlie Poole and the North Carolina Ramblers]] and [[the Skillet Lickers]].<ref>{{cite web| first=Billy | last=Abbott |url=http://www.southernmusic.net/gidtanner.htm |title=Southernmusic.net |publisher=Southernmusic.net |date=March 7, 1924 |access-date=February 1, 2011}}</ref> The [[steel guitar]] entered country music as early as 1922, when Jimmie Tarlton met famed Hawaiian guitarist [[Frank Ferera]] on the West Coast.<ref>Cohn, Lawrence: "Nothing But the Blues" chapter titles "A Lighter Shade of Blue – White Country Blues" by Charles Wolfe page 247, 1993</ref>

[[Jimmie Rodgers (country singer)|Jimmie Rodgers]] and the [[Carter Family]] are widely considered to be important early country musicians. From [[Scott County, Virginia]], the Carters had learned [[sight reading]] of hymnals and sheet music using [[solfege]].{{Citation needed|date=December 2021}} Their songs were first captured at a [[Bristol sessions|historic recording session]] in [[Bristol, Tennessee]], on August 1, 1927, where [[Ralph Peer]] was the talent scout and sound recordist.<ref>{{cite book| last = Russell| first = Tony| title = Country Music Originals: The Legends and the Lost| date = November 15, 2007| publisher = Oxford University Press, USA| isbn = 978-0-19-532509-6| page = [https://archive.org/details/countrymusicorig00russ/page/68 68]| url = https://archive.org/details/countrymusicorig00russ/page/68}}</ref><ref name="Sanjek">{{cite book| last = Weisbard| first = Eric| title = This is Pop: In Search of the Elusive at Experience Music Project| year = 2004| publisher = Harvard University Press| isbn = 978-0-674-01321-6| pages = [https://archive.org/details/thisispopinsearc00weis/page/155 155–172]| url = https://archive.org/details/thisispopinsearc00weis/page/155}}</ref> A scene in the movie ''[[O Brother, Where Art Thou?]]'' depicts a similar occurrence in the same timeframe.

Rodgers fused hillbilly country, gospel, jazz, blues, pop, cowboy, and folk, and many of his best songs were his compositions, including "Blue Yodel",<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lpdiscography.com/r/Rodgers/jimmie-sp.htm |title=JIMMIE RODGERS SINGLES |publisher=LPdiscography.com |access-date=February 1, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100125153442/http://www.lpdiscography.com/r/Rodgers/jimmie-sp.htm |archive-date=January 25, 2010 }}</ref> which sold over a million records and established Rodgers as the premier singer of early country music.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.alamhof.org/rodgersj.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080523161403/http://www.alamhof.org/rodgersj.htm|url-status=dead|title=Alamhof.org|archive-date=May 23, 2008}}</ref><ref>Nothing But the Blues 1993, White Country Blues by Charles Wolfe page 233</ref> Beginning in 1927, and for the next 17 years, the Carters recorded some 300 old-time ballads, traditional tunes, country songs and gospel hymns, all representative of America's southeastern folklore and heritage.<ref>[http://www.southernmusic.net/carterfamily.htm Southernmusic.net] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100207060837/http://www.southernmusic.net/carterfamily.htm |date=February 7, 2010 }}, the Carter Family.</ref> Maybelle Carter went on to continue the family tradition with her daughters as [[The Carter Sisters]]; her daughter [[June Carter Cash|June]] would marry (in succession) [[Carl Smith (musician)|Carl Smith]], Rip Nix and [[Johnny Cash]], having children with each who would also become country singers.