hillbilly music

Appalachian folk sound

Hillbilly music is an early term for country music, used especially in the 1920s and 1930s for the folk and string-band music of the rural American South and Appalachia.

The term reflected outsiders' condescension toward its performers and audience but was also embraced by the industry itself: hillbilly records, hillbilly radio.

It gave way to "country and western" and eventually just "country" as the genre gained mainstream respectability.

instruments

banjo

Fretted drum-stringed instrument

fiddleAdjust restlessly; folk violin
mandolinPlucked eight-string lute descendant
dobroMetal-coned acoustic guitar

harmonica · guitar · autoharp · dulcimer · acoustic · washboard · jug · picking · fingerpicking · strumming

culture

moonshine

Illegally distilled spirits

hoedownLively rural dance gathering
square-danceFolk dancing with caller
jamboreeLarge festive gathering

clogging · stomp · hollerin · yodeling · overalls · hayride

genres

bluegrass

Acoustic Appalachian folk music

old-timeOf a past era
countrySovereign state or territory
gospelSacred choral tradition

folk · ballads · storytelling · yodeling · honky-tonk

origins

Appalachia

Eastern U.S. mountain region

mountainsTall elevated landmasses
hollerLoud vocal outburst
backwoodsRemote, undeveloped rural area

Ozarks · Tennessee · Kentucky · Virginia · Carolina · frontier · pioneer · settler · heritage · tradition

Categories

American Rootsblues, bluegrass, country, folk, jazz
folk musicfolk, folk songs, folk ballads, folk ballad, folk singers
1920s Musicjazz, ragtime, Charleston, Dixieland, blues
OzarksOzark Mountains, Ozarks, Ozark, Devil's Den, Branson
Swing Erabig band, swing, swing era, big band era, Benny Goodman

Opposites

geographic/cultural origin

hillbilly musicurban blues

Amplified regional folk music

Chicago blues · Motown · hip-hop · bebop · delta blues

commercialization/production values

hillbilly musicNashville sound

Slick country subgenre

country pop · adult contemporary

social class connotation

hillbilly musicclassical music

Western orchestral tradition

opera · chamber music · art music · symphonic music · symphony

Family

music, hills, billy, hillbilly, hillbillies

Familiarity: Top 500,000
Profile: Mostly American · Timeless · Everyday, not technical · Rated G